Better Infant Car Seat Design

This idea is to help with the challenge of carrying an infant car seat (the bucket kind) around. Some manufacturers (Evenflo comes to mind) have recognized the non-ergonomic reality of a human carrying an infant car seat by the handle. The Evenflo design has twisted the handle so you don't have to twist your wrist. On other models like our Graco, you have to twist your wrist perpendicular to your body and hold your arm out far enough to clear your leg. Even when the baby is under 10 pounds, this is not a very sustainable position.

Often, we have to carry the baby farther than just from the car to the house. For example, when you are parked in a large shopping mall, or even if you are doing street shopping and walking a little bit between stores. It is not always convenient to pop the car seat into a stroller (a good idea though to be able to do that).

So, how about a radical new design? Here's a couple of ideas I have:

1. Make the car seat roll like luggage.
Have an extensible handle come out the top and two wheels on the base, so you could roll the seat around like you do luggage. And, I'm always amazed at how that trend is dominant when I am in an airport - how did we manage before anyway? Of course, we'd have to make sure the integrity of the car seat for crash safety was maintained, but I'm sure that could be accomplished.

2. Even more radical - make the car seat a stroller
This idea is similar except, the idea is the handle pulls out from the top again (make it wide enough to push comfortably) and there is some kind of aircraft like folding wheel carriage that goes under the seat. When you lift the car seat out and undo the lock, the wheels fold down and raise the car seat up a bit, and you can push the handle. It would be nice to be able to move the handle to the front and back so that you could push the baby facing you or away. Also nice would be to have some kind of a net basket that drops down, for putting your stuff in...because, hello, we always have stuff to carry, even if it is the ubiquitous diaper bag. And don't forget the cup holder. This should be detachable, I know we need to worry about hot drinks near the baby, but again, there should be a way to do this (maybe the drink holder folds down from behind the seat so that it can't spill on the baby.

3. Make the seat like a laundry basket
This idea builds an indentation on the side of the car seat that would fit nicely on your hip. Then on the other side (and this should work for left or right handedness) is a handle that you can hold onto so that the carrier is on your hip.

Sun Coverage
In all cases, we also need to have good sun coverage, not just of the face but the whole body. So the cover should have an extension that allows us to do that. Aside from getting burned on a longer trip, the sun shining in awake or asleep eyes is not good for the baby. In Australia, they have some extensions that are made with flexible frames and look like a butterfly wing. You can bend and move it around to shield the baby from the sun. A good idea me thinks. In the Graco stroller you can get full coverage, but you have to use the second sun shade that is on the stroller itself. With my ideas above, you need to have the car seat full sun cover independent of the stroller (if the seat pops into a stroller). Ever notice how many strollers go by with a blanket over them? This is why.

Of course the sun coverage should also protect from a light rain. A full plastic rain cover should be an option as well, with a location on the car seat to store the cover.