Narrowest seats? Newborn twins +19mo to fit in back of car, help!

[arabella36]

which seats would you recommend to fit in a row in the back seat of a car? Any advice on which seats are narrowest would be much appreciated. It will be 2 newborns and a 19 month old.TIA

[lljkk]

Britax prince for the 19 month old; I have a feeling the cheapest newborn seat in Argos (Fisher Price) was quite narrow, too.

[KristinaM]

Well it depends on what kind of buggy /car seat you are using?

[sunshineandshowers13]

also dpends on your car dimensions. remember we spent weeks trying to buy the widest back seated car available in our price range (3yr old, 12thold and nb). Try autotrader for dimensions or manufacturers websites. used to be the parkers car guide but pretty sure not any more. Alos we found that wider seats meant smaller boots! good luck

[WalterFlipschicks]

I have a VW Passat Saloon, I have a britax ( the one you use with an ordinary seatbelt as DS is 3) also have the prince in another vehicle and agree that is very narrow, I have maxi cosi Easy fix bases x 2 and cabriofix car seats x 2.
The shop I bought them from tried them all in for me to check the fitted and they fit fine with DS in middle (proper seatbelt not lapbelt)
It's worth taking your car to the shop and asking them to try them in to see.
I had to go for belted bases as the isofix ones wouldn't fit due to them having to be in an exact position to fit, the belted ones you have a degree of flexibility in it's positioning.

[arabella36]

Thanks very much for all the advice. I'm trying to work out if I can get away without changing my car!

[littlemisslozza]

We've just had this dilemma (although with 3 under 4 years old, not twins) and eventually decided that a car with three separate proper seats in the back was the answer! We've traded our Laguna in for a Ford S-Max which will give us more versatility in years to come anyway. The middle seat was just too squashed in the Laguna.
Hope you find a solution, good luck!

[arabella36]

Thanks, the S-max seems to be one of the more attractive people carriers I've noticed! Some seem to look like vans

[TruthSweet]

Try going to the Essex In Car Safety Centre.

We went there to fit a 3rd rfing seat in our car and they took the details of what fitted where to add to their 3 across records.

If you have a Mazda Premacy you can get a Britax Two Way Elite, a Britax First Class and a Britax Nordic Secura all rfing in the back. I'm sure you don't have a Mazda Premacy though

[sazm]

we have the britax eclipse and find it pretty narrow (its basically the same seat as the prince,but it reclines while fitted,whereas the prince needs to be fitted either upright or reclined)
before that we had a maxi-cosi cabrio and it was pretty narrow too (we couldnt fit the base in though as it made it wider.
go to halfords/mothercare/local babyshop and they should be able to try some in your car for you xx

[KristinaM]

So what you actually need to know is will your car take 3 combination 0+ car seats in the back seat? Otherwise you will need another car in 6 months, even if you can fit one car seat plus two baby carriers.

We had to change our car too when baby no 3 came along as ours wouldn't take 3proper car seats. I went to lots of car show rooms with my 2kids and a third seat and asked the sales people to fit them into their cars. I was amazed how many suggested to me that I put my very small 4yo into a booster seat.Yeah, because buying your shiny new car with the go faster stripes and shiny hub caps is more important to me than my children safety

I was usually told that the person who knew how to fit car seats was n their day off

Another thing you need to watch is that many of the mini people carriers access the back row of seats by folding down the middle seat, which of course you can't do if it has a car seat on it. So the child has to climb in via the tail gate ( over the double or triple buggy)

Remember you will need the babies to be in the car seat on the side and not in the middle, or you will hurt your back trying to lift them in and fasten the straps . If you think a baby is heavy, wait until you try it with a tantrum ing toddler

[NonnoMum]

If it helps, we used a Citroen Xsara Picasso for our 3 under 4. It has 3 full sized seats across the back.

Just a suggestion (and correct me if I'm wrong), but could one of the baby seats go in the front (with the air bag turned off), leaving the middle seat in the back free, or for the second adult?? (apologies in advance if this is out-of-date and not allowed anymore, but I always had my first child in the front next to me (rear facing) with the air bag off...

[arabella36]

Thanks very much for that advice everyone, having read all the messages I think a car change will be needed, I hadn't thought of a couple of those points made. Thanks again. Kristina - you paint a vivid and horrifying picture of car-use with 3 kids

[sazm]

kristina - infant carriers do upto 13kg,so unless your lo's are really tall you should be able to use them until about 16-18months,
when you need to change them to the next stage seat you could move your eldest up to a highbacked booster with harness/one with an impact cushion if needed)
i managed to fit my 3 into the back of a 3 door corsa safely,so im sure you will manage!!!
other thing to watch is that some people carriers (renults) you cant actually put a child seat in the middle of the back seat due to the way the seatbelt comes down from the roof.

[justforinfo]

another thing, if the seats have a support leg, like the maxi cosi easyfix bases, and you have floor storage in front of the rear passenger seat then the base can't be used!
Also if 1 child was to go in the front then put the oldest with the airbag switched off and the babys in the back x

[KristinaM]

I had to stop using my Jane infant carriers before 12 months as my babies were too long, they would brace their feet against the car seat and push the carrier backwards

Also I don't know if my back would have coped with lifting a 13 kg baby plus seat in and out of the car. I only lift 20 kg at the gym, and thats in a safe lifting position, not bending in and stretching forward, as you do in a car. But I am probably a wimp

[arabella36]

Thanks very much for those last few tips, I've just seen them and they are useful pointers.

I'll probably find myself in kristina's position as my eldest baby grew out of the maxi-cosi babyseat before she was around 10 months. Unless the twins turn out to be smaller of course.

Thanks again everyone

[sazm]

you dont have to lift the seat though,i just left mine in the car when my kids got too heavy,tbh if its strapped in correctly then it shouldnt move no matter how hard they push with their legs!

[aswellasyou]

I was just thinking the same about pushing the seat backwards. I don't see how a properly fitted seat could be moved by a child when I couldn't move it backwards as an adult. I also have rarely taken my daughter's seat out of the car and surely you wouldn't be taking out a group 1 seat with the child in anyway, so it makes no difference which seat type you have in that sense. Kristina, I don't mean to pick apart your post but I worry that a child would be moved into a group 1 seat (usually forward facing) without just cause.

[KristinaM]

my children moved from a baby carrier to a rear facing car seat. I#m not aware of any evidence that this is less safe than a baby carrier but would be grateful if you have any links on this

[sazm]

Kristina - its not less safe if you have moved them to a rearfacing seat,
however - if it was a forward facing seat at 11months then it wouldn't be safer to move them.

[aswellasyou]

Oh sorry Kristina, I was making the assumption that you put them in forward facing seats. I'm still getting used to the idea that you all seem to use rear facing seats in this section! The ones I'm looking at buying are suitable from birth so I guess there's not necessarily a difference in safety. I'd be interested to know about whether or not there's any reason you shouldn't move a 9kg baby into a 9kg+ rear facing seat actually.

[sazm]

no reason not to move them up aswellasyou - the only reason not to move them up at 9kg is if you were moving them to a forward facing seat :)