2Nd Baby Car Seat

My two boys are 2 years and 8 days apart...we decided to put both car seats next to the doors. My concern was that my 2 year old would try to "help" calm his baby brother and inadvertently harm his baby brother. Also, if the toddler should be in a bad mood, he might take out his frustrations on the innocent baby placed next to him. Just my two cents!

Hi,
Congrats on new baby. The second option is good,Unless somebody is constantly riding with you.Its also difficult to sit in the middle.My mom faced that when she came to help me out.

Dear M.,

Just to be safe and aviod any problems I would put them on either side rather than right next to eachother.

The two year old might not understand not touching the little one whenever he or she likes and if you are driving and the two year old starts being too rough or toughing the baby too much you might be distracted from focusing on the road.

Good luck,

N.

My son was 22 months old when his sister was born. Because the recommendation generally is to have the car seat in the middle of the back seat, we wanted to put my daughter's rear-facing seat in the middle, but our car would not accommodate that arrangement, so we put them each on a side next to the door. It's tight, but we actually have been able to have people ride in the back seat between them. It's getting easier now that my son is in a booster, my daughter in a front-facing less bulky car seat and about ready to move to a booster herself.

Good luck and enjoy your soon to arrive little angel.

N.

Hi M.. Yes we went thru this. It is safest to have the baby in the middle from what I understand. We put our toddler behind the driver and the baby in the middle so another passenger could sit next to them and have access to the third row seating. My hubby finds it hard to get to the baby but it works for me and our passengers are comfy too. You just have to access the baby from the other passenger door. My only concern was that as they get older they tend to kinda fight a little but so far so good and they're almost 2 & 4!! Good luck!

We have a 26 month old and a 1 month old. We had the infant seat in the middle and my sons seat by the door for the trip home from the hospital and one trip to the doctor. We had to move the infant seat next to the other door because our son would not quit poking at his little sister as we were driving! I was afraid he was going to hurt her because she was very much within his reach. I know being in the middle is safest but when you factor in the toddler i really don't think it's safe. If your toddler isn't as curious as mine you might be able to get away with having the baby in the middle.

We faced the same dilema and ended up having our baby in the middle and our toddler behind the passenger seat for about the first six months. Once we moved the baby to a larger car seat we moved him behind the driver's seat. One of the main reasons we did it this way was that when the infant seat was rear facing it was harder to fit directly behind a seat without having to move to drivers seat forward alot. Another pro to having the baby next to the toddler was that our toddler was able to give the baby his binky when he was upset and entertain him while in the car. It can also prove to be a con if the toddler decides to be mischevious and bother the baby. Now that we have the middle seat free, I have put a canvas bin from target in between the seats and filled it with books and toys. It fits perfectly in between the two seats and both children are able to reach in and grab an activity to do in the car. I would recomend putting the older child behind the passenger seat so that if they are able to exit and enter a car by themselves they are closest to the curb. Good Luck!

Hi M.,
We opted for the babyseat in the middle and the toddler booster on the passenger side. However, Our toddler would not leave his baby sister alone! Now they sit with the space in the middle open.
Good Luck!

According to the CHP and the hospital in my area, you have to put the infant in the middle, so of course, we did just that! We have leather seats and the middle seat belt makes installing a seat very difficult because it is attached to the car ceiling, so I went to my local CHP office and had them install it. It took two men to put it in correctly so that it didn't shift loose.

Hi!
Think about how often you might have someone else riding with you vs. having the two kids close together... when baby is new, it's easy and fun for the older to help, get the binky, etc., but as they age, you will wish hard for a police car and piece of plexiglass to separate them!!!!! We put both of our kids on the door sides and right away, it alleviated the strain in my back from getting to the middle, so that was a plus... We also took the initiative and moved the older before the baby came and before we got to the point of putting the second seat in so she was used to it and didn't associate it with the baby. With two kids, we actually bought a suv and I pushed hard for one with a third row and we have been amazed how often we use it. when the older gets to a booster, it's easy to move them to the back with one adult or their friend and the younger's seat stays latched in it's spot, with space for another kid or adult in the middle, too. Real plus when grandparents come, they don't have to rent a car, we all fit.
But day to day, it's far easier and safer to have them on opposite sides of the car! Good luck and have fun!

The shoulder belts are safer - the middle seat usually just have lap belts.. I have my middle seat free which yes is terribly uncomfortable if anyone has to sit there, but the kids are safer cause the shoulder belts lock in a crash and the lap belts don't.

Congratulations on your soon to be new addition.

WE currently have our two year on the passenger side in the back and the infant car seat in the middle. It works fine for us. She will be going into a convertible car seat next month then we will move her to the side. Then, noone will be able to ride with us until we get a van or whatever.

My daughters are 2 years and 5 months apart and we were faced with the same decision. Actually it ended up being made by the girls, as our little one was actually a happier baby in the car when she was next to her sister and could see her face. We originally did it with the opening in between them and then moved the little one when we had someone else in the car. As it turns out, they were happier the closer together they were. You might try it both ways and see if one is better for your boys. Congratulations!

When my second child was born, I placed her in the middle for the first 6 months, then I moved her to the door side.

It all depends on how your older child will interact with the baby and if your older child will be eating or playing in the car, you might want to seperate them. You don't want the newborn to get hit or fed something by accident.

We tried putting our newborn in the middle, next to our son's seat. Unfortunately, my son couldn't keep his feet out of his baby sister's eyes, so we took it back to the CHP check place and got help reinstalling it by the other door. We gave it a month's time to see if our son would stop, but I felt our daughter was more at risk of loosing an eye that being injured in an accident.

A lot of it depends on which set up gives you the most secure installations. Depending on the make and model of your cars and carseats, sometimes it's difficult to get good tight installations of two carseats side by side.

What I've read from many certified child-passenger safety techs is that if you can get equally good installations in any set up, the child in the least protected seat would go in the middle. Rearfacing seats provide more protection than forward facing harnessed seats and FF harnessed seats provide more protection than boosters. So if you had a rearfacing and forward facing harnessed seat that could fit well side by side, the forward facing seat would go in the center and the rearfacing seat on one side. But the most important thing is that each carseat is properly and securely installed (i.e. better to have two seats securely installed in the rear-driver's side and rear passenger-side seats rather than having a wobbly install in the center and one on the side.)

some useful sites for reference
www.car-safety.org
www.carseatsite.com
www.seatcheck.org
www.carseat.org
http://boards.babycenter.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=bcus... (babycenter.com Car Safety Tips bulletin board, lots of CPS Techs are regulars here, great place to post car safety questions)

Put the infant carseat in the middle and the front facing one on the side, probably better behind passanger seat so you can easily see the child better if needed. good luck!

Try the infant carrier in the middle seat and see how it is on your back. Can you get it in and out without hurting yourself? If yes, then the middle seat is very safe for the car seat. For me, I couldn't lift the car seat and climb into the car without hurting my back. We ended up putting a car seat at each door. On the rare occasion we need to have another adult in the car, one of us sits between the car seats.

We put infant seat in middle and my son on rear passenger side. We just recently moved my daughter's seat to the other window (she's now two) because they were fighting too much being able to touch each other etc. I actually had to pull over several times to break it up it had gotten so bad. Now we can ride in peace, but she is much older and I don't worry as much now that she is bigger.

M.,
I would put the infant seat rear facing of course in the middle and your toddler on either side of the car near window. IF something were too happen, he is a long stronger with next support and body support than a brand new baby. Get good toddler car seat that have the special foam protection stuff inside the seat. Impact protection, I know it comes in the Britax brand car seats. Just do your research, but baby is much more fragile and should be put in the middle.
trish

Many years ago when I was doing child care, I had to drive my son to school...which meant that I had to take the kids with me. I sometimes had four in car seats. But I only kept the number of car seats that I needed on any given day. I found that the easiest was outside edges. But probably not for the reasons you would expect. It made it harder for them to reach each other....thus not able to take each others toys, wake the one that was sleeping, etc. But if I was you now, I'd probably check online and see if there are safety guidelines as well. Good luck!
A.

The safety of your children is way more important than the comfort of an occasional passenger. You may also load the passenger in the middle, before loading one of the car seats. And od check out the CHP recommendations!

CHP stations have trained staff who will install carseats (for free!) so make an appt & have them install the infant seat. They'll assess & then install the seat in the correct seat. When we had our second son, I had a Subaru Legacy wagon (lap belt only in the middle) & our older son was in a booster on the paasenger side. I went to our CHP & they figured out that the infant seat base wouldn't fit in the middle next to the booster seat, it was too tight, so it was installed on a window side. I had my younger son on the passenger side so that if I was parked at a curb, I could safely get him outa his seat & then my older son crawled across & under the infant seat to get out. Since he was 4.5 when his brother was born, if we parked in a lot, he knew to 'skim' along the car to get over to his brother's side.....meaning he walked around the car w/sliding his whole body against the car. So, make an appt. at the CHP & see what they suggest.

We went based on where the LATCH system was in the car. My husband's truck has them next to each other (one in middle and one passenger side). I have a Suburban with 2nd row buckets so they are each by a door. Assuming since the cars are coming with LATCH system in middle and on one side, that is considered safe...

M.,

Put the infant seat in the middle and the front facing seat on one side of the car.

Molly

My suggestion would be to find a Certified Car Seat Technician. They will give you advice based on your car, car seats, children, etc.
CHP is also a good place for information if the person is a car seat technician. Use the following website to find a safety seat check up event near you: free events where car seat technicians give free advice and hands on instructions on installing a car seat(s). You can also find technicians in your area on that web page.
http://www.safekids.org/certification/index.html

Good Luck.

Our son was born when our daughter was 25 months old. We put them on opposite sides of the back seat leaving the middle empty. Yes it does make it pretty impossible for anyone to ride with you but that's how the seats fit the best in our back seat.

Even when it was just my daughter, the CHP guy who installed her seat did so on one side not the middle because we couldn't get the seat to tighten down as tight as it needed to be when put in the middle.

So, the best way/places to install a seat is where it is the most secure... and that won't necessarily be the middle.

I put my kids on either side because I didn't want my older one messing with the baby if he was trying to sleep. If I have passengers they either deal with the middle seat or I take the base out and move the rear facing seat to the middle (it doesn't fit next to the regular car seat otherwise).

baby in the middle and the older kid on the passenger's side. Statistically the driver's side is the one most likely to be hit