OT--3 car seats

[rt2dz]

For those of you have (or knows someone who does) 3 car seats in a single row, how do you do it? Which seats do you use? How are they configured?

We're trying to fit 2 car seats (full size, forward facing) and a backless booster in DHs car for when it's needed in a pinch, and can't seem to come out with seats/arrangement that will make it work. It has to be possible; others must do it.

Please share your wisdom!! TIA

 

[MATTERHORN]

It depends on your car. Most will nto fit three average sized car seats in the back row. I have an Impala which has a wide back seat and I fit a Graco Booster, a Graco Precious Cargo (I think?) and a Evenflo Triumph back there just fine.

You may have to find skinnier car seats, or change cars which is not likely. But most people I know with regular size cars cannot fit three big seats. Good luck!

Andrea

 

[MATTERHORN]

Forgot to add, DS is in the big Triumph behind the driver's seat, Graco Cargo is in the middle and Graco Booster is behind the passenger. DD is in the Booster and I still use the 5 point on it even though she is about to turn 6. It is easier to have it buckled in always, rather than using one that needs to be buckled when the space is so tight. Hard to get your fingers in their all the time so I keep it buckled and have her use the harness. Hope that helps.

Andrea

 

[MATTERHORN]

I'm looking for a really great site I found once regarding this, I'll try to find it and post it. Very informative.


Andrea

 

[MATTERHORN]

Here it is: I hope it works for you! You enter your information and get the chart, it's great!


http://carseatdata.org/database.html

 

[MATTERHORN]

Here is some info so that maybe you can see if your seats are on the wider side, or maybe you can replace one with a skinnier one.


http://carseatdata.org/csnumbers.html

 

[rt2dz]

Thanks. We certainly won't be buying a new car anytime soon, but we are buying the carseats (hopefully) to fit the car. The only one we have is the Graco booster. Narrow seats are just fine with us, are kids are pretty skinny so we don't need that extra wide stuff.

 

[all4fun]

I would go to the Car-Seat.org board and post what car you have and what seats you have and see if they can help you figure something out. Or the babycenter car safety board is a good resource too. Here's a link to a thread with a three across situation .

It can be done, you just need the right combination of seats.

Matterhorn, please tell me your dd is still under 40lbs? That is the harness weight limit for most combo seats...you don't need to respond. I just thought I would mention it.

 

[PaulaSue]

Watching this thread, I can't even do 3 (2 boosters and a convert.) in a row in my dodge grand caravan.

 

[mommytodarlings]

I used to have a Cutlass Supreme that I fit 3 seats in. I had to go to TRU with a tape measure and bought the narrowest seats I could find. They are Graco Treasured Cargo (I think). Then I had an Eddie Bauer 3-in-1. We had a newborn at the time and the Evenflo carrier seat that we had would not fit with the 2 Graco seats, so we just used the EB 3-in-1 reclined as our infant seat.

It was a very tight fit though.

Now we have 4 dks in 4 carseats, so we had to switch to a minivan.

 

[becca011906]

we have a dodge intrepid and it will fit any 3 average sized seats in it... we had in it, a backless booster, a cosco convertible and a hi back graco booster.
what ages and sizes are your kids? these car seats are supose to be very narrow and will got forward/ backwards/ and will keep your child in a harness (safest) till 65lbs!!! http://www.mightytite.com/Pages/radian.html

 

[rt2dz]

we have a dodge intrepid and it will fit any 3 average sized seats in it... we had in it, a backless booster, a cosco convertible and a hi back graco booster.
what ages and sizes are your kids? these car seats are supose to be very narrow and will got forward/ backwards/ and will keep your child in a harness (safest) till 65lbs!!! http://www.mightytite.com/Pages/radian.html

DS#1 is 5 1/2 yo, 42 lbs, 46 1/2" (He's in a backless booster in DHs car)
DS#2 is 2 1/2 yo, 26 lbs, 35" (still needs a 5-point harness)
DS#3 is 1 yo, 21 lbs, 32" (still, of course, a 5-point harness)

Because of the car seat situation, only DS#1 rides in DHs car right now. We had to toss the old convertable DS#2 used to ride in out as it was over 5 years old. And DS#3 never had a car seat just for DHs car. So we need two new seats, but they have to all fit. It wouldn't be often, just in times of need. I have 3 rows in my vehicle, so it isn't an issue there.

Right now I'm carrying a tape measure with me, so whenever I hit a store, I can measure, but nothing is working out. I figured I'll end up having to buy over the internet, but need to know what to buy.

Thanks to everyone for all their wonderful help so far!!

 

[MATTERHORN]

Right now I'm carrying a tape measure with me, so whenever I hit a store, I can measure, but nothing is working out. I figured I'll end up having to buy over the internet, but need to know what to buy.

Thanks to everyone for all their wonderful help so far!!

Well the link I posted should help you decide what to buy since all the measurements are posted on there. Hope you can work something out!


Andrea

 

[MATTERHORN]

Matterhorn, please tell me your dd is still under 40lbs? That is the harness weight limit for most combo seats...you don't need to respond. I just thought I would mention it.

Hi! Thanks for the info, I don't mind responding. She is just hitting 40 pounds depending on the scale, but soon she will have to use the belt. After 7-8 total carseats, I just can't fathom buying another so I'm gonna see how it goes with her buckling. It is very tight with the three so it will be hard for her to get her hand in to buckle each time. Not sure what I'm gonna do yet, but thanks again because reminders never hurt!! Getting the information out is what's important!

Andrea

 

[tjmw2727]

I

snip to:

Matterhorn, please tell me your dd is still under 40lbs? That is the harness weight limit for most combo seats...you don't need to respond. I just thought I would mention it.

Yes, I just helped a neighbor and she was doing the same thing for a similar reason. Her graco booster had a weight limit of 40lbs and a height limit of 43" for the use of the harness. Apparently she had been using it about 6 mos to long She took the harness out and her dd is much happier. I don't know how your going to work out the difficulty with the buckles but the booster will have to have the lap/shoulder belt. Perhaps behind the driver so it buckles on the outside?

TJ

 

[kathi29]

DS#1 is 5 1/2 yo, 42 lbs, 46 1/2" (He's in a backless booster in DHs car)
DS#2 is 2 1/2 yo, 26 lbs, 35" (still needs a 5-point harness)
DS#3 is 1 yo, 21 lbs, 32" (still, of course, a 5-point harness)

Because of the car seat situation, only DS#1 rides in DHs car right now. We had to toss the old convertable DS#2 used to ride in out as it was over 5 years old. And DS#3 never had a car seat just for DHs car. So we need two new seats, but they have to all fit. It wouldn't be often, just in times of need. I have 3 rows in my vehicle, so it isn't an issue there.

Right now I'm carrying a tape measure with me, so whenever I hit a store, I can measure, but nothing is working out. I figured I'll end up having to buy over the internet, but need to know what to buy.

Thanks to everyone for all their wonderful help so far!!

You might be able to puzzle the seats together. If your youngest is still rear facing (it is recommended to keep children rear facing to the weight limit of the seat or until they have less than 1" of hard plastic above their head) you could put the RF seat in the middle and the FF seats outboard.

 

[becca011906]

You might be able to puzzle the seats together. If your youngest is still rear facing (it is recommended to keep children rear facing to the weight limit of the seat or until they have less than 1" of hard plastic above their head) you could put the RF seat in the middle and the FF seats outboard.

Yep i would think with the size of you younger kids if you put them RF each in a radian any booster would sit next to them!!! My dd is 2 years old next month and still rf for a while longer!

 

[rt2dz]

Yep i would think with the size of you younger kids if you put them RF each in a radian any booster would sit next to them!!! My dd is 2 years old next month and still rf for a while longer!

I know it is best to keep them rear facing as long as possible; I did keep DS#2 rearfacing until he was 17 months and DS#3 is still rearfacing. However, my kids are skinny not short legged. The problem becomes when their legs are so bunched up they are screaming in actual pain. Not just annoyance, but pain. I'm a fanatic about car seat safety, we don't use the bus system at Disney b/c of it. I'm just not comfortable without car seats.

 

[all4fun]

I know it is best to keep them rear facing as long as possible; I did keep DS#2 rearfacing until he was 17 months and DS#3 is still rearfacing. However, my kids are skinny not short legged. The problem becomes when their legs are so bunched up they are screaming in actual pain. Not just annoyance, but pain. I'm a fanatic about car seat safety, we don't use the bus system at Disney b/c of it. I'm just not comfortable without car seats.

Wow my ds is 40" tall and still r/fing in our car and he just crosses his legs. We actually had him f/fing for a couple of months because he outgrew his old convertible for r/fing by height then he outgrew it by height f/fing and I had to buy him a bigger convertible (ended up with the Britax BV btw) and I installed it r/fing again for him and he really likes it. He's only between 30-31lbs now and I plan on keeping the seat r/fing until he reaches the 33lb weight limit. I have heard some kids go through a phase where they complain (ds never did) but usually after a few weeks they figure out how to cross their legs and it's ok.

If you go to this site and scroll all the way to the bottom there's a link to a photo album with pics of older kids who are still r/fing
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx

Just thought I'd mention it...you might want to try it again and see if they tolerate it better now.

 

[rt2dz]

Wow my ds is 40" tall and still r/fing in our car and he just crosses his legs. We actually had him f/fing for a couple of months because he outgrew his old convertible for r/fing by height then he outgrew it by height f/fing and I had to buy him a bigger convertible (ended up with the Britax BV btw) and I installed it r/fing again for him and he really likes it. He's only between 30-31lbs now and I plan on keeping the seat r/fing until he reaches the 33lb weight limit. I have heard some kids go through a phase where they complain (ds never did) but usually after a few weeks they figure out how to cross their legs and it's ok.

If you go to this site and scroll all the way to the bottom there's a link to a photo album with pics of older kids who are still r/fing
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx

Just thought I'd mention it...you might want to try it again and see if they tolerate it better now.

I'm not doubting for one second that your child is perfectly happy and comfortable with it, but I know the difference is when my children are screaming in annoyance/anger and pain. Every parent does. It could be a difference in the way the seats are made (and not every seat is equally as safe in every vehicle) on the type of car, tolerance of pain, for how long each child is in the car--you try sitting in the exact same position without moving for 4 hours straight, or where that height is located (torso or legs).

I know this sounds defensive, but it's not. It's just there are differences and nothing is one size fits all even when marketed that way. I know that they are hitting actual recommendations (not just our states [laxer] laws). I also have stability control in my vehicle, and side curtain airbags and overhead airbags. DS#1 even has to ride in a highback booster in my car because it fits and it's safer. My next door neighbor is also certified to check car seats so he checks my veichle (and DHs) with every car seat change, even if it just to remove them to vaccume under them.