three carseats across? HELP!

I have a Dodge Durango which I feel like I read on a different board people were putting three seats across in, but I can't remember what board I was reading!

We have a Graco Safeseat S32 and a Graco Snugride for the twins we are expecting any day now, and then we have a Britax Boulevard for my 2.5 year old. DH just put the Boulevard behind the passenger seat, then the Snugride in the middle and the Safeseat behind the driver. The two infant seat handles are completely pushing up on each other and making the bases move. DH is going to try to put the Bouleveard in the middle, but I wanted to come here and see if there were any recommendations for possibly a narrower toddler booster seat we could put my toddler in in the middle if the Boulevard is too wide. DS is just 30 pounds so should be able to move up to a booster which we need to do at some point anyway.

Any thoughts/recs!??! please help me brainstorm! What have you other ladies done with twins and a toddler (and no minivan). The Durango is new, so we have to figure out a way to make it work. New carseats are an option... new car is not.

 

I am in the same boat...I'm going to follow this!

 

I need to watch this thread...I am secretly worried that our Britax Roundabout isn't going to fit alongside two Graco Safeseats...we haven't gotten the Graco's yet, so I don't know what will happen until after my baby shower (in April)...but I do know that three Britaxes won't fit in a row...a friend of ours bought a new SUV and wanted a LandCruiser (which is what we have) and when he measured our backseat, he said that they wouldn't fit and ended up having to buy a Sequoia instead to make it work! Yikes!

 

Well, you are NOT going to like my answer, but I will put it out there anyway as food for thought. And because I was desperate for someone to give me a good, relatively easy solution, I even called my local police about this. Unfortunately they didn't tell me what I wanted to hear.

I am in the same boat. Twins on the way, a 34 lb 3 yr old, AND to make matters worse, we have a boat so we need towing capacity...which no minivan really has enough of for our needs. (Our other vehicle is DH's company car.) Up until this month, I was the very happy owner of an Explorer. Now I drive a minivan. And this is why.

Like the Durango, the carseats wouldn't sit properly (read: safely) 3 across. So I, too, wondered about the booster. But here's the problem. If you get t-boned (God forbid...but it COULD happen) in that rear seat area, one of those very hard, made-to-withstand-anything infant carseats will be shoved over...into the middle portion of the seat...where the toddler would be sitting with far less "armor" because he is only in a booster. My mind didn't conjure up very nice images of what would happen to him. It's not like it's just three bodies across - it's one soft body between two pieces of hard plastic. And my local police agreed. The more space you can have between the three, the better.

Really, the only other option that we saw (we put a lot of research into this) was a giant, ridiculously-priced SUV and DH and I just refused to go there. And even though our Explorer did have a 3rd row seat, common sense told us that it would NOT be easily accessible on a daily basis. So now I drive a minivan. This meant eating some lease payments, losing our Ford discount since Ford doesn't make minivans anymore, and having to resign ourselves to storing the boat for a couple-three years until we can come up with a plan B. It was by no means the ideal decision for us, either financially or for our overall needs, but hauling my kids around safely was the biggest priority. Oh, and did I mention that I am so NOT a minivan kinda girl?

My big point to this long-winded reply is that whatever you decide, I would definitely call your local police or fire dept. and have them check out the seating arrangement (most of them happily do free carseat checks anyway), as they know what safely installed carseats should look like, they see first hand what *can* happen when they're not, and will be able to tell you if your kids are going to be safe or not. Perhaps there IS another way out there...I hope so since you have a new SUV!!!... but we weren't able to come up with any that we were comfortable with.

Eve

 

QUOTE(faerieprncs @ Mar 14 2009, 12:00 PM) [snapback]1227962[/snapback]
I need to watch this thread...I am secretly worried that our Britax Roundabout isn't going to fit alongside two Graco Safeseats...we haven't gotten the Graco's yet, so I don't know what will happen until after my baby shower (in April)...but I do know that three Britaxes won't fit in a row...a friend of ours bought a new SUV and wanted a LandCruiser (which is what we have) and when he measured our backseat, he said that they wouldn't fit and ended up having to buy a Sequoia instead to make it work! Yikes!


My SIL has two marathons and then an Eddie Bauer (I think) seat three across in an Expedition.

After some further research I found the Radian 80 or XT seems to be the narrowest booster (ETA: this is NOT a booster... I'm using the wrong term. It is a convertible carseat.) on the market and it starts at 22 pounds instead of 30 so DS could go into it now. If the Boulevard doesn't fit in the middle, I think we're going to try the Radian (pricey but way cheaper than a Sequoia!!). Our hope is to then have the two boulevards and the Radian... I hope it works!

http://www.elitecarseats.com/Sunshine-Kids-Radian-XT.pro

 

I had a small SUV and didn't think a third row SUV would work because I didn't want to have to crawl over the 2nd seat so we too got a minivan. I never thought I would but I am so happy that I did. I am very happy with the bells and whistles of the vehicle and I can tow our boat (it's just under 3K lbs) so we have everything we need. I couldn't have asked for a better vehicle for my babies and dd. Good luck with your decision.

 

QUOTE(Dalidigger @ Mar 14 2009, 03:45 PM) [snapback]1228062[/snapback]
I had a small SUV and didn't think a third row SUV would work because I didn't want to have to crawl over the 2nd seat so we too got a minivan. I never thought I would but I am so happy that I did. I am very happy with the bells and whistles of the vehicle and I can tow our boat (it's just under 3K lbs) so we have everything we need. I couldn't have asked for a better vehicle for my babies and dd. Good luck with your decision.


True confessions here...I'm kinda liking the minivan, too. All of those automatic doors are the coolest thing...I think they'll be a lifesaver when I have to wrestle with a toddler and two carseats. Like you said it has great bells and whistles, it's comfy, and has amazing storage capacity (way more than my Explorer had)!

We looked at an Expedition in hopes that somehow we could make that work, but truthfully, for the extra size (and price!!!!) there was NO extra interior room to speak of...and pitiful (NO) storage w/ the 3rd row seat. And it was higher off the ground, which to me says PITA to get little kids/babies in and out of. So we went to Plan B.

I'm jealous that you can pull your boat - ours is over 3K and we have only steep, wet ramps to work with so it was just too close to max capacity, but regardless, I AM liking mine, too...just like everyone told me I would, dang it. :blush:

Eve

 

I had a little nissan sentra before finding out i was pregnant with twins, I now have a dodge nitro i can fit both graco snugride carseats on the door side and my son whos 3 in the middle in his car seat. I dont feel safe putting him in a booster yet, and i dont want to have to figure out how to buckle it in the middle seat anyway ha. But mine fit across safely!

 

I have an Explorer and have a toddler who has an Evenflo triumph. When the twins come, she'll move to the center and have one twin on either side in Graco Snugride seats. THey fit just fine!

 

We have a Honda Pilot ... and the kids are in the Radian 80s by Sunshine Kids ... we have a full sized adult able to sit between the car seats ... they are really nice, REALLY safe, and really narrow.

 

Here's a thread in PC about a car that can fit three carseats. :good:

 

I also have two Radian 80's and they are small and super safe. Not to mention that they go from 5-80pds and have an expiration period of 7 yrs rather than the typical 6 so it probably would be the only car seat you would need for your child(ren). If you don't want to spend the $200 for a carseat I would say that Target sells a Cosco car seat, not a convertible, but it goes from 20-80(either 80 or 100) that could be used for anyone who has a toddler that does not want to put them in a booster and it's roughly $50-60 so much cheaper and is roughly only 16 inches at the seat so it fits with two infant seats in most cars. They also sell this seat at Kmart and Walmart. And on another note the rule for boosters in 4yrs and 40pds and they are minimums it is always best to keep children in any seat as long as they are within the weight limit for the seat.

 

So it sounds like maybe we'd be ok putting a Boulevard between the infant seats for now and then putting a Radian between two Boulevards (that we already have) once the twins are out of the infant seats. DH will try putting our toddler in the middle tomorrow. Keeping our fingers crossed! Our SUV is less than a year old. I am not anti mini van (per se) but taking a huge loss on our new SUV right now really isn't an option. We'd have to use the third row and have it be a major pain before getting something new.

I do hope that the seats are safe three across and will research that further. I don't want my toddler to be at risk/not safe in the middle between two infant seats. I am not planning on putting him in a booster there (like I mentioned in my OP)... hopefully a convertible seat in the center is safe. Thank you for bringing that to my attention though. It didn't occur to me!

 

We have an Explorer, and three REAR-facing carseats. Our twins are 26 months and BARELY 22 lbs. our 8 month old son is 17lbs....

We currently have a Cosco convertible carseat, Graco Convertible (similar to the Cosco) and a First Years True Fit convertible car seat.

All 3 fit rear facing across the second row in the Explorer. THat being said, it is a serious PITA for me (5 feet tall) to climb up and buckle in the middle kid. DH, who is 5'11", can buckle middle child in just fine.

It's not ideal, but definetly doable. We're working the minivan angle right now ourselves, trying to figure out how to trade in our Explorer and GET a minivan (no one wants to take SUV's these days, hmmm, imagine why??)

In a pinch, we've also put up the 3rd row, one child forward facing (won't fit rear-facing) in their carseat with an adult sitting back there also, to make room in the second row for more adults. We do this RARELY as it takes TIME to get the dynamics right, and it's just downright a huge PITA to get to the 3rd row, or buckle the kid in, or, well, whatever... not to mention it's not very comfortable riding back there, even for a short, 5 foot person like myself...

 

We are going to buy Toyota Sienna 8 passanger seats and put all 3 car seats in 2nd row.
we will have 2 instant car seats ( probably maxi cosi) and our son in the booster seat/car seat SafeGuard Go booster seat I really like this booster car seat it narrow and very flexible and has 5 point harness.
and in Sienna they have 3 full size seats.