Alright mamas...I Need to Fit 3 Car Seats in Our Car!

Congrats on getting Pregnant. I'm pretty sure you are going to need that Minivan. I had a full size rental car that I had to do this for and it was UGLY (and I have Alpha Omega Elites which are a little smaller than the Marathons). The baby will have to go in the middle because of the shape of the seats and you might not be able to pop the seat in and out. Also whenever I shut the door all the seats got jostled because they were all squished together. Can you imagine having both kids constantly touching the baby and waking him up?? If it is in any way possible, I'd get that bigger car. They do make a special skinny car seat for this reason, but I don't remember what it is called. Its not one of the ones you'd see in stores, you'd have to look online.

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I'm sorry, I think you're going to need a new car or new car seats. I don't think it is possible to fit the 3 car seats you describe in one row (Britax Marathons are not particularly narrow).. :-( Good luck, though.

P.S. I actually LOVE my minivan. I got an Odyssey earlier this year. But since you have a new car, I can understand your reluctance.

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I am kind of confused by your question? You have the car...and you have all 3 car seats...but you are asking us if they will fit? Why don't you try it yourself and see if they fit?

~I think the baby should go in the middle, usually the carrier part of the car seat just snaps into the base...that would be a lot easier than climbing over and buckling the oldest in the middle.

FYI-There are a LOT of other automobile options besides a minivan...if your hubby doesn't want one you guys should look into getting something different.

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You will have to puzzle, and maybe go without the base on the infant seat, but in the Edge it will probably work. I agree your oldest need to be in the middle, and your younger children on the outside. Good news is, your 9mo old can rear face in the Marathon until he's 3 or so, since it will rear face to 35lbs. While rear facing it will fit next to the other Marathon, giving the infant seat more room on the other side of hte middle Marathon.

What you need to do is go to www.safekids.org and find a CPST (Certified passenger safety technician) in your area, or an event with a CPST in your area, and have someone certified and trained to help you so you have the seats installed correctly for sure. The installs need to be independent, yo ucan't share LATCH hooks, so you need some professional help to get them in properly.

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I was a foster mom for years and would line 3 seats in the back of my Buick. They fit nicely, well snugly, but they fit. I would leave the infant and seat out of the car until you got the 3 y/o buckled, then put the infant in backwards. By the time the infant is old enough to turn around the 3 should be able to buckle himself up.

Try putting your three year old in a plain buster seat if he is heavy enough.
Good luck!

I've heard Sunshine Kids car seats are narrow. The website shows a pic with three seats in a row. New seats would be cheaper than a new car :)

I didn't read all the responses but I heard that if the seats are not fitting and have to be leaning at all it is really unsafe. I would try the sunshine kids or something if they don't fit. good luck

Sorry :( But not it an Edge. It's very unlikely that the base of the infant seat will sit in a row with the 2 seats you already have... Your husband will have to settle with the idea of a van, or something large. A gmc acadia, chevy traverse, and the eddie bauer explorer all have bucket seats in the second row, and the 3rd row is very easy to access.

I had my 3rd almost 2 years ago and did exactly the same thing you're doing. My oldest was 3-1/2 when the 3rd came. We have a Dodge Magnum and got the Sunshine Radian for the older 2 and used the Snugride for the baby. My research showed the Snugride to be the skinniest infant seat.
When it was time to move her into a convertible seat, we discovered this Combi seat (referred to me by the fire department). They say that 3 can fit in the backseat of a Toyota Corolla: http://www.combi-intl.com/Products/Item.aspx?Item=12
When it was time to face the baby forward, the 2 Radians and the Combi wouldn't fit so we ended up buying a Chevy Traverse (I too am anti-minivan) with 3 rows, however we could probably have gotten away with replacing one of the Radians with another Combi until the oldest was in a booster.
Good luck. Three so close in age is pretty tricky, but it's so much fun to have 3 best friends playing together.

I'm pretty sure this is legal in the U.S, (if you're in the U.S). I've also seen baby seats put at the front seat of the car facing the back. Until your oldest moves to a booster, why not do that? Maybe you or your husband can sit in the back seat with the two kids while one of you is driving? When my mother-in-law joins us on a drive some where, I have her sit in the front seat, while I sit in the back with my 4 year old whose in the booster, and my 2 year old whose in a baby seat. We also drive a Honda Civic and it works out well.

Ummmmm after two we ended up having to get a new car. Now we have a 2 yr old, 14 month old AND a new one due the end of October. We have a minivan....no way around it and we absolutely don't know what the issue is about people not wanting minivans. They are awesome.....so much space....we get 22 mpg and we paid a little over 10k used for ours with 40k miles on it (we have a buick terraza).

Any kind of sedan with two seats I would think would be a nightmare (after putting my two kids in the back of my dad's!). And those britax seats are NOT small nor narrow. If you want to keep your car and have three seats...you'll need new carseats. What about the roundabout (britax)? When we had our mini cooper we read that those are the best for the small space in the back seat. POSSIBLY you'd be able to get three of those back there....i figure if you can fit two of them in the back of a mini cooper there may be some possibility!

Ha ha ha! Laughing because this was me! 2 Britax Marathons and a third on the way. It was soooooo hard for me to get a minivan, but in the end that is what I did. And I love it now. If you absolutely do not want to go that way, you may need to think about getting Graco boosters or some other kind, they definitely seem slimmer.

Congrats by the way! 3 under 3 is a handful, but it's wonderful!

We had a Toyota Highlander SUV and tried to fit 3 car seats across so that I could carpool with another family to take the kids to preschool and they just did not fit. Those Britax seats are also really big, so I would think that the likelihood of it working is small, but I'm not familiar with what a Ford Edge looks like....maybe it's bigger across than our SUV was. We ended up getting a minivan and I LOVE it! Neither hubby or I were minivan people and weren't actually very excited about it, but it seemed the best fit for our need at the time without driving a huge, gas guzzling SUV. Now that I've had it awhile, I'm totally sold on it! We bought ours used, but paid cash and it is a top of the line model with everything you could imagine in it (DVD player, automatic doors, 5 disc CD changer, etc). I still find new features of this vehicle some days and I've had it for months!

I guess I would say to give it a shot, but with the Britax seats (I know, because we have one), I don't know that it is gonna work. I even tried to use 2 car seats and a booster seat (which is much slimmer than the car seats) and it still wouldn't work. I hope that it works out for you and congrats on the pregnancy!

I will tell you that we did actually fit 3 seats in when my son was a baby, but only as an emergency because we were evacuating for a hurricane and we went with another family. The only way the 2 forward facing and 1 rear facing seats fit was if we strapped the infant seat in without the base and the doors still touched the seats when we closed them. Again, it was an emergency situation, but certainly not ideal long term. Besides, it was a total pain strapping and unstrapping that infant seat in! Using the base is so much easier!

I've had to fit 3 car seats in the back of a sedan type vehicle for a 4, 3 and 1yr old. The infant seat at the end, remove the cupholders, the booster seat in the middle and the other car seat at the other end. Hope that helps

A friend of mine has a Malibu and she managed to fit 2 boosters and a baby seat in the middle, but boosters are slimmer, so I don't know if she could have done it otherwise! I know your car is new, but wow, that sounds like quite can of sardines! My friend does have the baby in the middle and she doesn't love it. The other two boys are constantly playing over him or messing with him but they wouldn't fit any other way. Good luck!

So.. I have 3 children in carseats... I have a now 6 month old, and 2 year old and a 5 year old. I drive a chevy impala and am able to fit all 3 seats in the back. I, after much trial and error, keep my 6 month old in the middle. I would only suggest doing this if your infant seat has the base that stays in the car. This way, the baby will already be in his seat when you take him(or her) out to the car and all you need to do is set him in, or take him out of the base. This leaves the 2 older ones that you will actually have to be leaning over and hooking in on the outsides so you can access them easier without putting your back out!! I always put the baby in first and the other 2 can then climb in and I can then just go to either door, hook them, shut and go!! I would say give it a try. I honestly cant remember how easy it was or wasnt in the beginning but now I am a pro!!! Best of luck to you!

I won't get a mini van either! Our next car will be a 7 passenger suv in New England you need 4 wheel drive. I think the only car seats that are safe to put 3 across are the sunshine radians but you can double check that with some one certified. From the sounds of your seats you will need new ones.