Car seat positions

mek10976

We currently have our 2 year old's car seat in the middle of the back seat.  But need to also install the infant carrier.  Where did you put each kid? Infant behind driver or passenger or vice versa?

Rolamarie

Possibly a frivolous reason, or slightly old-fashioned, and I don't actually have my second yet, but as DH most often drives I plan to put the heavier child on "his side" (driver's side) and the lighter on "mine" so we don't have to cross around the car to pick up the appropriate kid.

NavyPilotWife

I put the infant behind the driver and the toddler behind the passenger.  The toddler is the first one into the car and the last one out, so it keeps me from doing laps around the car.  There's also lots of street parking in our city, so this way the toddler gets out onto the sidewalk instead of the street.  Both kids are RF.

maramarrie

Our toddler is in the center, where he will be safest once he's forward facing (though he is currently still RF). The infant carrier is behind the driver. We did ours this way so that we could still have the other spot open to access the 3rd row in our SUV.

We had to buy a smaller infant seat, a Chicco KeyFit, to make it fit in that position (where both seats share the "60" part of the 60/40 split seat), but for us it was worth it because we use our 3rd row for passengers often.

alli&pat

Toddler is behind the driver's seat and infant is behind the passenger.  I did it because I can look in the rearview and see toddler - and I have a mirror attached to the headrest so I can glance back and see infant. 

armandos_girl

DS1 is currently behind the passenger seat, because our carseat will not install correctly in the middle seat of my car.  (I have a pre-LATCH era car and it's just a PITA in general to install).  We put him behind the passenger seat so we could fold down the 60 part of the 60/40 when we need to put something big in the car without having to move the carseat.

Again, because DS1's seat is such a PITA to install, we'll be leaving it where it is and putting DS2 behind the driver seat.

lilone_06

hocus:

We'll have my daughter FF behind the driver and the baby rear facing behind the passenger. It is the only way to do it in our car because DH needs the driver seat very far back.

Ditto this for our first two.  Still working out how to fit in three?....

Megan.10.06

DS1 will go behind the driver, and DS2 will be on the passenger.  We chose this for several reasons.

1. I can't reach Cole directly behind me - so if I hand him a cup, he can meet my hand half way.  If Owen needs a bink or something, I can still 'tend' to him at stop lights and such.  I can also pull over and not have to get out if he needs something.

2. We have on street parking.  I can simply put Owen down in the carrier to open the door and still hold on to Cole.  I would never put the infant carrier down in the street for even half a second.  And if God Forbid Cole managed to wiggle away for half a second, I could grab him quicker and Owen wouldn't be in danger.

3. Infant seat is bigger, so the seat can move forward farther.  Cole is still RFing, but his convertible is more compact than our infant seat.