Two Under 2

This car seat thing is driving me MAD!!! HeLp!!!

I'll be 38 weeks on Wednesday, and I thought (silly me) the car seat thing would be easy.  We have a 14 month old and another due on the 27th of this month.  We went today to look for a car seat and it was a complete FAILURE!!  It seems like all the safe car seats that are rear facing are NOT AT ALL desgined for sedans or even smaller SUVs like my 2000 Jeep Cherokee.  We really liked the new Graco one that goes from 5 lbs to 100 lbs and is rear facing until 40lbs, but it didn't fit in my hubby's Acura TSX.

So now, something so simple is a real problem!  Do they even make rear facing car seats for smaller back seat cars.  We're not giant people, DH is 5'9" and I'm 5'4".

Am I missing something?  What are we doing wrong?  We are going to have to put 2 car seats in the back seat so a middle installation is not an option.

HELP would be Greatly, greatly appreciated since I am running out of time...seriously! 

Re: This car seat thing is driving me MAD!!! HeLp!!!

  • Did you try any Britax seats?  The Roundabout is pretty small.  I think the Cosco Scenara is pretty small too.  All car seats have to pass the same safety tests, so I'm not sure which "safe" ones you are talking about.
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  • laura1laura1 member

    We have a Britax Marathon for DS and a Sunshine Kids Radian for DD.  The radians are very narrow but tall.  I am not sure what your issue with fitting them is - is it a height issue or a width issue?  We have a Honda CR-V and DD is behind the passenger seat rear-facing.  When someone is sitting there, they have to be pushed pretty far forward to fit the rear facing Radian.  DS's Britax Marathon was wide, but wasn't as tall rear facing - he was behind the drivers side after DD was born, still rear facing, and I never remember it being an issue.  In DH's Camry, we have an Evenflo Tribute that was rear facing behind the passenger side, and that fit fine.

    So if your issue is fitting them next to each other, try out a radian.  If it is fitting it behind the passenger or drivers side while rear-facing, then try out a Britax or an Evenflo!  Good luck!

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  • thanks for the info mamas!  The problem is the passenger and driver's seat.  It doesn't fit that way. 
  • 2 rear facing carseats is HARD in a small sedan. it is not possible in my dh's small sedan. bc where he has to put the seat to drive, the car seat will not fit rear facing and that is with the britax roundabout- one of the smallest car seats out there......we had to do one rear facing and one forward facing....in all honesty, i'd call your pediatrician and tell her your dilemma. is this 'law' going to pull you over if your child is not rear facing until 2 or is it just recommended, but not enforced....??? if that is the case, put your daughter who is older in the safest carseat on the market and put her forward facing behind the driver and the baby behind the passenger.
  • I have the Britax Roundabout rearfacing in my 4 door sedan. We purchased the Chicco Keyfit30 for the new baby and we are unable to put it in the middle but other than that the 2 seats work fine in my small backseat.
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  • This is why we wet with a minivan. We weren't able to fit 2 rfing seats comfortably in our ford explorer. I don't know how the eff people fit them in sedans, they must hve the front seats pushed all the way up.

    FWIW, have you tried adjusting the recline in DC1's seat? Since they are older you don't need it super reclined, it can be more upright. Also, the radian is very narrow, can you maybe fit one of those in the middle? It would probably fit between your two front seats and not impact them.

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  • kagl04kagl04 member

    We have the Chicco Keyfit (22 not 30) for when DS comes. Then for DD we have the Evenflo Triumph Advance (goes up to 65 lbs). This seat is currently in the back of my DH's Hyundai Elantra and fits with plenty of room for the passenger too! I have Hyundai Santa Fe and it fits great in there too. It seems HUGE on the shelf but it is actually really compact when it comes to fitting in smaller cars.

    We went with this one because it fit in the rear of my DH's old car. He had the Scion tC (2 door sports car). It actually fit better than the infant seat! The best part about this seat is there is no tether to tighten the straps, it is a crank so you just turn it and your child is secure. Plus it's much cheaper than a Britax, which was really important to us to! We go ours for $119 at BRU. 

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  • We drive a VW Jetta (one car family). We have an Evenflo Triumph 65 RFing behind the driver and will have a Graco SnugRide 32 behind the passenger when #2 is born in September. DH is 6 ft tall and can drive comfortably with the convertible seat behind the driver. It's a little less comfortable with the infant seat behind the passenger, but he can still ride there without his knees being crammed into the dash.
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  • I'm sure this isn't the answer you're looking for, but that's why we have a mini van. DS used a Graco infant seat and a Britax Roundabout rear facing in our Honda Accord. He's tall though, so we knew he wouldn't make it until 2 years old and it would be a very tough fit for two rear facing convertible seats in that car... so we purchased a Nissan Quest. Now we have a convertible seat with the tallest shell we could find (Safety 1st Complete Air) for our very tall son.

    FWIW I think a parent should always consider their child's SAFETY not whether or not they'll get pulled over and receive a ticket. Sure someone could get away with not following the current recommendation- but if they've seen the statistics I'm not sure why one would do that.

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  • We have the Britax Boulevard for DD and the Chicco Keyfit30 for DS, both seats were able to rear face (obviously the Chicco had to) in our Mitsubishi Lancer fine, although DD sits forward facing now and we have the Outlander and got rid of the Lancer.  Most seats should fit in your car rear facing without any problems, maybe ask someone in the store to help you test out the different seats available to see which ones offer the most room?  Good luck!
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  • I had a Graco Snugride in my tiny Dodge Neon with DD1, although it was behind the passenger seat, which couldn't go back all the way.  My mom also has a neon and she has the Evenflo Titan Elite for DD.  This is a small seat- it should be able to fit RF and still allow the driver enough space.  Your child may outgrow the RF height limit sooner with this seat, but at least by then your older child should be FF.
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  • We have a Britax Boulevard, Marathon and Roundabout.  All fit perfectly fine rearfacing behind both the driver and passenger seats in my Honda CRV and DH's Chevy Cobalt (small car).  We did try a Sunshine Radian that didn't work - it's really tall and the only option rearfacing is very reclined so we had to move the passenger seat up further than I would have liked to accomodate it rear facing.  DS HATED it because it was so reclined anyway, so we went back to Britaxes, which I greatly prefer.
  • How often does your H have a front-seat passenger? I have the Graco MyRide behind the passenger seat of my Nissan Sentra, and while it's not the most comfy for DH, it's fine for the amount of time he spends in my car as a passenger. If he wants more space he'll drive because my infant seat doesn't sit as far back, or if we take a long trip we take H's car.

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  • we both have smaller sedans (suburu legacy and mazda 6).  We found that the evenflo symphony convertable fits well.  for DD2, we are using the smaller graco snugride (22).
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  • In my little car ( toyota corolla ) we have a sunshine radian ( was rear facing untill not long ago) and a Combi Coccoro ( still rear facing) I am 5'1" and DH is 6' 4.5". With the combi rear facing he has plenty of room to drive or ride. His room issue comes not from the car seats, but from long legs in my little car.
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  • Try asking here: www.car-seat.org. Plenty of people fit two rear-facing car seats in a small sedan. They will help you figure out how on those forums.
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  • imageMissSweetestTea:
    is this 'law' going to pull you over if your child is not rear facing until 2 or is it just recommended, but not enforced....??? if that is the case, put your daughter who is older in the safest carseat on the market and put her forward facing behind the driver and the baby behind the passenger.

    Wow, really? The safest forward facing carseat in the world won't prevent the injuries that occur when young children are forward facing when they should be rear facing.

    Regardless of whether it's a law or not, new information states many times over rear facing is the safest for children up to two (at least, even longer if possible). Do whatever you have to do to get a rear facing seat to fit. I hear the combi corroco (sp?) fits well rear facing in small cars. Or go to carseatdata.org and see what other brands are fitting.

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