AIBU to use a BubbleBum booster seat?

[Chocoholic26]

So I’ve been struggling to find a suitable solution to a car seat issue. We have two DC 4 and 6 and a new baby on the way. When baby arrives eldest will be 6.5. We cannot afford to buy a bigger car. I thought that we would be able to put either baby or eldest in hbb in front with air bag off and have an adult in the back. Unfortunately the way our back seats are means that adults physically cannot fit without pushing the seats into an unsafe position. I’ve researched narrow hbb etc and even the narrowest that I can find still doesn’t allow an adult to sit in the back. So the only solution I’ve found is having one dc in the front when only dh or I are in the car and then when we both are putting eldest dc in the back in the middle on a bubblebum? I’ve always been very cautious with car seat safety and eldest has only just gone from rear facing into a hbb. This is what puts me off a multimac too as the baby seat only rear faces to 13kg otherwise I would have invested. Argh, help, will the bubblebum be okay? He is a big boy for his age and very sensible if that helps? I can’t see any other way of doing it.

I don't think it will stand up to daily use. Ww had one for a holiday and the cover split.

Have you joined one of the erf groups on Facebook. Often see people posting what car they have and their requirements and people will suggest the seat combos that work.
At a glance it doesn't look great but again the groups will know better

Short answer: Yes, it will work quite well in this situation, and it's safer than nothing at all, which is an allowed solution if you cannot fit a third child seat between two others.

But let's see if there's an even better solution.

What car seats do you already have? Perhaps you could swap one (or both) for a narrower seat, which may allow for more space.

As your eldest is on a HBB, would the HBB fit in the middle (isofix is optional on HBB seats) to allow an adult room on the side?

I'm guessing your 4yo is in a 25kg ERF seat if the 6yo has only just gone FF - could you fit this in the front seat? Does your airbag disable?

What about the 25kg ERF in the back middle seat? (If allowed over transmission hump) with the HBB on one side?

(Thought of one more question, sorry!)

When the adult sits in the middle and pushes the other two seats, is it hips or shoulders that is the problem?

I definitely suggest as above to join the Facebook car seat group as they deal with general seat safety and work out combos.

Here's the link:
www.facebook.com/groups/CSAUK/?ref=share

What's the narrowest high back you've found? As I seem to recall the Britax Adventure or Graco matching one (think it's the junior) are two of the narrowest

Thanks for your replies. So youngest is in an axkid minikid and eldest is in a Cybex X fix, it’s pretty narrow and I’ve put the isofix away and just belted it in. I’ve tried all the combinations and still feel that when an adult is in the back either in middle or side seat we are still pushing the car seats out of their natural position. It’s more our hips than our shoulders. It’s a bmw 320 and the sides of the seats are just so big and sloped that you can’t push the seats wider. Argh.

Yes, I’m a member of all the erf groups on Facebook. I’ve not directly asked about the bubblebum on them as feel I’d get shot down and told to buy a new car! Eeek!

Have you tried the middle child in the front, and an adult, rear facing baby seat, and a hbb in the back?
Harnessed seats were the worst stage for us when getting an adult in the back with 2 seats.

I wouldnt use a bubblegum for daily use - and i say that as someone who had 2 kids on trunki seats in taxis when I didnt have a car.

Yes I think the britax adventure is slightly narrower than the Cybex one we have but I felt for a cm or so the safety ratings weren’t as good, which is sounds ridiculous now that I’m considering the bubblebum

I wouldn’t with a 6 year old. In a similar position with my 5 & 3 year old, we ended up trading in my car & spending a couple of grand instead of getting a car on finance etc. Can you not stretch to a bigger car at all?

I thought the basic booster seats were no longer allowed by law? If I'm wrong, then a basic non-high back booster should only be used if absolutely necessary. That means, a one off trip in a friends car, for example. You really can't use it as a main car seat for a 6.5yo. It's not safe enough. Sorry OP, but if that's all you have room for, then you need to find one that can be fitted safely in the front, or accept that your current car isn't big enough to carry all your children safely.

Yes I’ve tried hbb and baby car seat in back. I felt when I was in the baby car seat was so wonky and pushed way out of line. It just felt really unsafe. It’s a Cabriofix but I’m going to replace it with a pebble plus/pro. Unsure if that will make much of a difference.

Is the 4 year old with a good quality hbb an option? Mine had graco (I think sold as Jolie now) ones that worked with the seatbelts and you could fit a baby carrier in the middle (not my baby do not sure if the brand and was 12 years ago). Erf to 4 is recommended now but if your car can't fit the seats you need to come up with the safest solution you can accommodate

Unfortunately we literally have not long bought this car. It’s on finance and we’d be in negative equity if we changed it now. It’s really not an option just now I’m afraid.

Yes I’ve considered putting 4 year old who will be 4.5 when baby here into a hbb which I’m hoping would be slightly narrow than the axkid but just don’t know if they will be mature enough to sit with just a seatbelt.

We used from 3 years old without issue I'm not commenting on safety (they hadn't invented erf) just that at 3 they could sit without issue and the cup holders were the biggest hit!

I can't imagine a bubble bum being safe for a 6yo at all. Surely its safer for the seats to be a little pushed by a bum between them than for a child to, essentially, not be in a seat at all.

Aaah sounds like it's the bucket seats which are causing the problem.

Yes, I think the Adventure would be more protective than the Bubble Bum as at least it has a bit of head protection. As your seats are somewhat "stuck" in the middle of each car seat with not much side movement, every centimetre will likely count. And the shape of the child seat bases might make a difference as well.

Is the Minikid fitted in compact mode or extended leg room mode? I am thinking extended leg room might give you a bit more hip space for adults, if you can fit it behind the front seat (or in the middle). Or Minikid presumably is wider than an infant carrier - Minikid in the front? You cross the tethers and put them through the seat and tether just as you would in the back. You might need to get a towing mirror.

I also think the Britax seats are supposed to be a bit slimmer than the Axkids, but I can't be 100% sure on that - I haven't owned either. If going for front seat ERF, Britax Two Way Elite is shallower so you can apparently see over the top of it.

You probably would gain from asking on the ERF groups, simply because you can ask people to measure their boosters and ERF seats at various parts, which is more use than a generic width measurement on a website, because they never explain which part of the seat they are measuring from. And you can't go to shops at the moment and test them out - maybe there will be time before you're due, though?

You could always not mention the bubble bum and pretend it hasn't occurred to you? :o Just ask how to fit everyone in. If they don't come up with a better solution, you can always go back to it.

If you do end up doing bubble bum I would stick the 6yo in the middle seat so they are furthest from the sides which gives them some protection in a side impact.

Backless boosters are allowed by law but child must be both over 22kg and taller than 125cm.

The bubble bum is quite good at positioning the seatbelt over the child's hips, so it is definitely better than nothing at all, although it won't offer any side impact protection. The hips are really the biggest problem with an under 12yo in the adult seatbelt.

What about two isofix HBB and this -

incarsafetycentre.co.uk/rivemove

I was considering it before I traded my car but my 3 year old is far too short for a HBB so that’s why we decided to get a new one in the end. We just couldn’t fit all the car seats in!

Bubble bum doesn't count as a backless booster for some reason - I am not sure why it doesn't, but it is approved and legal from 15kg onwards and that hasn't changed since the rule changed for other backless type boosters.

Oh no please don't use the Rivemove, I was just reading about a girl who died in Spain because her seat was attached to one!

They don't detach in an accident but they add much too much space between the backrest of the car and the booster seat. That means the booster seat doesn't fit the backrest correctly and can also mean that the child is too far forward and may hit their head on the seat in front (what happened to the little girl in Spain).

@BertieBotts do you not think that’s better than the bubblebum though?

I dunno, it gets good reviews on in car safety etc.

Yes I’ve looked at the rivemove however it wouldn’t really help as I can belt the seats in and move them to the same point a rive move would move them too I think.

Yep the bucket seats are def the issue. Urgh I’m feeling so stressed about it. I might have to fork out for the multimac and just buy an adult seatbelt for it and then still put baby in front with air bag off.