2 RF seats in van..

[humpforfree]

How do you have your middle row configured? I am going back and forth between having the two seats in the captain's chair position, or putting the middle seat in and taking away a captain's chair.
If the two RF seats are in the captain's chairs, there isn't a way to get to the back bench, except through the trunk? We don't often have people sit back there, but it would be a pain if someone needed to.
If the two seats are next to each other, the back is accessible, but L could throw/drop crap on the baby. He usually tosses his cup and/or snack or shoes when he is done. We could not give him those things, but I'm sure he could find some way to irritate the baby. Lol.

[ECB]

What kind of van do you have? The middle seat in our van is NOT one that I would be comfortable installing a RF carseat on. As such, I'd used both captains chairs.

[namasteak]

We are putting one seat on each captains chair. DS is forward facing so we can move that chair back far enough that someone can climb into the back seat easily.

[jr009j]

Most of our friends seem to have the seats in the captain's seats for day to day, but will move one of the kids to the back row if they need to drive someone else around.

[ilikedonuts]

We had (we just turned DD1 and her seat is in the same place) them on the captains chair. We usually have the middle seat in as well in case I need to jump back there with the kids.

[tulips]

We have one RF seat in each captains chair in our van. We don't have a middle seat in the 2nd row at all.

[linz]

I would use the captian's chairs. If someone had to climb in back couldn't you have them get in before you put the infant seat in? I know in my car you could climb in the back when just the base was there. Once the older one is FF it will be easier or he could move to the back row.

[humpforfree]

Jul 28, 2015 13:57:01 GMT -5 ECB said:

What kind of van do you have? The middle seat in our van is NOT one that I would be comfortable installing a RF carseat on. As such, I'd used both captains chairs.

Odyssey. It has latch in the center.

[Deleted]

I have a a Sienna with captains chairs in the second row. All 3 kids are rear facing still so I have 2 rear facing seats in the middle row captains chairs. When we were using infant seats we just didnt put the seat in until after we had strapped J in the back. Now that we have Radians You have to sort of crawl under the seat to get to the back row but it's manageable. I've been doing it for about 7 months now and we are just used to it.

[humpforfree]

Jul 28, 2015 14:02:44 GMT -5 linz said:

I would use the captian's chairs. If someone had to climb in back couldn't you have them get in before you put the infant seat in? I know in my car you could climb in the back when just the base was there. Once the older one is FF it will be easier or he could move to the back row.

If this one is like L, they will only be in the infant seat for 6 or 7 months.

[dcrunnergirl52]

We had them in the captain's chairs, with the middle seat in case I needed to sit back there with them on long rides. We took out the middle seat (which was really more like a jump seat so I can't imagine putting a carseat on it while removing the side seat) when we had family or friends in town and needed to access the third row.

ETA: I can't imagine my 2-year old sitting directly next to a tiny baby. He'd poke the baby's eyes, steal pacifiers, and generally just be a PITA b/c he'd be so curious. 

[Deleted]

Jul 28, 2015 14:07:28 GMT -5 humpforfree said:

Jul 28, 2015 14:02:44 GMT -5 linz said:

I would use the captian's chairs. If someone had to climb in back couldn't you have them get in before you put the infant seat in? I know in my car you could climb in the back when just the base was there. Once the older one is FF it will be easier or he could move to the back row.

If this one is like L, they will only be in the infant seat for 6 or 7 months.

That was our issue. The girls were out of the infant seats by 8ish months due to their height. So it's definitely more annoying this way, but its doable. I just can't in good conscience flip J to ff just because I don't want to crawl under the seat to get to the back. I'm too paranoid.

[humpforfree]

Jul 28, 2015 14:10:26 GMT -5 @awinter said:

Jul 28, 2015 14:07:28 GMT -5 humpforfree said:

If this one is like L, they will only be in the infant seat for 6 or 7 months.

That was our issue. The girls were out of the infant seats by 8ish months due to their height. So it's definitely more annoying this way, but its doable. I just can't in good conscience flip J to ff just because I don't want to crawl under the seat to get to the back. I'm too paranoid.

Yeah I don't want to flip him either. It's just a matter of going through the back of the car to get to the back row, or putting the baby next to him. Sounds like we will hair figure out a way to shimmy into the back around the captain's chairs.

[ilikedonuts]

If we had anyone drive with us, I just climbed into the middle row between the two carseats myself and let them sit in the front with DH.

DD2 would never have napped in the car if she was right next to DD1 because DD1 would (and would still) mess with her the entire time.

[whitepicketfence]

We only have one kiddo rear-facing at the moment but DD3 (RFing) and DD2 (FFing) are both in the captains chairs in the middle row. DD1 is in the back row in her high-back booster.

[holly116]

I took out a captain seat in the second row to more easily access the back row. I have three in seats, two on the back bench including my RF youngest, and then one more in a captain's chair with a glorious open spot that I can climb into for the stupid winter time coat dance etc. If we're hauling someone else along, we pop the seat back in. It's nbd and would be even easier if you had a van model where you could stow the seat in the floorboards.

If I were you, I'd put your oldest in the back row, the baby in a captain's seat and then stow/remove the other captains chair.

[humpforfree]

holly116 I hadn't thought of removing two seats from the middle row! That is a good idea!

[water*drop]

Jul 28, 2015 15:09:23 GMT -5 holly116 said:

I took out a captain seat in the second row to more easily access the back row. I have three in seats, two on the back bench including my RF youngest, and then one more in a captain's chair with a glorious open spot that I can climb into for the stupid winter time coat dance etc. If we're hauling someone else along, we pop the seat back in. It's nbd and would be even easier if you had a van model where you could stow the seat in the floorboards.

If I were you, I'd put your oldest in the back row, the baby in a captain's seat and then stow/remove the other captains chair.

We only have captain seats in our second row, but this is essentially our setup - DS is RF in the third row, the driver side second row captain seat is stowed, and DD is RF in the passenger side second row captain seat. Having the huge open space where the seat is stowed is AWESOME for getting the kids in and out of the car. We just unstow (totally a real word) the other captain seat if we have an extra person.

[Deleted]

Why didn't I think of removing a captains chair?!?!?! I think we need to do this.

[holly116]

Yay! I'm glad I helped!

[lishie]

We have an Odyssey. Our captain's chairs can move into several configurations. When we had two car seats, we were able to configure the captain's chairs so that one of the chairs was pushed slightly toward the center, and you could pass by it to get to the back seats.

[humpforfree]

Jul 29, 2015 6:21:37 GMT -5 lishie said:

We have an Odyssey. Our captain's chairs can move into several configurations. When we had two car seats, we were able to configure the captain's chairs so that one of the chairs was pushed slightly toward the center, and you could pass by it to get to the back seats.

Actually, I kind of remember something like this when we were looking at the car. I'll have to check and see if ours does this as well and how much space it gives to pass by. Thanks!

[lishie]

Jul 29, 2015 6:54:28 GMT -5 humpforfree said:

Jul 29, 2015 6:21:37 GMT -5 lishie said:

We have an Odyssey. Our captain's chairs can move into several configurations. When we had two car seats, we were able to configure the captain's chairs so that one of the chairs was pushed slightly toward the center, and you could pass by it to get to the back seats.

Actually, I kind of remember something like this when we were looking at the car. I'll have to check and see if ours does this as well and how much space it gives to pass by. Thanks!

It wasn't a ton of space, but I'm not a waif and I was able to squeeze by to get into the back when MIL was visiting and sat in the front seat.