Shopping with Car Seat

Have you thought about carrying you baby in a sling??? It puts him right where the action is and the motion of your movement can be soothing to him. You may be able to shop for longer and he may fall right to sleep! Slings are widely available on the internet along with resources for different ways to wear your baby.

1 mom found this helpful

Like some previous posters said, the Chicco seats don't fit because they were designed not to. It's a safety issue. You can either use a sling or pouch (I like the Peanut Shell) or set the seat in the big basket. We used a Graco Snugride for both of our kids and even though that seat did fit on top, I'd put in in the big basket. It just didn't seem safe perched on top like that. I do like the carts with the built in infant seat. Those are bolted on and I know they've been tested and aren't going anywhere!

Try using a Baby Sling or Baby Carrier. I used this with my chidren when I shopped, went for walks, any where I didn't want to take the stroler or car seat. You can put the baby infront of you and just carrier them around with you. it is great.

I had this same problem with my Graco Infant Safeseat. It didn't ever seem to attach securely to the top like the previous seat I had with my firstborn (some sort of Evenflo)...and yes, I know you're not supposed to put it on top like that but really what's the difference between that and the seats the cart manufacturers attach themselves to the top??? They could fall over just the same! I ended up buying a sling to carry him around Meijer in because it scared me too much this time and putting him in the cart took all the room for groceries. It was actually kind of nice, being so close to me, he just slept the whole time. And lots of comments about how precious we looked!

You are absolutely right with this carseat! I have had the same problem. I loved the seat from every other standpoint, but it is a huge pain to use with nearly every single shopping cart out there. Weird! You would think that the company would have checked that out and made a seat that would fit perfectly since it is something that mother's count on when running errands with their children. When I took my son out, I had to choose whether to have him tilted up so he was almost standing straight up, or tilted back so that he was sleeping almost at a reverse angle. It was scary that the seat might fall off, too! We should probably contact the company on this...

I had the same Chicco travel system and had the same problem. The infant car seat didn't fit in any shopping cart. I did the same as you and just put her in the shopping cart. It does make for some strategic grocery placing, but I managed until she out grew the infant seat and I was able to just put her in the front. It's only a few months, so hang in there :)

J.

try using a sling, babies like to be close to mom anyway.

YOu are not missing anything. I have the same system. I love the stroller, and was a little disappointed that the car seat was bigger. It is unsafe to put this carseat in the front of the cart. Once your son is sitting up-- probably by about 4 months you can use a linner and sit him (w/o the car seat) in the front of the cart. Until then...I try not to take my daughter grocery shopping with me.

I'll probably be scolded by all the 'expert moms' out there, but we have to shop with our babies, so we have to do what we can, right?? I found that if I turned the seat sideways, it would cradle right in the basket part of the cart and I could still fit all my groceries underneath the carseat. It seemed like the safest option in my experience.

~L.

Hi there!

I actually had a Graco car seat for my kids but yes, I did run into the same problem...sometimes. It seemed that with some stores, the car seat would fit perfectly on the shopping carts while not fitting as well on others. If my car seat did not fit perfectly on top of a shopping cart, I still put it on top (leaving the back empty for groceries), but I would push the shopping cart with my hands on the back of the shopping cart "seat", instead of the handle. This way, I had an arm on each side of the car seat, "just in case". When reaching for a product off the shelf, I would leave one hand on top of the car seat. Not the best way to shop, and I agree with the person who said it is just easier to leave baby at home. But, that is not always possible, so this was the way that I did it. Hope this helps!

D.

They are not made for that! I saw a baby fall at a Wal Mart store. The car seat and all fell off the cart and hit the ground with baby still strapped inside. There was blood and the mom was screaming.
I know that some stores like Meijer and Wal Mart have shopping carts with an attached semi-lay-down baby seat, try those. I would just carry my baby from car to store and then place them in one of those.

Hello...We have the chicco travel system/car seat as well. It does not fit in grocery carts and it is not made to fit in them. We read about this before we purchased it but it did not matter to us because we also read about so many accidents that have happened from people putting car seats on that part of the cart. Even though Graco and others are "made" for that...it's not safe. I just put the Chicoo in the grocery cart and put groceries all around and on the bottom of the cart. I have bought a ton of groceries from Meijer with him in the cart. When I pay I have to take him out of the cart for all of the bags...so exiting the store is kind of hard....carrying the car seat and pushing the stroller. But the bottom line is that it is safer!

I think it's all in the shopping cart also. I had a graco infant seat. sometimes i could get it to go just right on a cart at one store but then not at another. or one time at meijer it would fit the cart and the next trip there it wouldn't fit a different cart, its just something that doesn't always work, there isn't really anything you can do i don't think, it isn't worth it trying to find a different seat cause it's gonna be the same way.

have you tried using a sling or other baby carrier? I know it is a pain to get them in and out of the car seat- but it scares me to death to see infant carseats on top of grocery carts- have you even seen how easy those things tip over??

They only fit into some carts. Most you have to put them down in the cart. Sorry.

You probably wouldn't find any info in the manual because technically car seats are not made to do this. I had a Graco system, and I believe my manual advised against it - I think its a product liablity thing.

If it doesn't seem secure, then you probably will have to keep your son in the basket of the cart.

I agree that wearing your babe in a sling would probably make your life a lot easier! Good luck!

some infant seats are bigger and wider than others. my seat was an evenflo and it fit great in walmart, target, meijers and such. but i know at michael's my seat didn't fit. i would either keep putting the seat in the basket or try a sling/carrier type thing. but i also think they(carseat makers) don't reccomed placing a infant carrier in the toddler seat anyhow. good luck

I also had the Chicco travel system when my son was an infant.
I never tried to put it on the shopping cart because it always scared me, but I heard from someone else that it's one of the only travel systems that doesn't fit on carts.(I actually think I read that when I was reading Chicco product reviews. There was a debate about if it is even safe to put infant carriers on top of shopping carts. Someone made the point that maybe Chicco purposely designed the carrier so it couldn't be put on a cart?)
I would either wear my son in the Baby Bjorn or leave him home with Daddy and go shopping by myself in the evening ( It kinda felt like a night out!)

MC,
I have never used the car seat that you are referring to but when I had my babies with me in the store, I would use 2 carts. I put the baby and seat in one cart and used the 2nd one for the groceries. Kind of a pain, but easier than carrying them. Hope this helps.

Hello,

I have the Chicco travel system and you can put them on top of the shopping cart. You should have an orange groove under the car seat and that is where I put that side of the car seat on the grocery cart. I know that it still moves around, but this is my second child with the travel system and the car seat has not fallen into the cart or off the cart. I go over the bumps even at the beginning of the store and think that for sure it will fall, but it never has.

I felt the same way with my first child and would try to hold the car seat, but after some time I became confident that it wouldn't fall. You are right though it really isn't made for the grocery cart, the only cart that I have found that it really fits is at Babies R Us. I bought the travel system there and they told me about the grocery cart thing.

Hope this helps and if you have more questions let me know.
B.

I was never comfortable putting the car seat on top of the shopping cart, my baby always went car seat and all into the shopping cart. Plus Chicco car seats were not really designed to fit on top of the cart. Regardless of what car seat you have it ruins the locking mechanism to put it on top of the cart.

I had the same problem and did the same thing you did. I think it's just the way it's designed, unfortunately. I ended up using a baby sling and leaving the car seat in the car. It wasn't the best solution, but it worked.

I have the same travel system, and it all depends on the cart. Some carts feel secure and some don't. If you read the instructions though it says that you shouldn't put the car seat on top of a cart. So I put mine in the big part of the cart, unless I'm someplace where the seat fits well on the cart, like target or babies r us. Good luck.