October 2015 Moms
LATXwoman
member
Car Seat Doesn't Fit My Car! Advice please?
LATXwoman
member
OK, first of all, we are idiots and I've had a sinking feeling for months that our laziness and poor choices would come back to bite us in the ass for this. Why are we (my husband and I) so dumb?:
1) My aunt insisted on getting us a specific luxury stroller/carseat combo months ago. She said she's given them to everyone else she knows who had kids recently (she's generous to a fault) and they all loved them. I had just lost my job right as we were moving to a bigger, pricier apt. so who were we to decline?
2) We might have thought to check out said car seat in person before agreeing, but no. We checked online, and reviews were glowing, so we went with it.
3) We waited three effing months to try to install the car seat. I finally forced hubby to help do it tonight. Right now I'm 36w5d, so we are down to the wire.
4) Surprise! Luxury car seat doesn't fit very well at all in my car, which really is surprising since I have a SUV crossover. However, internet research tells me that this is a problem with my make and model, purchased long before kids (or even DH) was in the picture. Basically I got one of the largest car seats on the market for one of the smallest back seats on the market.
What to do? Here are the longterm options I can see so far: (Short term is option A if I go into labor)
a) put car seat on passenger side and give up on front passenger seat for 2+ years.
b) put car seat in center, even though this is not recommended by car manufacturer and wouldn't be able to use LATCH, but it can be done in a way that's approved by safety inspectors.
c) trade my car, which I otherwise adore, for my husband's 2002 Camry, which is a POS, for the next 2+ years, assuming car seat fits better in his car. Try not to resent the shit out of him.
d) try to sell said car seat and get a different one that fits my car better (assuming we can find a better fitting car seat, which I'm unsure of given my model's well-documented car seat incompatibility). Hide from aunt until car seat expires in seven years.
e) Somehow politely ask my father for his large SUV, which he's been considering replacing, in exchange for my car, which is less huge, but same make and year, so somewhat comparable. Eat the hundreds of dollars I just paid in registering my car in California, and go through same ordeal with his car. I hear the DMV is even more fun when you bring along a newborn!
f) Pretend like money is no object and buy a car that is appropriate for a family. Practice explanation to loan officer about how it is we can do this one one salary and crazy new health insurance premium (magical thinking, prayer, and savings accounts!)
Any advice would be great. Thanks!
Re: Car Seat Doesn't Fit My Car! Advice please?
Otherwise, if you feel you could, explain to your very nice Aunt what happened and maybe ask if there was a way to exchange the car seat/stroller combo for another top of the line one that does fit your vehicle. You could do some research and pick out several that would work for your car and let her decide from there. I would hope she would rather you guys have a top of the line car seat that actually works for you!
If not I would try to switch cars with your Dad. Eating registering fees would be a lot less than a new car just for a car seat.
Then, if it still doesn't fit, get a new car seat that you've tried our in your car before buying or consider using your DH's car for 6-8 months and get a rear facing convertible seat that fits your car.
A lot of rear facing convertibles handle babies from infancy with special pads included with the seat. Some babies are more comfortable in convertibles once they can sit up because they can see outside the car a lot better.
We have a really small SUV backseat and chose to get the Cybex Aton infant seat this time around because it's the shortest seat on the market. It's the only way for two kids/car seats to be in our car!