The Family Car--Infant/Toddler edition

[HouseofWool]

I have the britax roundabout in my Kia Rio. The passenger seat does not go all the way back, but the roundabout is rated for smaller cars. The front to back dimension is about 24". My DH at 6' can fit in the passenger seat as is. BTW Danielle if you are getting a Britax, there are some on sale here, and shipping was free when I ordered.

http://www.albeebaby.com/britax-sale-items.html

[Michele]

Would putting the snugride in the middle be an option?

[v-girl]

Hubby said his CR-V can fit the infant seat with the front seat all the way back.

[Tenacious_D]

I have the britax roundabout in my Kia Rio. The passenger seat does not go all the way back, but the roundabout is rated for smaller cars. The front to back dimension is about 24". My DH at 6' can fit in the passenger seat as is. BTW Danielle if you are getting a Britax, there are some on sale here, and shipping was free when I ordered.

http://www.albeebaby.com/britax-sale-items.html

Ohhh!! Awesome. Thanks for the heads up, Kris. Albee is about a mile away from us (though we would still get shipping). Great store. DH is on the phone now with his parents getting their "advice"

[spotty_dog]

Yep, that's the site, Michele. Great info from real CPSTs.

I have a Legacy Outback (1999, the year before the Outback became its own line.) The Snugride is behind the passenger with tons of legroom. The Marathon cramped the passenger seat just a smidge when it was rear facing, but not so 5'11" DH had any reason to complain. I switched it forward facing to go behind the driver seat though.

We might be moving up to a mini van or SUV though. The middle seat is pretty unusable (can't get a good install on the car seat there) and there's not quite enough room for the four of us and the dog if we want to take an overnight trip. (Moving to Washington, 1600 miles with 2 kids 3 cats and a dog, will be a blast! :P )

FYI Danielle, the height limit on the seat is just a guideline. The true limit is when the kid's head is 1" from the top of the shell. Or when they start complaining about the recline, which for many kids I know is around 6 months.

My MIL drives a Toyota Highlander and has had no issues of any sort with carseats fitting. Both she and my FIL) are very tall ( FIL is 6').

[Auspicious]

We went and looked at a 2005 CRV and a 2004 Odyssey today. I'm 5'10", if I sat in the passenger seat and pulled it up until my knees were lightly grazing the dash, the snugride would fit behind the passenger seat but it was definitely wedged in there. Like I would have to lever the front seat forward in order to reach the release latch. Is the safety of the seat compromised if it's wedged between the front and rear seats, or is that normal?

The Odyssey was plenty roomy but would be tough to find a reliable one in our price range.

Should I be thinking more that we would have the britax in the outboard position with the snugride in the center? Wouldn't the toddler poke the baby's eyes out or something? I've just been assuming that 2 carseats = both outboard.

Or maybe we need to look at not using a snugride, but it was sooo useful for a winter newborn.

off to research more . . .

[spotty_dog]

I think it's OK for the carseat to be wedged by the front seat, and can even improve the safety of the installation by limiting the amount of side-to-side movement, but only if it doesn't affect the recline of the carseat. That car-seat.org forum would be the place to find a definitive answer though.

[SuzySunshine]

Julie, I don't know about those other cars but in both my car and my DH's car we couldn't put the infant seat in the middle because then it still affected whichever seat my DH was in and his knees wouldn't fit. Does that make sense?

He can drive my car with the Britax behind his seat, we haven't tried that in his.

As far as the toddler reachiing the baby, etc. -- it really doesn't end up being as close as it seems like it would be. The baby is forward, and more than an arms reach away ... especially when the toddler is in a 5pt harness.

[Michele]

What Jenn said...Daegan couldn't even help give Kai a pacifier when I had them side-by-side (so my mom could fit in the backseat when she was here for the 5 weeks).

[HouseofWool]

What Jenn said...Daegan couldn't even help give Kai a pacifier when I had them side-by-side (so my mom could fit in the backseat when she was here for the 5 weeks).

That said, Caleb is behind the driver in a backed booster using the car's seat belt and he can reach across to the other side in our Rio and adjust Sophie's hat or give her a pacifier...

The boosters / car seat belt thing give them a LOT more mobility than a 5 point harness. My theory is that by the time they're old enough / big enough to be in the booster/seat belt contraption, they're also old enough not to be poking the baby in the eyes AND actually be helpful.

[JaneDoe]

I'm not much help with the car discussion, other than to say we have an Odyssey and love it. Dh drives a Prius, which we purchased after ds graduated to a convertable carseat. Dh is 6'3 and I suspect a Graco snugride would have been a tight fit.

But, did I miss something here? A winter newborn? Congratulations!!

[Auspicious]

But, did I miss something here? A winter newborn? Congratulations!!

No no, second child is still strictly hypothetical, but we hope to have this next car for 4 years or so, and hope to have another baby in that time, and plan to spend that time in Chicago/Minneapolis, so . . . just trying to plan ahead.

Thanks for the input, everyone!