car seat placement question

congrats to all the new mommies!

I am still 33 weeks pregnant with boys! but I am wanting to be prepared. I have heard that the safest place to put a car seat is in the middle of the back seat however we all know that you can't do that with twins. I have a 2008 camry so it's pretty roomy but not an suv. When they are babies, like the ride home from the hospital, mom is in the back seat with the babies, right? Should I sit in the middle with a car seat on either side of me or should, or can I, put one on one side, the other right next to him and then me? I'm thinking that if I sit in the middle I won't be able to get out of car unless one car seat is removed. Is it as hard as i'm envisioning it or not really? Suggestions please!

 

We started out with one in the middle and one on the side and I rode in the back with them on the other side. Now we have one on either side. So if I have 2 passengers with me, one gets the front seat and the other has to climb in before I snap the babies in. This is why we are looking at minivans right now. GL with the rest of your pg!

 

We put our car seats on either side of the backseat and I rode in the front along with my husband when the girls came home from the hospital. We have a sedan and there really wasn't any way I was going to fit in between the car seats. Well, maybe I could have, but it would have been a huge pain to climb in over one seat while recovering from a C-section. We have baby mirrors on both headrests so we used those to watch the girls on the ride home.

I know it's customary for the mom to ride in the back seat, but it's not practical with twins (at least it wasn't for me).

 

good question wondering about this myself... we have a jeep liberty and a civic, but my mom will be driving us home in her 4 runner... I think I am going to be in the middle! But normally do you have a baby in the middle and one by the door or both by the door and the middle free?

 

We had the babies behind the driver and passenger seat, with the open seat in the middle. I drove in the front seat with my DH. I didn't even think that maybe I should sit in the back with them! I don't know how I would have gotten in there!

We also had the mirrors and just watched them on the way home. Now I just climb over from the front seat if I want to get in the back with them, but like Leighann said, when our next car goes, we are going to be looking at minivans as well.

 

We started with them on each side but soon switched to one in the middle and the right side. THis works best for me with safety and convienence.

 

one next to the door, the other in the middle. we dont put them each on the door side b/cthen it is too tight and makes the seats shift out of good saftey position and gives whiplash to babies when slam the door.

 

we have a Murano, so when the passenger seat is very far forward, it's easy to climb into the back. We put the car seats on either side. However, funny story, I did not sit in the back when we brought Becca home (Jason, my husband said it was silly) and about 1/2 way home, WHEN WE HEARD NOTHING FROM THE BACKSEAT, Jason looked at me and said "maybe you should have ridden in the back seat."

After that, I squeezed in the back, most of the time, even though it was painful.

GL with the rest of your pregnancy.

 

I have a tiny Toyota Corrolla, in order for the driver to be able to put the seat far enough back to drive there cannot be a carseat there, so we have them in the middle and passenger side, it works well b/c I can get them both in/out from the passenger side.

 

I had the same question when I was pregnant so we made an appt w/ CHP and they set up the car seats for us. They put them on each side of the car right behind the driver and front passenger seat. The CHP doesn't suggest you put them side by side unless you have to. I sometimes sit in the front with my DH and sometimes I'll sit in between them. It's a bit of a hassle because whether we are in my Sedan or his SUV - we have to remove one seat so I can get in and then my DH has to fix it again. But I enjoy sitting in the back with the girls. I'll do it specially if one of them is fussy or if we are going to be on the road for more than 30 minutes.

 

I was always told by experts to put the lightest (most vulnarable) twin in the middle and the larger one on a side. Side by side is not an issue itself, it's just more difficult to install and knowing that 80% of car seats are installed incorrectly makes you wonder. So as long as you install right, the middle seat is safest, but they can be side to side (I had them side by side by I had to with 3 across).

 

In my car, they are set up one behind each front seat. I only ride in the middle if my husband and another adult are with us. I drive a mercedes e300, so it's a mid-size sedan.

Our truck (F-350) has a full-sized crew cab, and its HUGE, so I have them in the middle seat and behind the passenger seat. This is a far better solution if we need to have another adult with us, because there is so much more room.

 

IN the car we had when they were born, I had one on either side. Because we use the latch system we could not put one in the middle. We had no room for anyone to sit between them.

In our new (to us) van, we have them each in a captains seat!

 

Like a lot of pps...we did one on each side (behind driver and passenger). On the way, I rode up front with DH...could have fit between the seats but would have been kind of painfull to get in.

With the convertible car seats, we definitely have no choice but to do them this way in my car (HHR) but in our truck with could have done them middle and side but I decided each side was better. I figured I couldn't decide who would go in the "safer" middle position...if that makes sense.