Longer car trips with twins - no third row of seating

zsvendsen

Let me start out by saying that my twins aren't even here yet - so I really don't have a specific situation in mind. I have a Volkswagen Passat wagon, and my car is going to be our primary "kids" car. Other (singleton) parents I know will sometimes have a parent ride in the back with the baby on longer car trips. With two car seats and no extra row of seating, that's obviously not possible. Has anyone in this same situation had problems / no problems with NOT riding in back with the babies?

I'm not particularly worried at this point, but I am curious what works or didn't really work out.

Thanks!

pea-kay

i've never had anyone ride in the back with the boys when they were babies. i wouldn't worry about it.

AlishaMay

pea-kay:

i've never had anyone ride in the back with the boys when they were babies. i wouldn't worry about it.

Ditto!

Rangergal9

We never rode in the back with the twins or older DD.  I never felt the need for it as our kids always just slept in the car on long road trips.

2shihtzus

I agree with PP's that it may not be necessary but you could be surprised, you might have room in the middle seat (especially when they are in infant seats).  We don't have a 3rd row in our car but in desperate times, I jumped in back and sat between the boys in the middle seat.  It's a much tighter squeeze now that they are in convertible seats but I can still do it if I have to.

zsvendsen

Thanks everyone! It's good to realize that (1) it may not even be necessary and (2) it's not totally impossible.

I guess we'll just play it by ear! Isn't that the whole deal with multiples? You do what you do because you have to, and everything seems to work out ok.

WaitingforGrace

2shihtzus:

I agree with PP's that it may not be necessary but you could be surprised, you might have room in the middle seat (especially when they are in infant seats).  We don't have a 3rd row in our car but in desperate times, I jumped in back and sat between the boys in the middle seat.  It's a much tighter squeeze now that they are in convertible seats but I can still do it if I have to.

This!

If they are both screaming in the car, I'll jump in the back in between them and try to soothe while DH is driving.

With that said we're in the market for a car with 3rd row seating. It'd be nice to be able to take 2 additional people in our car every now and then.

macchiatto

When they were in their Snugrides, I tried riding in back with them on our first road trip when they were 6m old (and I did actually fit; it was the back of our Chrysler 300M, a sedan) and it actually made them worse. It's like if they can see me in the car, they get more cranky and want to get OUT and don't understand why I won't just hold them. So after that I didn't try, which is good because now with their convertible seats, you can't fit a third person in the back.

Polofsky

We have taken multiple road trips with the twins, but we never sit in the back with them. We actually DO have a 3rd row and occassionally my mom will sit back there, every time she does the kids get cranky.

My tips:

DVD player!

Kids CD's, mine loved kindermusic classes and you get a CD for each class, when they were cranky in the car this would buy me at least 30 more minutes...or just put them to sleep.

I put a bunch of toys in a pillow case in the front seat with us and we can pass them a new toy/book whenever we need to

 

floridakat

We take a lot of roadtrips (almost every other weekend), and my girls HATE the car. Won't sleep, and won't play with any given toy longer than about 90 seconds. That being said, I always ride in back with them. We have a Nissan Rogue with two Britax convertible seats, and I can fit next to them. (One in the middle, one behind the passenger seat). And I'm not small; I'm 5'10".

zsvendsen

Thanks for the tips on entertainment! And it's good to see that it is POSSIBLE to sit back there. I think I might resist, though, especially since it sounds like something that would come to end relatively quickly.