narrowest infant carseat?

[Unregistered]

We have baby#3 arriving this winter... Older DS's will be 4 and just about 6. We already have 2 radians and 2 marathons.. younger DS has taken over the marathons full time and older is in the radians now. We drive a '06 4 door civic and '07 f150 (4 door) ... *My* car is the civic and I love it, don't want to get rid of it.. but I'm panicking that we won't be able to fit a rear facing carseat back there... I know without a doubt I can get 3 carseats facing forward (either 2 marathons and a radian, etc) but yesterday we tried putting a radian, marathon and then a rear facing marathon back there and it wouldn't work.

I was hoping to get a peg perego infant seat but knew I could come to you guys to find which seat is the narrowest! I would definately prefer that it goes to 30lbs, too...

If all else fails then DH will take the car until baby faces forward and the kiddos and I will be truckin again :P

(sorry for the long-winded post!)

[Jeanum]

Hi, I moved your post to our Canadian and International forum since you appear to be located in Canada and seat options there differ somewhat from those available in the U.S. You'd likely get a suggestion for a Baby Trend Flex Loc infant seat if we left your thread in the main U.S. centric Carseat forum due to the narrowness of that model, but it isn't available in Canada as I understand it.

[bubbaray]

I'd try FFg RN, RFg MA and FFg RN. That's likely your best bet in terms of 3 across. If you have average to small newborns (or even short torsoed children), you might not find that the baby fits well in the MA at first. My girls did, but they were biiiiig babies with long torsos. My next attempt would be 3 RNs (1 FFg, 1 RFg, 1 FFg). The RN fits little babies better, but can be a PITA to install RFg.

My last choice would be an infant seat, likely a Graco Snugride. The Keyfit fits smaller babies well, but it only goes to 22lbs in Canada and, for nearly $300, I'd rather buy a RN, KWIM? The SnugRides are reasonably priced and widely available -- make sure you find a front adjust model, though. Not a lot of bells and whistles, but my DD#1 was only in the bucket for 4m and DD#2 was only in for 2m, so really, why waste a lot of money on such a short-lived item? Better to spend less money on the infant seat and more money on a really great convertible.

You might get a SafeSeat1 in there. Maybe. I'd guess that a SnugRide is more likely to fit, though.

I highly doubt you'd get a Peg car seat in with 2 FFg convertibles. Its bulky and, IMO, overpriced.

[QuassEE]

With rear hip room of only 49" in your Civic, even with the two Radians I suspect any infant seat is going to be a squeeze... The KeyFit would be my #1 choice in cramped spaces, even if it does only go to 22lbs. You'll also want to resort to using seatbelt installs as LATCH forces the outboard seats into the centre just enough that you won't be able to get three across. Start by installing your first seat outboard, and pushing it towards the door along the beltpath. Then the centre..then the final outboard. Ensure that each seat is tight independently, and that you're not getting a false sense of the seat being tight because it's catching up on another seat next to it.

After the infant seat stage--I totally agree that I'd try Radians outboard and a rear-facing Marathon in the centre. Even if the Marathon is larger, the Radians often times will mesh under the sides of the (higher up) Marathon, giving you a little bit of space gained in overlap.

I had a 2003 Corolla as a second car about 6 years back, and just had my third so I know what you're facing. Something will work, but it'll be a bit of a puzzle game figuring it out.

Good luck!

-Nicole.

[cdncasper]

I can fit FF Radian, RF Radian, FF Radian in my 08 Civic. The RF Radian takes up alot of room though. I can also fit a Safeseat or Snugride instead of the RF Radian but it is a tight squeeze and takes awhile to do and you don't want to have to undo it all the time.