Need help with 3 across (carseats)

FutureMrsCaesar

Those of you who have 3 carseats in one row, I'm looking for some advice or suggestions.  We have a new baby coming in Dec, DS1 will be 5 and DS2 will be 2.5, both forward facing.  DS1 has Britax Frontier 85s and DS2 has Britax Roundabout 50s in both my car and DHs.  We really love both of those seats, the fit well in our cars and DS1 is perfectly content being harnessed in his Frontier even though he is tall/heavy/mature enough to use a seat belt.  The infant seat is just not going to fit with both of the seats we already have no matter how I slice it, which makes me sad because they are good seats.  

Anyway, DH drives a Prius V which we really have no plans of getting rid of anytime soon, and I'm thinking our only option is to buy a Radian/Diono RXT for the 2.5 yr old and put the 5 year old in a belt positioning booster (in the center seat).  I don't really mind buying the new seat if that's our only option, but I really hate the idea of taking my 5 year old out of his very safe harness seat and putting him in a belt positioning booster.  Not to mention I don't even know how we'll reach the buckle.  ugh.  Has anyone else had to do this, and felt guilty?

My car is a little roomier, and does have a 3rd row but DS1 really doesn't want to be 'banished' to the 3rd row when the new baby comes.   I borrowed my neighbors AMP booster to play around with some configurations and I can keep one of the Britax seats outboard, booster in the center and Chicco Keyfit 30 in the other outboard position but it's almost impossible to reach the seatbelt buckle. 

So anyway, any suggestions?  I'd buy a new infant seat if there are any that are substantially more narrow.  Or are there any seats as narrow as a booster with a harness?  Or any seats as narrow as a Diono RXT but cost less?

If you made it this far you deserve a cookie, thank you so much for reading! 

nanabanana06

The only narrow seats I can think of is the Radian and the Clek Foonf. The Foonf is a monster and will not be cheaper than the Radian. If you want to keep him in the harness then I would look into saving your pennies and getting a Radian r120 for both of them They are slightly cheaper than the RXT and you can find them on sale for under 200$.

numeria11

For the two older kids get Radians.  You don't need to get and RXT it's more expensive just get the R100 (207 with free shipping on Wayfair) or R120 (224 with shipping).  That way you don't have to sacrifice the harness for your oldest and don't have to deal with buckles.

For the new baby either another R100 or a Combi Cocorro, good to 33 lbs RF and 40lbs/40 inches FF.  It's got a narrow profile as well and people often do three across with this one or a combo with Radians.  It's great as an infant seat but obviously you give up the convenience of a carrier, However I don't know if you will be able to get 3 across in most cars with an infant carrier in the mix.