How do you configure your car seats in your mini-van

Hi everyone - I'm just visiting from the expecting webboard. A few months ago I asked about cars and everyone advised getting a mini-van, which we finally did this week and are very excited (we got the Toyota Sienna - so fancy!). We have a LO who will be four next month (still in a regular car seat as he is small), and we are expecting our twins next month. I'm wondering where everyone in similar situations puts their car seats? I worry about DS feeling isolated way in the back of the van, but on the other hand it seems like it might be a pain to click the infant seats in anywhere but the two middle seats. I feel like all three of them will need me! I'm just curious to hear how others configure their vans. Thanks! Laura

 

I love my Sienna. :welcome: to the mini van club. You will love it.

As for the car seats, we put the boys in the Captains chairs and DD in the back for a long time. She never complained about riding in the back by herself. Then when the boys were mobile, we put 2 seats in the back (removed one of the captains chairs) and let them pick and choose who sits where. Now we are back to one in the back and in the captains chairs, but they pick who rides where :headbang: The possibilities are endless when they get older. :lol:

 

My DS was in a 5pt harness until September (5 1/2 yrs) and DD1 still is. They both go in the back and the girls in the capt seats. The only thing we reconfigured was changing DD1 from rear to forward facing because it was next to impossible to get her buckled while rf-ing. I love having the older kids in the back because they are able to tell me what the babies are doing (i.e. choking).

 

We have a Sienna too, and I have always had the middle row slid over to one side, with the twins in those captains chairs, and the other 3 kids, in the back.

 

After reading a thread on here a couple of months ago, I had fully intended on putting our twins in the 3rd row and leaving our 5YO in one of the captain's chairs in the second row of our Quest, and also taking out the other captain's chair for good access to the 3rd row. However, we ended up putting our 5YO (who is in a 5pt harness Graco Nautilus seat) in the 3rd row afterall, on the side. I can easily reach him from the side door to help with his buckling, and it's much easier to get the infant seats in when I don't have to climb in the car to do it.

Whatever works, right?

 

My 4yr old is in the back and does just fine back there. I can unbuckle her from the door, although sometimes when she's being difficult I have to get in. Otherwise this setup works for us.

 

We put the now 5 year old in the back seat and the twins in captains chairs in the middle. We have the chairs pushed together so the 5 year old can get in the back. He was in a 5pt until November and thankfully he was able to buckle himself. He now in a belt positioner (finally tall enough) and he can still buckle himself.

 

Ditto!

 

I have a pontiac montana and I couldn't leave both captain chair in or else I couldn't get to the 3rd row at all to get my 3 year old in. We took out one captain and put one our three year old in the 3rd row along with one bucket and the other bucket in the remaining middle seat. It is kinda a pain at times to get all the way into the back of the van to get the bucket out but it is the only way we have enough room. I put down floor mats and a rug to save me knees from the spot where the catains chair once was and it works well. best of luck

 

We have a Honda Odyssey and put our older daughter (3)in the back, with my twin boys (10mos) in the captain's chairs. They all love the configuration because the rear-facing boys can watch her, and she them! She thinks it is great to be "mommy's helper" and tell me what each one is doing. And of course they find her very entertaining. It can be tight but she just walks to back on her own and I lean over one of the chairs to buckle her in. When the boys get older and are forward-facing we are planning to remove one of the middle captains and have two kids in the back, one in the 2nd row. Should have a lot more dog/shopping bag room that way!

 

We dropped one of our stow-and-go 2nd row seats, put the 3.5yo in the other one (on passenger side) and the babies in the back. It's nice to be able to still easily interact w/ my older son, pass him snacks, etc., and there's not much I can do for the babies that doesn't require me to be parked anyway. Plus, dropping the other captain's seat gives us all room to pile in and then get situated...very helpful in inclement weather!

Eve

 

all 3 in the back row...baby - toddler/preschooler - baby....it works best for us because we also have kiddos in the middle seats..putting the infant seats in the middle made it so the kids couldn't get through to sit in the back, so we go to the extra step of folding the seats (they are captain's chairs) in the middle down when we load/unload...

 

We just purchased the honda odessay as well. We put the 2 captain chairs to one side and put the twins in them and my 2.5 DS is in the back, he can easily walk through and it's super easy for me to buckle him in.

It is weird to have him way in the back like that, but so far (one week) it hasn't been bad. The worst part was when him and I went somewhere alone and he was all the way in the back and I was driving.

I figured it will be nice next year when they are all forward facing and he can sit in one of the captain chairs if need be.

 

When we were looking at SUVs and minivans we were told that you are not supposed to put the infant seats in the 3rd row (if you look on carseat guides for your particular car it usu says this). At any rate, we have a large SUV and our 2.5 year old is in the 3rd row, he doesn't mind and the infant carseats in the two captain chairs. Regardless of it (apparently) not being safe to put the infant seats in the 3rd row, it would also be *really* hard to schlep those infant carseats into the 3rd row.

Good luck! I"m sure your toddler won't care about being in the back!

 

Thanks everyone! So far it has worked out really well having DS in the far back. The car is so quiet that we can still have conversations, which was one of my big fears. Hopefully he'll keep wanting to stay back there. He's in the middle, so I have to crawl back there with my huge twin-tummy and buckle him in, but thankfully most of the time DH is there to do it - ha ha.