Where to Place Infant Carseat Along with Toddler Seat in Car Too

Before my 1st child was born, a car safety place told us the safest part will be the middle of the back seat (if you were to be in an accident, the infant will not be directly hit if in the middle) so that's where he was till he was old enough to sit facing fwd. then we put him behind the passenger's seat. so now I am pregnant and I hope to put my 2nd one in the middle while my 4yr old keeps his spot. (I havent tried it but I hope both seats fit ok next to one another). Hope this helps.

You do need to be able to reach your infant, so since you are due in a month I would move your 3.5 year old behind you now so he can become accustomed to it, acknowledging you understand his feelings but that he's now going to be in the "big brother" seat, and the baby will be in the "baby" seat where he has been.

Make the change fun for him, a treat waiting in the carseat when he sits in it behind you for the first time, and show him how you can see him in the rear view mirror. This worked for us and I believe the trick was not waiting to do it when all the other changes were taking place after the birth of the new baby.

Congrats!

We have our 3.5 year old behind the passenger seat and the little sister behind the driver.

If your back seat is wide enough (ours was), you could keep the 3 1/2 year old where his is and put the newborn in the middle. We felt better with our newborn in the middle, and big brother was ok with it, too.

Also, if you have one of those mirrors that you but in the back of the car in order to see your rear-facing child, they work best in the center of the car.

Congrats on the pregnancy! Best of luck.

I have my 3 1/2 year old behind the driver and the 3 month old behind the passenger. I like it this way because I can reach the baby to put his pacifer back in his mouth from the driver's seat.

I always put the neediest child in the Rear Passenger seat. That REALLY varies depending on who is riding with me. Often, it's the toddler, regardless of the makeup of the other passengers... because toddlers tend to need a lot of eye contact (through the rear view), and reaching things back to them / up off the floor and back to them.

Infants are usually "easy" in that if they're irked... nothing will calm them but pulling over and fixing the problem. In no small part because they're rear facing. Toddlers, otoh, I'm talking to, handing things to, etc.

As long as you have a secure installation (go to a site like http://www.seatcheck.org to find your nearest NHTSA-certified child seat fitting station), you can put your baby's seat behind the driver's side or in the center - even though some say statistically the rear center spot is the safest, it's not always possible to put a seat there esp. if you have more than one car seat to install - so generally the safest place to put your car seats is the place where you get the best installations. I have twins and a 1997 Honda Civic so they've always been one behind the driver and one behind the passenger seat

Just move him now so he won't feel pushed out by the baby. We have 2.5 yo twins. We're leaving their car seats in the second row and putting our newborn in the third row. I figure with the rear-facing seats I was never able to reach my boys when they were little, so she'll be fine in the third row.

We put our younger daughter in the middle and the older one behind the passenger seat. The middle is the safest place for the little one. Even though they are now 6.5 and 3.5, they are still in the same positions.

I always put the youngest behind me so that I could just open the door, pop him in, close the door and then get in my seat. I suppose that if you older one can't buckle himself in that you will still have to walk around the car anyway so it may be a moot point but for me, when my kids were 3.5 they could buckle themselves in so I could just open the driver-side rear door, let the big one in to scamper across the seat, then pop the little one in. The only thing I've tried to reach for behind me has been a pacifier, and your older one will be closer and better equipped to do that for you anyway so you can have him on binky patrol.

My 3 year old is behind the passenger seat and my 8 month old is behind the driver seat.

I kept my older one on the passenger side so he could get in and out of the car on the sidewalk side if we parked on the street. My kids are 3 years apart. Now they are older and my 2.5 year old is on the passenger side. My older one knows to be careful near the street and likes to climb across the seat anyway.

I am not sure I understand why you would even move him. Just add infant
carset behind you. They face backwards so it really does not matter where
the baby is, you cannot see him. Why create problems for yourself.

There's not much difference, safety-wise, between being on the passenger or driver's side. I wouldn't bother switching him.

(We have our older one in the middle, and his baby sister is on the passenger side.)