Minivan moms - set up?

tiki8286 · June 2017

Hi there! For those of you with a minivan, wondering what your car seat set up will be once your baby arrives. I have a 2013 Dodge Grand Caravan and currently my two kids sit in the captain seats while we have the 3rd row stowed.

Once baby comes, my thought was to have my 6 year old sit in the back, with my 4 and infant in the captain seats. However, wondering if it may be easier to put both older ones in the back, stow one captain and infant in the other. Might make getting in and out easier for the two, as well as on the go diaper changes...

Just wondeing what you all are thinking of doing :-)

Breath_Easy92 · June 2017

I think the older two in the back and the baby in the front plan sounds really convenient as long as the older two get along fairly well and don't need much assistance getting snacks open, seat belts buckled, etc.

tfrangul · June 2017

My toddler and 8 yr old are in the captains but my oldest will be in the back once baby comes. Then I will have the 2 littles in the captains. My oldest is already assisting with helping buckle her brother so it's easier when the baby comes. This was her idea! She is such a good kid!

Breath_Easy92 · June 2017

@tfrangul what a sweetheart

tiki8286 · June 2017

My oldest can get himself in/out easily and the two of them get along so well so I think it might work
having them both in back. I'll have to test it out when it starts to cool down. 117F is def not the time to try something new haha

dogdisnylovr · June 2017

I think folding down one of the captains if yours has stow and go would help make it easier for your older ones to get in the back.

We have a Town n County and I have 3 step-kids. LO will be in the car set right behind the drivers seat. The oldest of my step-kids will be in the other captain's chair, and then the boys will be in the back. I am already dreading this because we already always have an argument over who is sitting in the back because everyone hates it.

efrey1986 · June 2017

I have the same issue. I have a 4 y/o and a 21 month old. I was planning on putting the baby in one of the captain chairs, the toddler in the other, and put my 4 year old in the back. My issue is I still have to buckle my 4 y/o most of the time so I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to crawl back there to buckle him...sighhh

I like the idea of putting both in the back though because then I wouldn't have to climb over that big toddler chair to buckle them hmmmm....decisions decisions...

tiki8286 · June 2017

efrey1986 said:

I have the same issue. I have a 4 y/o and a 21 month old. I was planning on putting the baby in one of the captain chairs, the toddler in the other, and put my 4 year old in the back. My issue is I still have to buckle my 4 y/o most of the time so I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to crawl back there to buckle him...sighhh
I like the idea of putting both in the back though because then I wouldn't have to climb over that big toddler chair to buckle them hmmmm....decisions decisions...

This is my thing too. I still have to buckle me 3.5 yr old but she's connected to the hip to her older brother, so I feel like them being separated might be worse than having to get in the back to buckle her. With the captain chair down, it wouldn't be that hard to step in and buckle her in the back. My 5.5 yr old is starting kinder and I'll be dropping off/picking up, so he'll have to be able to get in/out of the car quickly - those captain chairs with toddler feet or a car seat sticking out might be difficult to maneuver around. Just wondering which set up would be less annoying for everyone haha. Baby will be behind my seat without a doubt, but I'm torn on what to do with the other two.

efrey1986 · June 2017

@tiki8286 My oldest will be in Kindergarten this year too and he will also have to climb out in the drop off line! I was even considering buying a new car just for a split bench in the middle instead of the captain chairs so I wouldn't have to deal with the issue, but seriously everything I want is soooooo expensive ugh

tiki8286 · June 2017

@efrey1986 yay for kindergarten! My dude has a Nov birthday, so he'll most likely be one of the oldest in his class. I'm not sure how time has gone by so fast, though...

yes! I looked at other cars and just ugh, so much $$. And of course my van only has one latch system in the back seat, in the middle of two. Because that was a smart idea haha. At least we can use the seatbelt to secure a car seat but I'm just so used to using latch...

mambo5-2 · June 2017

My oldest will be moving to the back in all of our cars. He is 4.5

Incandescent · June 2017

We are just about to buy a car with a third row. I am waffling between match up an older one and a baby, or putting both older ones in the back and babies in the middle row. We have a 7 4 and 1 year old now.

kaylaakosua · July 2017

We have a town & country and with this baby it will be 5

. 3 of them (8/6/4yrs) we only have 50% of the time and DS (5yr) we will have the school year. We will have the 8/6/5yrs in the back, the 4yr behind the driver and squish behind passenger. We also have them all in Diono r100s because they are all small in weight and they are the slimmest carseat out. 3 Diono r100s ( 2 - 5 point, one booster) in the back, 1 r100 in the captain.

tiki8286 · July 2017

kaylaakosua said:

We have a town & country and with this baby it will be 5 . 3 of them (8/6/4yrs) we only have 50% of the time and DS (5yr) we will have the school year. We will have the 8/6/5yrs in the back, the 4yr behind the driver and squish behind passenger. We also have them all in Diono r100s because they are all small in weight and they are the slimmest carseat out. 3 Diono r100s ( 2 - 5 point, one booster) in the back, 1 r100 in the captain.

I've wanted to replace my kids car seats with Dionos to save space (they both have bulky Britax ones) but so many things to get for baby #3 that it just keeps getting pushed back. I think once we actually move the kiddos to the back we will then determine if they need more narrow car seats or not.

tiki8286 · July 2017

Bringing my old thread alive - realized that our backseat (3rd row) had only ONE tether + latch. And now reading up on things, all forward facing seats have to be tethered. Grr on having a family car that isn't really family friendly.

tfrangul · July 2017

I personally can't stand the anchor things. I just use the seatbelt for all my car seats....maybe this is not to some people's standards but it's what works for us.

kaylaakosua · July 2017

tiki8286 said:

Bringing my old thread alive - realized that our backseat (3rd row) had only ONE tether + latch. And now reading up on things, all forward facing seats have to be tethered. Grr on having a family car that isn't really family friendly.

I agree. Our third row is the same. We use one of these if we have to rely on the seatbelt D iono Tite. I prefer using the anchor rather than the seatbelt.

m6agua · July 2017

*lurking from Nov 16 BMB*

Not sure if you know this or not, but there are weight limits for the latch system. In general if your kid is 40+ lbs you have to use the seat belt for installation. Look on the stickers of your carseat or the manual and you should find the weight limit. Sometimes it is a combination of the seat and the child.

ETA: make sure to read your vehicle manual too. Sometimes the vehicle has certain requirements too.

Minivan moms - set up?

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