kid placement... pros and cons?

Eh, this is the big decision for today... we have a Grand Caravan w/2nd row captains chairs, 3rd row 50/50 bench.

Dd, 21 months, rides in a Britax Wizard RF in the passenger 2nd row. She's 26 lbs and plenty short. (She has a Scenara on the passenger side of dh's Focus).

#2 is due in a few months. S/he will be in the Snugride that dd used. (We'll probably get a 2nd Scenara for #2 for dh's car).

SO, I can put #2 behind the driver, and not be able to reach him/her at all, when dd was in the Snugride I could reach far enough to put another pacifier in her mouth when it got crazy in the car (I just kept 6 of them in the ash tray so I didn't have to reach down to her bum to get it). I could turn and see her too. If baby is behind me, then I won't be able to do either of those things safely. I've had the Snugride in that spot before for a friend, and dh can't put the seat back as far as he prefers. He can still drive, just not happily.

Dd is braced against the passenger seat and tethered, and dh can (but rarely) rides as a passenger in the van. Mostly because I just like to make him drive when we all go out.

If I put dd behind the driver, I can tether her to the point where she'd be braced against dh, but not with me, and she can sit at a higher recline angle so he'd have more space. BUT that means she'd be getting out on the street side of the van when we park on the street (not often now, but we're moving into a much more urban city and it's likely we will park on street much more often).

So I think I'm pretty sure about putting dd on the driver side, I can always teach her to get out and wait in the van and I can get her out the passenger side, though she LOVES to climb in the front to play, and that is a big CON for moving her seat. She has loved the front seat since she could crawl up there, and I don't think she'll outgrow that anytime soon.

I don't want to have to climb over seats or have to go back around to get her out with an infant in a sling... aaah!

Someone got any other major pros/cons I'm overlooking? Dd is pretty content to ride w/o a lot of help most of the day, though sometimes I have to pass her a soft toy or two. We don't use a stroller, so that's not really an issue.

I want to move her now - in the next few weeks - since I don't want her to feel like the new baby displaced her in the car too, as baby will be sleeping with me (dd goes to bed with dh and if he actually doesn't fall asleep with her, he is the one to get her if she wakes at night), baby will get the sling, etc.

I think if it ever stops raining I'll go try both seats in both positions to see how far back dh can move the drivers seat, though I think I prefer being able to reach the infant if needed. Maybe I'm just way overthinking the whole thing!

When DS#2 came DS #1 was 2 1/2 and I decided to put him on the passenger side so that he could climb in on his own without having to hold his hand to get to the street side door. I don't like standing in the street to get the baby in and out, but thought that it was safer to keep #1 on the sidewalk. If I contort my arm around extra far, I can ruffle the baby's head and I made a parental decision to have one of those baby mirrors on the seat back so that I can see him in the rear-view mirror. I figured that if the infant seeat rebounded into the seat it wouldn't come in contact with the mirror which was up on the headrest. And now that we have a tethered Britax, it can't rebound so as long as the mirror is firmly attached, it shouldn't be a problem. That was my reasoning anyway. Good luck with your decision!

Lisa,

It sounds like you have a Scenera that is RF and you are tethering it RF. Am I understanding it right? If so I need to let you know that the Scenera IS NOT designed to tether RF. Also, things like mirrors can be projectiles that can hit/harm little ones in the event of a collision.

IMO trying to put a pacifier in a child's mouth while driving is probably not the best idea. As far as which child to put on which side that is a matter of personal preference.

Hi Mark, no, I tether the Britax in my car, dd also has a Scenara in dh's car, it's not tethered. I'm really only spending all this mental anguish on my vehicle, I'll worry about his later (though I know dd will go behind driver, baby behind passenger in his car or we won't be able to put the seats in!) Honestly, the idea of tethering it kind of scares me, the shell is so wiggly (bendable? soft?) compared to the Britax that I think it would really warp and distort the seat if we were allowed to tether.

I don't have a mirror, which is why I think I want #2 on the passenger side, so I can turn my head and see baby... I'm really quite careful about the pacifier thing, my dd had terrible reflux and needed to constantly suck or scream. So I pop them in at stopsigns and lights, or pull over, etc. - we live in an area where we don't often use the freeway, and there are more than enough lights in town to give us plenty of stops.

I moved dd over yesterday just to let dh see if he felt ok with the seat position with her on the driver side... he wasn't thrilled, but was comfy enough. I just put her Britax in as tight as I could w/o the tether, and it went much more upright, but not 30* and then I attached the tether but didn't crank it down... she seems fine riding up that far, but wow did I struggle to get her in there at the more upright seating position... her legs were everywhere and had nowhere to go.

I'm going to put the snugride in there sometime this week and see how it fits behind the driver... I think it might fit a bit better if I put it in with the handle down and then just leave it in. Dh insists that an infant seat takes up less space, but I'm pretty sure I had to move the seat up for me (and I'm not as tall as he is!) to put the infant seat behind me...

The other choice is to put baby in the passenger 2nd row and take out the driver side seat and store it... and put dd in teh 3rd row, probably passenger side as well.. she'd probably enjoy looking out the back window, but I wouldn't enjoy climbing in the van to buckle her in! I'd rather wait until I have 3 kids and HAVE to climb in the van!