Forward facing car seat for 3 year old

[GummyGoddess]

I know it is not ideal, but it's this or I'm going to have to drive a minibus!

I have a 7 seater car, with a row of 3 seats in the back, they are accessed by climbing in past the two middle seats which have a kind of aisle between them. Currently my eldest (8) sits in the back and my 7 and 2 year old sit in the middle seats. My 2 year old is RF which blocks access to the aisle because of the support leg and how far it leans back, so my eldest climbs in past the 7 year old's seat.

In September my daughter will be 3 and my final baby is due who will need to be RF.

I need to have the 7 and 8 year old's in the back, so they need to climb in by climbing past one of the two middle seats. Therefore my toddler (who will be 3) needs to be in a FF seat because all the RF seats I can find have support legs or lean back so far that the older two wouldn't be able to climb past.

Is there a magical RF seat that I haven't found which will allow my toddler to continue RF (swivel RF without a support leg), or is there a particular seat which will be safest for her to FF? Or am I doomed to have to find a minibus?

The Car Seat Advice Facebook group is brilliant - or speak to the In Car Safety Centre. I live miles from them but they were really helpful over the phone.

I agree - ask one of the car seat Facebook groups for their recommendations. Include height and weight of children. Presumably the older ones are in high backed booster seats? The newborn could potentially go in the front seat with airbag turned off to avoid any issue, if your car and car seat models allow that. It's safest to keep your current youngest RF for as long as possible.

Extended rear facing seats take up so much space unfortunately. DS has an isofix FF seat. We turned him at 3, I hated it tbh but we just don't have the space.

Yes, the older two are in HBB, but they dont need help buckling in like the toddler and newborn as they can do it themselves. It also means they can't just climb in via the boot as the back seats fold forward as a 1 and a 2, and the HBB are bulky enough that they can't be next to each other on the 2 seat section. I did try that as an alternative but it's not feasible.

My eldest is technically big enough to be out of the HBB but while he still fits in it and isn't complaining, I'll leave him in for the head and side protection.

There's no swivel RF without support leg - well, only some dodgy top tether ones, but I would not be confident recommending them for a 3yo because they don't seem to perform that well and a 3yo is rather heavy and tall. If you are absolutely keen on RF over and above all else, you could try it - it will have passed standard regulations with a 3yo sized dummy.

There are a couple of options on TheNurseryStore (previously Online4Baby) - Ickle Bubba Rotator 360 for example, which does at least have a Y-type tether which forms a loop around the top of the seat, they do better than the ones which only tether on one side, like Cozy n Safe Galaxy i-size. If interested, I can dig out the ADAC video showing a similar type seat with one-sided top tether crash test with the 3yo dummy RF. I didn't like it at all, and personally I'm happy for a 3yo to be forward facing esp in a high quality seat (generally Britax or Maxi Cosi, though the Silver Cross Balance also has good safety results). But the Ickle Bubba might work for you. I'm not keen on the seat, but OTOH it is rear facing (up to 18kg or 105cm).

I would be very wary of the random brands like Reecle which only appear on amazon because I am not actually sure if they meet the proper regulation or not - the negative reviews are extremely alarming.

Worth considering - the support leg for an infant carrier base or Besafe Beyond (Swivel RF seat but ££££) is probably a bit closer to the seat than a Axkid type seat if that's what you have currently, and it would be easier for children to climb over a baby seat base without the seat in place yet.

Or you might consider a baseless isofix - Nuna Pipa URBN or Joie Swift. I personally think these are ridiculously expensive for the 75cm limit they have, but might be an option.

Maxi Cosi or Britax infant carriers or Avionaut Cosmo are all fairly easy to fit using seatbelt as well for another baseless option. Let the older kids climb in and then put the baby's seat in last?

In terms of head protection there is an argument that the 8yo would be just as well in between two other child seats and therefore not need the high back on his own. But if these are right up at the back of the car, I don't know if there's a benefit of having the headrest for any potential rear shunts. I think probably not - the car headrest would do the job with that and a HBB isn't realistically designed to absorb impact from that direction anyway.

I am assuming that the 3yo's seat can't be fitted in the third row? That might be an option if there is space there, although how you'd get them in - and whether that would be safe in terms of escape in an accident.

Britax romer ERF and narrow don’t ff at just gone 3 it’s dangerous . Or put your newborn in the passenger seat rf airbags off

If you don’t have space for an ERF seat you won’t have space for a FF seat as they need a survival gap, which is about 55cm but I could be wrong. We have an Axkid MiniKid 4 max and it doesn’t take up loads of space

If you have any isofix base for the baby can you not just have the older 2 climb over that and then put baby in last? Or attach baby's seat with the seat belt giving the older 2 loads of space to climb in?

Could the elder two climb through the front and then through the middle row?

Either that or put the newborn in the front with the airbags off and the seat pushed right back

What seat are you thinking for baby? I'd look for one you're confident fitting with the seatbelt (just as safe as isofix as long as it's done correctly), and then the two eldest can climb in from baby's side. Our ancient car doesn't have isofix, so we always had to fit with the seatbelt, and it really is straightforward once you've done it a few times.

Baby in the front would be another option, assuming seat and car manuals allow it.