Three convertible car seats in a minivan

I am happy with how we configured two infant seats and one convertible seat in our minivan... the twins are in the back row in their infant seats and my toddler is in one of the captain's chairs in the middle row.

But the twinklets are about to outgrow their infant seats. *gulp* I'm not quite ready to have my 2.5 year old move up into the booster seat, so we'll have three Britax Roundabouts in our Toyota Sienna.

Any suggestions? I'm thinking toddler has to go in the back row since he's facing forward now, and the twins facing backwards in the middle row.

For the record, we can have 1, 2, or 3 seats in the middle row. One captain's chair; or two captain's chairs; or one captain's chair and the middle seat; or two captain's chairs and the middle seat.

Thanks!

 

HAHA - I stress about this same question daily! I have an odyssey and my twins are in the back row (now) and my toddler is in the middle row captain's chair. When my twins outgrow their infant carriers I think I am going to move my toddler back to the 3rd row and my twins rear facing in the middle row. I rear face until age 2 so when the twins are age 2 I plan to move all 3 to the 3rd row forward facing and that frees up the middle row for adults Thats my plan anyway. Its a chinese mind puzzle, eh?

 

Oy. I have a Sienna as well. The only difference is my twins are older now. LOL! I have the boys in the back and Annabella in the middle. She was in the back before when we went on a long trip, and that was a royal PITA because it was so difficult to get to her. I would put the toddler in the back, as he can get in/out of the seat with a little more ease than you having to put the twins back there.

Good luck-it's definitely a puzzle!

 

I like to call this musical car seats and in my home we have played the game a lot!!!! I am one to move rooms/furniture around a lot so when it was just the three kids (all forward facing) I used to switch things around a lot. When the twins came it took me a good month to figure out the best configuration for everyone. Now the seats are where they are and aren't going to be moved. I have three older in the back row and the twins in the middle captain chairs. Once the twins can ride forward facing my older two will move to boosters in teh middle row and the twins will move to their seats in the back row.

Can your DS buckle himself in? If so then I would put him in the back row and the twins rear facing in the middle seats. He will just have to duck and crawl under their seats when he gets in. At least mine do in our van. If he cannot buckle himself in I would put one twin rear facing in the middle captain chair, take one out so there is a space and easy access to 3rd row, then I would put the other twin rear facing in the third row right behind the other twin. Then your son's seat and be on the other side in the third row. Does that make sense?

 

I moved my girls to the captains chairs when the grew out of their infant seats (they were in the back row) because I could no longer climb into the back carrying both of them. My son is now in the back. I was worried about putting him all the way back there since he likes to chat while we'e driving but he's been great with the transition. It's so much easier to get the girls into their seats this way too. DS can climb in by himself and I can reach past one of the girls to do him up.

 

I'd put the 2 captains seats in the middle row and put the twins there (can you push the passenger seat to the middle?) and then put the older one in the back. I have 4 carseats in my car and I have the younger two in the middle row and the older two (twins) in the back.

 

Great feedback ladies, thank you! Unfortunately, my DS can't quite buckle himself in yet, but hopefully soon. That does lead me to think putting him in the back is the best option.

But I hadn't considered putting my toddler and one twin in the middle, then the second twin in the back. I'll have to play with that idea too.

 

We put my older child forward facing in the rear row, and the twins rear facing in the middle row. We had to move one of the captain's chairs to the middle so that you can still walk to the back. I was so stressed about it, but my older child actually wanted to go back there. Unfortunately (at least in our car) he still really can't see the twins over the back of the captains chairs (I was hoping he could entertain them).

 

I took the headrests off the two middle captain seats. I originally did it when I had two regular forward facing car seats there because it was easier to install with the latch. I never put them back on because my three older kids can see the twins from the back row. They don't entertain them yet since their under 3mos but I figure they will in the future. I don't have those mirrors where I can see them so it is really helpful with my two oldest can tell me what the twins are doing. They still get the babies confused so I will ask who is crying the blue seat or pink seat. lol

 

I have an older Odyssey, and what I do is the twins are on the back bench RF, and I put them in through the back hatch. My almost 3 yr old is in one of the captain seats in the second row. I have mirrors on my back window so all I have to do is look in my rearview mirror and I can see the twins.

 

I have an Odyssey and three Britax Marathons, and all three are now forward-facing. When the baby DD was small and rear-facing, I wouldn't go out without another adult. So, I put her in the rear, rear-facing, and had the twins in the middle with the center seat removed, and both seats slid together so there was a aisle-way to the third seat.

Now that I have the baby forward-facing and they're at an age that I can manage to go out alone sometimes, I put all three in the middle row. My twins can't buckle themselves in and I need them within arms-reach. If I have three adults, the third adult has to climb in the from the back. I can't have four adults and three kids with this configuration, so we take two cars when that happens.


You'll be moving and reconfiguring often, as their seats and self-sufficieny change, so just play with it.

 

I have a suburban so it's a little different, but what I do is I have one twin in the passenger side captains chair, the other twin directly behind him in the third row, and dd in the third row on the drivers side. I have the other captain's chair (behind the driver) folded flat so I can easily climb into the back to strap in the twin b and big sis (who can climb into her chair and start to buckle in), and I can easily put in twin A from the passenger door. It's a pita to put twin b in the way back, but there is no way to have a rear facing seat and be able to get to the back...again I know it's not a minivan so maybe there is more room in a minivan to maneuver around?

 

For those of you with two rear-facing (RF) convertibles in the captains chairs and the forward-facing (FF) in the rear...

How were you able to physically get past the RF seats?? Sure, I have some leftover baby weight, but I am not a large mama, and with those Britax seats in the captains chairs, I cannot squeeze by them! They are so big they pretty much block the entire doorway, even with the seats slid as far back as they can go. My DS can climb into his car seat by himself, but I need to buckle him in.

HELP!!

 

My DS climbs in by himself and I can reach over one of the captians chairs throught the sliding door to buckle him in (his seat is on the far right in the back row).

I have a friend who can't reach back and she does it from the trunk...not ideal but the world was not made for people with two infants at the same time plus other kids

 

Thanks E, maybe I'll try moving DS from the middle to the side of the back seat! I'm just relieved to know it's not just me who has trouble with this. I was worried I'd have to cut out the donuts. :lol:

Oh, and my twins were born at 38 weeks 3 days, too! I had 3 months of bedrest and was relieved to have such healthy chunkers in the end (8 lbs and 6.5 lbs, respectively).

 

I hope it works for you. I find it so much easier this way.

Wow, 3 months of bedrest...I have no idea how you did that with a toddler too! They were great weights, bigger than mine, or at least one of them was!