Car seat conundrum

[mamaree]

I need some car seat help. I'm struggling with our car seat situation with Natalie coming. I know to many parents, turning a kid to ff isn't a big deal, and that's fine, but I am having a very hard time with it. Katie is 19 months old today. Ryan is 4.5 and Natalie will be here in the next two weeks.

We have a town and country with the stow n go seats. We've always had Kait in the middle row, pass side. Ryan has either been middle row drivers side or back row drivers side with either a passenger in the middle row or that seat stowed. That's the only way we could ever take an additional person or two along because if he's in the back with the middle seat up, we can't get to him.

He has high-functioning autism and doesn't have the strength and coordination yet to buckle himself in and that's where we are running into issues.

With Natalie coming, the only way I can get to the back seat to buckle him in is to keep one of the middle seats down. Which means that with Kait in the back, the only way to get her in her seat rf is to put her in through the lift gate which I can't do. Not only is my upper body not tall enough to reach to get her in, it's impossible for me to reach over and buckle them in from the back.

I feel like I have two options and they both make me super nervous and I am not 100% comfortable with either.

A) FF both Katie and Ryan in the back seat, leave drivers middle down and rf Natalie in pass middle.

B) FF Ryan in pass back, RF Katie in pass middle and RF Natalie in drivers back with drivers middle down, which will not only mean Natalie is in the way back with Ryan (essentially unsupervised) but also not in the middle of the vehicle.

Sorry this is long...I'm just not sure what to do. I REALLY am not ready to ff Katie yet but I'm starting to feel like it's my only option.

[JayhawkGirl]

Would a different brand seat for your son be easier for him to buckle himself? DS can't do my MILs Graco but can do our britax himself. Would you be comfortable moving him to a high back belt positioning booster? I am a fanatic for five point harness as long as possible but I only have two car seats to juggle.

Otherwise I would do option b. if you plan to turn your 19 month old at two, this would be a six month set up.

[zarapipe]

That's a tough one. There are only two seats in the second row right?

Do you feel that having N and R in the back together would make issues? Do you foresee him bothering her, making her cry, etc?

[mamaree]

He's in a Britax Frontier 90. He's 4.5 but is 53lbs and 47 inches tall

[mamaree]

Apr 2, 2014 6:36:28 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

That's a tough one. There are only two seats in the second row right?

Do you feel that having N and R in the back together would make issues? Do you foresee him bothering her, making her cry, etc?

Yes. Only two captains chairs.

It's hard to say how he will be with her. He tries to be helpful but with his autism can be somewhat unpredictable.

[mamaree]

Apr 2, 2014 7:37:43 GMT -5 bricco said:

This really is quite the conundrum. Have you considered XPing to MMMs? This is all foreign territory to me, but I think a lot of THOSE ladies have multiple kids and might be able to offer you some good perspective.

I hadn't but I will. Thank you for the suggestion.

[Deleted]

I would do A.

[Dukes]

Can you move one of your captains chairs so it is next to the other? I know in the Siennas and Odys you could move one captains chair towards the center to allow easy access to the rear bench on that side.

[mamaree]

Apr 2, 2014 9:33:23 GMT -5 Dukes said:

Can you move one of your captains chairs so it is next to the other? I know in the Siennas and Odys you could move one captains chair towards the center to allow easy access to the rear bench on that side.

No, the Town and Country's don't have that option.  Rather, we can stow the seats flat in the floor easily.

[picksthemusic]

Hmm, that is tough.

Have you thought about contacting a local car seat safety company to do a 'work-it-out' session with you? I'm sure they'd do it for a nominal fee or even free. I know our hospital works with a car seat safety company for free car seat inspections, and they were excellent at solving car seat issues with specific makes and models of cars.

[mrsnole]

B.

[amaristella]

There's a Facebook group called Carseats for the littles that is really awesome with arrangement questions. You should post your question there!

Edit: Also, the group has 40,000+ members and lots of posts so if you don't get answers right away sometimes you have to bump your post to get an answer.

[curbsideprophet]

@fivedogs might be able to help.