3 car seats across the middle

[Chlandy]

Hello,
I'm pregnant with my third baby. I have a 5 year old, who will be 6 when this one arrives and a 2 year old and a 2011 Peugeot 3008 car. I can't afford a new car and before anyone comes at me (as I've had it already 🥺) for having another child without affordability, I was on contraception which failed so this baby wasn't planned. However, in all other aspects we can afford them and they're very much wanted and loved already now we're over the surprise! We just can't afford a new car! However, I'm really stressing about the car seat situation. My partner doesn't drive and has mobility issue so cannot sit in the back, so having baby in the front isn't an option. Has anybody managed to fit 3 car seats across the back in this car please? My handbook for the car says the middle seat can have a car seat but it seems so small! If so what are the narrowest car seat options please for all 3 children? Thank you if you got this far! Any advice is welcome! Thank you

[SBlonde]

I have a different car but the narrowest car seat I found was the Kinderkraft comfort Up seat one on Amazon , it’s about 43cm wide. I use it belted in the middle seat with two isofoxed seats either side. You could try those for the bigger kids side by side and because they’re narrow it might leave enough space for an isofix base for the baby car seat.

[Sprogonthetyne]

No advice on actual brands, but I found you use a bit less space if you can alternate directions, so ether older 2 forward facing with baby rear facing in the middle, or oldest ff in the middle with a RF either side. That way the head rest wings (which tend to be widest) can overlap slightly.

[TakeMe2Insanity]

Look for the multimac on instagram

[Chlandy]

Thank you for the replies! This is really helpful! I'll have a look on Amazon now as my sons current hbb is a huge joie one so that will definitely help! My 2 year old is still rear facing and baby will be too so the arrangement you've mentioned with forward facing in the middle sounds promising too! Thank you! I did look at the multimac but it has bad reviews for the infant carrier part which is a shame as it would've been perfect! May be a consideration when baby moves up a seat if we're still in the same boat with the car! Thank you

[BertieBotts]

I have a 3008 too and I think it would be possible but you'd definitely need the right combination of seats. You might want to look at the 25kg rear facing seats like Axkid Move or Avionaut Sky for your 2yo? These are slim and flexible to fit so can be good for fitting 3 across. Otherwise, we managed to belt fit a Cybex Aton 5 base in the middle seat next to a Britax Advansafix on the side, simply because the shapes of the bases fit together nicely. It was a little bit pushed over but probably would have left enough space for a plain/slimmer high backed booster. I actually sat on that side and was comfortable. The Advansafix is slimmer than the Joie 360 which was our other option, so if your toddler is currently in a spin seat you may want to look at replacing that. Either with a 123 seat (although these tend to be wider than either a Group 1 or high backed booster) or 25kg rear facing seat, or a belt fitted 18kg rear facing seat like Joie Steadi, that's a slimmer model.

If it's the newest 3008 you do actually have an isofix point in the front as well so that might be a consideration. We will probably need to put one child in the front next time we do a long drive as it's too tight for either me or DS1 to sit in the middle between two seats comfortably. Fine for a short local journey, no good for a long one.

3 across tends to be a case of trial and error.

[BertieBotts]

Worth noting that the actual width of the seats doesn't matter as much as how the shapes tesselate together, which is why flexibility in fitting, so belt fitted seats, can help a lot.

[TamSamLam]

Joie elevate is the narrowest I found for a 2yo and it's the same size as the graco 2/3 for the 6yo. Don't forget you need space at the base to actually be able to clip 6yo in.

[letmesleepzz]

The car seat jungle website lists car seats by size, so if there are car seats you like you can see how wide they are. Not sure if that helps but we did the same for our three and it made the job a lot easier!