Hi everyone,
I'm now the proud Mama of 3. A 5 and a half year old, a 2 and a half year old and a 5 week old. Our Acura MDX does not have the hooks in the middle of the back seat so our 5 year olds booster seat will have to go there. The 3 seats fit across but my 5 year old can't access the part that she clicks the seat belt into, the 'receiving end' isn't visible because there's not enough space between the car seats. I do have a 3rd row but I'd prefer to have the 3 kids in the middle row. The 3rd row doesn't seem as safe to me. I've researched 'seatbelt extenders' which I think would be the perfect solution but the national highway safety commission (or something like that) told me that they're only intended for very large people, not kids in car seats, and that they've never been tested. Does anyone out there know of a car seat with a narrower base?
Thanks.
We have a Radian 65 made by Sunshine Kids, which we love. One of the reasons we bought it was because it had one of the narrowest bases available. Also had excellent safety ratings and very good reviews, not super expensive, and washable. My daughter loves it. Got it at target.com
Hi M.,
I too have an Acura MDX, and yes, it's hard to fit them all in the second row, but I agree with you about wanting them there. You might try the carseats made by Sunshine Kids. They're well rated and I know several people who have three across--best still, they have one that looks like a booster but has a 5 point harness for your 5 year old. You can find them on elitecarseats.com.
Good luck,
J.
don't have personal experience but a friend of mine has three car seats in a row across the back seat and said there's a brand called "Sunshine" that makes it so they fit
I have 3 seats in the back seat of my Magnum. My 4- and 2-year olds sit next to each other in Sunshine Radians (ours go to 65 pounds, but they make them to 80 pounds) - http://www.elitecarseats.com/Sunshine-Kids-Radian.pro?gcl...
My 10-month old sits in the Combi seat - http://www.combi-intl.com/Products/Item.aspx?Item=12 - it's new and I believe it's the skinniest one out there.
Good luck.
try the Radian 80 carseat. I saw it on One Step Ahead and Amazon and everyone talked about how you could fit 3 of them in a backseat. Very sturdy apparently. Good luck!
Try calling your county police department and ask to speak to the person who conducts child seat safety checks. In NY State, it's 4 days of intense training to get certified as one of these experts. I bet you will find out that they will have some recommendations for you. In case you have a problem tracking someone down, I know that in NY there is a specialized officer in Croton-on-Harmon, Greenburg, North Castle and in CT in Greenwhich. Good luck to you!
Hi M.. We have an Acura MDX as well and I have three kids (7, almost 5 and almost 1), so I figured I'd respond. I had the older two in the third row for a while, but then decided to put them all in the middle row (baby on end, with two booster seats next to him) as I found it was easier for me. The way we do it is that I buckle the baby in, whomever is sitting middle middle buckles in by moving the window carseat all the way over to the door, then the person by the window either is helped by me buckling them in (I slide the carseat all the way over to the door, buckle them in and then slide the carseat back over so the two carseats are touching) or if it's my oldest child, she can buckle in and then shimmy her seat over by herself. Our booster seats are Graco and our baby is in the Britax (Marathon I believe).
Hope this helps you out. Your 5 year old should be able to buckle in shortly (if he can't already), which will make your like easier. It's amazing how the little things make such a difference!! Good luck!
I have the RECARO car seats. This is the same company that makes the seats for the cars that race in the Indy 500. Very safe and I bought them because I needed 2 car seats in my VW beetle. I will say when we had number 3 in December we did keep our car for about 2 months but it just became too much of a pain so we bought a pre owned Honda that looks brand new!!! The Tarrytown Honda dealership has a guy that works there Rich Miller..... he will find you what you are looking for and it will look great!! I do not know what we would do at this point without our VAN!!!! I hated to do it because I always buzzed around in my VW but it is what it is and we love it!! Although I did keep my VW for when I am running with just one or 2 of the kiddies!!! Good luck !!!
M.,
I ran in to the same problem with my girls (triplets)Once they moved to a booster seat I moved one of them to the center in the 3rd row...what a pain in the behind! I ended up with a minivan, took out one of the bucket seats to allow easier access to the back row and had 2 in the back and one in the second row. With the extra seat removed it was easy to buckle in the 2 in the back. Good luck...good news...those seats won't last forever :0 J.
What kind of seat do you have?
The graco and evenflo turboboosters are a little narrower than the britax ones, I think. We have an evenflo booster and a graco booster in our cars - the graco was the kind that went from harness to booster seat and it's sometimes hard to see the belt holder when we have other people (or another seat) in our car.
Call your local firehouse or police station and ask them if they have a car seat inspector. I think you will find they will tell you that it is safer for the children to have at least 1 in the 3rd row in the middle position. I would find a car seat insector and see what they say. If the safety commision told you that car seat extenders were never tested I would NOT try it. A.
