Newborn, 6yo & 8yo car seats Qashqai option?

[Latinatta]

Wondering if there are any car seat gurus out there! I am due with #3 in October (surprise!), DD will be almost 9 and DS 6.5.

We currently live overseas and are moving back to the UK but only for 9 months during which we will lease a Qashqai. So we’ll need to get all new car seats anyway as our current ones for DD and DS definitely won’t arrive in time and are enormous anyway.

Wondering if I move DD to a narrower booster seat (and DS also?) so we can also fit in the baby seat.

Any tips on combos most welcome! Hoping this is easier given older kids are well past being toddlers. But have always gone for most safety-conscious option and don’t want to stop bow.

Also will be a useful process to help inform what car we buy when we go overseas again when baby is 6 months old (lorry?!)

Thank you!

@bertiebotts is the person you want to answer this sort of question

Is you 8yo DD still in a car seat now rather than a booster? Or just a bigger booster than you’re thinking of? How far off 135cm are they?

As far as I know no car seats are allowed in the middle seat of the 2nd row so I'm not sure it's an option..

Ah, good point on the 135cm, will measure her! She’s in a car seat atm but has been in it since age 6 when she definitely needed it, we have used a travel booster when on holiday though but will check the height thing. Thanks, Mum brains!

I don’t think it will fit. I had this car for a while and with a newborn seat and a booster seat no one could sit in the middle, it was too tight. You wouldn’t get another booster in there, especially as the one for the 6 year old still needs the back bit with headrest.

Quashqai is a nightmare for this as it doesn't allow child seats in the middle seat. You either put a child in the front, squeeze an adult painfully into the middle in the back or use the (UK law) exception for when you can't fit three child seats in a row and put eldest in the middle with no booster at all - which is not ideal.

Or if you have money to throw at the problem - possibly Multimac would be a brilliant solution here? Older DC would both get a 5 point harness, which might appeal in terms of safety, and while the baby insert seat doesn't last long enough really, you're not going to be here long enough for the baby to outgrow it, so it doesn't matter. Sell it on when you leave the country, as there is a good second hand market for them, and it might not cost you that much in the long run, especially if you can get one second hand in the first place possibly?

Highly unlikely you'll get 3 seats across the back of a Qashqai. Pick another car.

Thanks so much for input, I really appreciate it. Annoyingly the Qashqai is already leased (via family member who works there) for 12m, so backing out not an option- stupidly didn’t occur to me it might be harder than other cars.

The Multimac is ingenious! But price pretty prohibitive but as you say we could look for second hand. A few more things to add:

— I measured DD this morning who is already 138cm (Dad v tall). And she has until October to grow more. In that case does a booster even become dangerous as it might raise her too much? Does that make the back middle seat fine (would be narrow but has proper 3 point seatbelt). If she were to go in the front passenger seat and DH/I squeeze in the back would she need anything for the front seat or given height just travel as an adult?

Wondering about looking for very narrow booster for DS age 6 (something like https://www.johnlewis.com/maxi-cosi-topaz-i-size-car-seat-authentic-graphite) and putting DD in middle.

In reality for any long journeys (eg. christmas) I had already thought I might take train with baby and leave DH with the big kids to avoid lots of hours cooped up for the baby. And we will be walking lots, school dropoff can be on foot, so it’s primarily for local weekend outings for 6 months so as long as we are all safe a bit of discomfort/squeeze will be fairly short term. And I will definitely not buy a Qashqai when we move overseas!!

Grateful for any views, any tips for other narrow boosters also welcome!

No it's not dangerous for her to be in a booster seat at 138/140ish cm - in fact most children fit car seatbelts better with a booster seat up to about 150cm. I'm not sure what the max height is to use the 5 point harness in the multimac, and whether this is is different in the R44 vs R129 version - if you do consider this I would message them to ask (they are quite aware and supportive of second hand sales I understand). I feel like the plug in seatbelt buckle they sell doesn't look like it gives a great belt fit.

What you might find is if you're looking at high back boosters, some of them aren't really tall enough to accommodate children over about 140cm, so the headrest might be too low for her. Without physically checking her in the seats, you probably won't know. Given that she is over the height to legally not need one, it probably makes sense to purchase a seat "blind" for the 6yo, transport her with no seat for the first day or two, see where the seatbelt sits on her when she's in the centre seat (I remember taking DS1 to the UK when he was exactly 135cm, and found his fit was OK in some cars but terrible in others) - it should be on her hips rather than tummy, and her legs should be able to bend at the edge of the seat with her bum pushed to the back. The centre seat is often a little bit shorter (for the knee bending part) and a little bit higher than the sides so can give a better fit for a 135-150cm child whereas they might be too small in a normal seat.

Then go to the biggest car seat shop you can find and try out combos of baby seat and whether anything is comfortable to sit between! (Assuming I read right and baby won't yet be born when you arrive, anyway).

I don't know if it's dangerous to use a booster seat in the middle when Nissan say it's not approved and if it is, whether this is more or less of a risk than having a child in a seatbelt when they don't get a perfect fit.

I do know whatever you do, don't be tempted to make your own solution like putting a cushion under her or one of those belt adjusters which pull the shoulder belt down by attaching to the lap belt - they give horrendous fit and increase the risk of injuries in an accident. I would probably use the most minimal booster seat I could find like Bubble Bum (maybe even deflated?) or Mifold Booster rather than any modification like that.

Assuming its a 2024 onwards, you can use the middle seat of the 2nd row. Narrow HBB for your son like a Britax Adventure might work, and a bubble bum for your daughter in middle seat, infant carrier on the other side. Using a seatbelt install rather than isofix would give some wiggle room too.

https://www.nissan.co.uk/owners/car-repair/car-owner-manual/manuals/iom/qashqai/0j12/e1/2024/child-restraint-category-size-and-position-1.shtml

Thank you so much, Bertiebotts! You truly know your stuff! We actually have a Qashqai here so I will take out the two rear seats (very wide cybex ones) and see how the middle seat fits her, and something like the Mifold could be a great solution.

We have two of the Trunki boosters as well but obviously no good for 6yo on regular basis as no back support. On an unrelated note, we use these all the time when travelling, any views on them?

Thank you so much! Bum positioning tips and knee fold angle advice- truly stellar!!

The Trunki is good! It's meant to be the best-performing one of the three "travel" boosters (Mifold/Bubble Bum/Trunki) but it is no better than any other backless booster. Would probably be fine as a daily option for a ~140cm child (if she doesn't fit well without it) - agree 6yo could do with head support and a proper shoulder belt guide, the Trunki one isn't that good. Beware cheap Mifold dupes - they are widely available in parts of Asia and the ME, as well as online in a lot of other places and they are basically made of cardboard whereas the actual Mifold has an aluminium and steel construction.

Good to hear about the newer versions of Quashqai - maybe your one will be that generation?

Britax Adventure is no longer very narrow. It's been totally redesigned. The Maxi Cosi ones are still fairly narrow and the bases tend to be slimmer. Total cheapo boosters are also often narrow and tend to be light which is good if not using isofix - beware some of them have poor lap belt positioning, so check the hip rule if you go for one of these. The head protection on a vv cheap booster won't be as good as Cybex, but it will be better than nothing and a modern car will have side curtain airbags in the rear which are in the right place to protect children in high back boosters.

Because fitting three car seats in a row is much more to do with shape than width, the absolute ideal solution would be to buy when you arrive so bringing the 2x Trunkis to start out with would probably be your best bet unless you live somewhere they sell the EU spec seats and you can try out different combos in the car you have now and then order online.

For example - we fitted an infant carrier + forward facing harness seat next to each other with space for a teenager on the other side - the only way we could get the combo to work was using a belt-fitted base for the infant carrier which raised it up so that the handle didn't clash with the seat next to it. That's the kind of thing you can't work out with checking the dimensions online.

Can you just plan to put baby in the front seat with airbag off instead?

Then one high back booster, one trunki for eldest and one adult in back.