Car seat questions for moms of 2

aquasocks · May 2016

Those of you who had/will have 2 in car seats at the same time, where did you put the baby and where did you put the older child? Who did you buckle first? What about unbuckling? I'm weirdly nervous about this. Right now my daughter is behind me, but she used to be in the middle until she was about 1. Also she will be in school 2 days a week, so I don't know if I should put her on a certain side for school drop/off pick up. She will be three when the baby is born. She can already buckle her chest clip (I check it after) but will she be able to do the bottom by then? Thanks in advance!

AlexLindzz · May 2016

No advice but wondering the same! I didn't think about car seat location. My DD was in the middle until she switched to her convertible but I don't think they'll fit side by side like that if I try to put #2 in the middle.

LindsayLuLu27 · May 2016

My DD will be 2 1/2 yrs when baby is born so I'm curious about this too. We have a large SUV so I was thinking my toddler in the muddle so she can climb in first and then I can click the car seat in for the baby. But I don't have school drop off to deal with yet. I'd love to hear what other mom are planning! It's funny this is probably the biggest "change" I'm focused on lol

NatashaSprout · May 2016

I always put the most wild kid in first. For me when the boys were little the one with autism (the older one) got restrained first as he was the most likely to take off on me. He was also the loud one so I put him behind me cause I couldn't see him. I put the quiet calm child behind the passenger seat because I wanted to make sure he was breathing.

Now as a paramedic that has responded to thousands of car crashes I will tell you...a driver will instinctively turn away from another car to avoid a crash. Often the passenger side is struck more than any other side. I always felt my infant in the infant car seat was more padded and least likely to sustain an injury than my toddler who was sitting in a regular car seat. An infant seat is like a padded capsule of protection. Did I want to put my infant in more danger? No. However in the event of a crash I always felt the infant would be least likely to get hurt.

All all that being said, you need to do what's best for you. To this day the one with autism (who is now the quiet one) sits behind the passenger seat and the quiet one (who is now crazy and loud) sits behind me driving me crazy.

shevaCC · May 2016

My first 2 are 2.3 years apart. I started out with DS (baby) in the middle and DD on the side, but she messed with him too much so I quickly ended up with one on each side. At 4.5, I'm hoping my DD will be old enough to sit in the middle next to this baby and not mess with him or her...she wasn't capable of that at 3. The rule of thumb I've heard that I'm hoping to follow this time is to put the least protected child in the safest seat. RFing is safer than FFing, which is safer than seat belt (with or without booster). Since my DS and this baby will be RFing for a while longer, they'll go on the sides with DD (who is already FFing) in the middle.

As for which side, I can think of two considerations: where you park at home, is there one side that has more room? If you use a baby bucket, they're kinda huge and unwieldy so it would probably be easiest to have the baby on the side with more room. But if you have a pickup line at school (we don't until elementary, preschool we have to park and go in) I would put your DD on the passenger side so she can get in/out without walking into the street.

serenaxo84 · May 2016

I would start allowing your toddler to climb into her own seat.

I figure while the infant is in the bucket I would clip the toddler in first.

Im prob going to put toddler behind passenger and infant behind me.

shevaCC · May 2016

I also do what @NatashaSprout does and put the craziest one in first. That has changed as they've gotten older. At first DS (the baby) was calmer, or already buckled into his infant seat. Now he's more likely to run away while DD is a decent listener at 4.

My best tip is that I do frequently put both children in the same side of the car. DD can climb through to her seat and start putting her shoulder straps on while I buckle in DS. And that gets both kids out of the parking lot fastest.

atcwag · May 2016

Technically, the least protected child should be in the middle. So if your daughter is forward-facing, that would be her. But, you have to take into consideration your particular situation.
My son will be rear facing until the limits of his seat are reached, probably age 4. He'll be 3 when new baby arrives. We will use an infant bucket for new baby and DS won't be getting out of car without baby also getting out, so he will most likely stay in the middle. This will allow me to pull out the infant bucket, then unbuckle DS and allow him to climb out.

NatashaSprout · May 2016

You also have to take into consideration how your LATCH system is laid out. We had a midsize SUV and we couldn't use the middle latch and a LATCH next to it. We were only able to put one on each side of the car.

atcwag · May 2016

NatashaSprout said:

You also have to take into consideration how your LATCH system is laid out. We had a midsize SUV and we couldn't use the middle latch and a LATCH next to it. We were only able to put one on each side of the car.

True...if you choose to use lower LATCH anchors. You could always do seatbelt install.
Also have to make sure any forward-facing children are in a position with a top tether anchor.

MollySm · May 2016

I think it depends a little on safe spots for carseats in your particular car. But after that I chose to have my toddler on the passenger side, and my infant on the driver side. In most instances, parking the car has the passenger side near the sidewalk, and the driver side near the street. So I'd put baby in the bucket seat, we'd walk together to the sidewalk, set the bucket seat down right next to the open door, and get my older one in the car. Then carry the bucket seat around with me to the driver side.

In parking lots we taught my older daughter to always have her hand touching the car right near me, which helped when I needed to get baby in first. As soon as she was old enough she started just climbing in the car on the same side as her sister, going behind sisters carseat, and climbing info her seat while I buckled the little one then went around to the other side to buckle the big one. You get used to it, and as they grow it changes which kid needs to be buckled first, safety wise.

aquasocks · May 2016

Thanks everyone! My daughter does try to climb in/out of her seat, but she's still small and has a little trouble. She is not wild or a runner, which is great for parking lots, but of course I'm still extra cautious. And she is definitely more risky than a newborn.

Many of you mentioned putting the bucket seat in/out the car. I never really used it with my daughter. I usually held her or wore her. So I guess if I wear this next baby a lot, the baby will be LIFO (last in, first out. A little accounting humor for you today.) But things might change and I might find the infant seat more useful with 2 kids.

Logistically I'd like my FF toddler on the passenger side and infant on the driver side, but I know that is not the "safest" option so I'm torn. We do have anchors on all rear seats and I am comfortable doing a seatbelt install so I can arrange the seats in any fashion, obviously I want something that is safe but works! For starters though I might leave my daughter behind me and put the baby on the passenger side, and see how it works out. Or maybe put my daughter in the middle and baby on drivers side, but we have 2 britax and I don't know if they will fit.

Roxell · May 2016

@aquasocks LIFO I think I love you lol

mrsasolomon · May 2016

I put the infant seat behind the passenger seat because of need at red lights I could reach that one easier to give baby a pack or something like that. Then my older child sat behind the drivers seat. I usually let the older one climb into his seat, buckled the baby and then buckled him.

atcwag · May 2016

aquasocks said:

Thanks everyone! My daughter does try to climb in/out of her seat, but she's still small and has a little trouble. She is not wild or a runner, which is great for parking lots, but of course I'm still extra cautious. And she is definitely more risky than a newborn.

Many of you mentioned putting the bucket seat in/out the car. I never really used it with my daughter. I usually held her or wore her. So I guess if I wear this next baby a lot, the baby will be LIFO (last in, first out. A little accounting humor for you today.) But things might change and I might find the infant seat more useful with 2 kids.

Logistically I'd like my FF toddler on the passenger side and infant on the driver side, but I know that is not the "safest" option so I'm torn. We do have anchors on all rear seats and I am comfortable doing a seatbelt install so I can arrange the seats in any fashion, obviously I want something that is safe but works! For starters though I might leave my daughter behind me and put the baby on the passenger side, and see how it works out. Or maybe put my daughter in the middle and baby on drivers side, but we have 2 britax and I don't know if they will fit.

Very few cars have dedicated lower latch in all 3 seating positions, so double check that. Latch "borrowing" is generally not allowed...i.e. It may "work" to use a lower anchor from each side, but it may not be a dedicated middle position.

Greencows4812 · May 2016

My oldest is almost 3 and my second is 1.5. Right now I get my 1.5 year out and hold him while I unbuckle my oldest. I can't loosen the straps but he works with me pretty well. When we get in the car, I get him in and ask him to sit in his chair. Sometimes he does and sometimes he climbs up front. I then buckle my youngest and go back and buckle my oldest. When #3 gets here I will get my youngest out and wear her and then get #2 and then #1. My oldest will go to the middle since he is forward facing.

aquasocks · May 2016

atcwag said:

aquasocks said:

Thanks everyone! My daughter does try to climb in/out of her seat, but she's still small and has a little trouble. She is not wild or a runner, which is great for parking lots, but of course I'm still extra cautious. And she is definitely more risky than a newborn.

Many of you mentioned putting the bucket seat in/out the car. I never really used it with my daughter. I usually held her or wore her. So I guess if I wear this next baby a lot, the baby will be LIFO (last in, first out. A little accounting humor for you today.) But things might change and I might find the infant seat more useful with 2 kids.

Logistically I'd like my FF toddler on the passenger side and infant on the driver side, but I know that is not the "safest" option so I'm torn. We do have anchors on all rear seats and I am comfortable doing a seatbelt install so I can arrange the seats in any fashion, obviously I want something that is safe but works! For starters though I might leave my daughter behind me and put the baby on the passenger side, and see how it works out. Or maybe put my daughter in the middle and baby on drivers side, but we have 2 britax and I don't know if they will fit.

Very few cars have dedicated lower latch in all 3 seating positions, so double check that. Latch "borrowing" is generally not allowed...i.e. It may "work" to use a lower anchor from each side, but it may not be a dedicated middle position.

Yep I'm aware of that. I meant that my vehicle has UPPER anchors on all rear sears. My SUV does NOT allow lower latch borrowing, neither did my last one, and my husband's car does not. Good point that everyone who wants to use lower latch in the middle seat needs to check their vehicle's manual. Like I said, I am comfortable with a seatbelt install, that is what I used when my daughter was RF in the middle seat. Everyone should know how to install their car seat using the seatbelt, because you never know when you might need to move your car seat to a vehicle without lower latch, or move the seat to the middle. Also, car seats have a maximum weight for using lower latch. On my Britax, its once the child is over 40 lbs. So once we hit that weight we will have to go back to seatbelt install. I'm sure all of this will come up again when people start installing their car seats!!

2undertwo2bee · May 2016

Only one right now who will only be 18 months when this one comes. She's on passenger side now. We'll probably put her on Drivers side and the new baby in bucket seat on passenger. We switched daughter to convertible at 2 months but because this baby is winter we'll probably keep them in bucket for 6-7 months or until it warms up.

hellopartyof5 · May 2016

OMG LIFO. Ded @aquasocks

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