I know this has been done to death but I am still confused - please give me hope that I CAN GET 3 car seats in the back of my car !!!!

[mumofdjandbabies]

baby three due in sept! mY other will be 4 and 20months when baby arrives.

We have a front air seat passenger side that cant switch off.

I have been trying to glean info from car seat threads on here for ideas but am still a little confused, well very confused

We have a standard car an older honda 5 door.

Not a huge back seat very standard.

only have a lap belt in the middle.

EEK what are my best options?

The only thing I can think of is..........

baby in rock a tot on one side.

get a car seat for nearly 2 year old in middle (but its just a lap belt....)

and ds1 who is 4 in a slim booster on the other side.

I have found out the britax lap belt choices are freeway, renaissance and eclipse. any recommendations? which one should I buy?

Do other companies that make car seats make any that can fit with lap belts do you know?

Also what is the narrowest backed booster I can buy for my older child the 4 year old?
I dont mind the make its just the slimness I wil need - all my children are wee slim things anyway.

I would sooooooooooo apprec any advice!!!

you need to go to mothercare and try them

tbh I think with a lapbelt only a car seat would not be safe.

You may have a problem as you onlt have a lap belt in the middle. We have a ford focus estate and 3 in the back is a squash so we have our 5 year old on booster chair in passenger seat, baby in the middle in rock a tot (but we have a normal seat belt}, ds1 on the side in car seat and me in the back on the otherside.

You can put toddler seat in middle with lap belt. Baby seat on one side, oldest on booster seat on other side. We have done that for years. We tend to use booster seats without backs though for the over 4s. It's the height and the way the seatbelt goes across them which is important.

Now our dd3 is too big for a toddler seat we have bought a thing to use with a lap belt to make it safe, instead of a booster seat. It's called a Romer something or other, I read about it on a mumsnet thread.

Lap belt for nearly 2 year old would not be safe. Under fours need to have five point harness. You'd need to put your four year old in the middle.

the eclipse is a good seat. its what dd3 is in in the middle of our car. you need to put that seat in the middle as it has the narrowest base.

halfords have 2 different not so wide booster seats.we just had to get some more for dd and ds1,we got a new car thinking it was much bigger in back and could fit 3 seats but what we forgot to do was shut the door when trying out our seats in the back.either that or tie the children to roof rack?!

We used to have a Fiat Multipla which was great as it has 3 full sized seats across the back and front. When we came to change it in January I had planned to buy a Zafira - was shocked to find that there was no way I could fit my Maxi Cosi Priori and 2 booster seats in the back unless we lost the boot and used the 2 boot seats for the boosters.
Ended up buying an Espace. How on earth do people cope with more than 2 kids in normal size family cars?

The eclipse is good, we have also had a freeway, which was great too, and only uses the lap belt, we have our 2 yrold in one of those, then baby on one side and 5yrold in a backed booster on the other side, our car has a standard sized seat. and man at halfords said it was the safest way hth

vbacqueen1 -we also have a morris 1000 which is a squeze with 3 children plus dh and i but dh in driver seat,ds2 in toddler seat in front-no air bag obviously as ancient!,dd and ds1 in back with diagonal belts either side of me in back (i dont actually have room to fart but i love that car!.we just got a scenic.

cheesesarnie OMG LOL!
Forgot to mention that I also have a 21 year old who we need to accomodate on the rare occasion that he deigns to go anywhere with us so we needed 6 seats minimum.

lol.

See, you know how everyone laughs at protons? well we got three proper (not booster) car seats in ours no problem (Persona).

Now have a Space Wagon but wouldn't have needed it without the 4th baby, only got rid of persona coz garage wrote it off , that was one good car.

silly question whats protons?

bit like a skoda, cheapo car

You can put a forward facing car seat in the front with an airbag. It only needs to be turned off for a rear facing seat. It might be easier to do that unless you have an adult passenger to squeeze in too.

right some food for thougfht there thanks all

cheesesarnie can you tell me please what the makes of the not so wide car seats were? from halfords

Thanks!

Actually, they recommend that you turn off the airbag for any child sitting in the front seat. Airbags are designed for adults with an assumed average weight of 75kg, so can suffocate or hurt a much lighter child when they inflate. Also, if you have side-airbags, these should be switched off as well.

PeachyHas4BoysAndLovesIt-i see!
mumofdjandbabies -can find out later,in car which isnt here!
i agree with Poledra .i think theyre supposed to be off anyway which ever way child is facing.

thanks any clue re the slimmest car seat would be fantastic thanks!!!

Ill then be able to look them up and price them thanks sarnie

this is a good website re safety of various seat placement.

oh thanks ill look now!

Just to add, we have a Britax Renaissance, which I love but it is very large for a seat of that age range.

freeway was the narrowest britax when i got mine, now have 3 hi-liner high back boosters. call the britax customer services, they are v knowledgeable about what will fit in a particular car.

ah ok thanks Ill do that!