How many seats do you have?

mamahen · Jan 17, 2010

So I ended up, after long deliberation, with a MR for my primary kid-toting vehicle (we'll see how it works). I still have my XTSL that didn't work in my car but would probably work in DH's car since he has latch. Would you keep it around for a spare or would you return the XTSL and just use one seat for multiple vehicles. We dont need to move the seat too often- probably 1 or 2 times a month.
So on that note, how important is it to just leave it once it's in tight? DH will need some convincing to have more than one seat.

joolsplus3 · Jan 17, 2010

*Definitely* one installed in each vehicle. Especially since they last 5-6 years and your circumstances may always change (kiddo going with dad more often or having some sort of emergency come up where you can't switch the seat as needed).
Tell him a handful of seats is nothing, some of us here have a dozen or more

BookMama · Jan 17, 2010

I completely agree with Julie - a car seat for each kid in each car is the best, if possible. If you decide not to keep it installed in DH's car, at least keep it around for a spare - you never know when you'll need one. (Child riding with someone else unexpectedly, regular car seat needs to be cleaned due to vomit, recall on original car seat, etc.

MANDY1234 · Jan 17, 2010

Extra seats are a must...and so much FUN lol We have 8 seats for 3 kids in 2 cars right now lol but in a few weeks that will be 11 seats for 4 kids

mommaon112903 · Jan 17, 2010

We have 4 seats, two cars, one child

We have *always* had one seat installed in every vechicle that Josef ever rides in, makes it SO much easier.

mommy-medic · Jan 17, 2010

Well, the more you uninstall and reinstall, the more likely you are to make a mistake or miss something. Once it's in, leave it in! Ya never know when you will get in a wreck and NEED a backup- I was driving home from work and got T-boned by a 16 year old- my seats had to be replaced (thankfully no kiddos in the car with me).

If you can swing it, go for it!

Oh- and I have five seats- my 10 yo rides in an adult seatbelt, my 8 yo rides in: Regent in my car, booster in nannys. My almost 3 yo rides: FFing in a MA in nanny's car, RFing in a BLVD my car, RFing scenera in her father's car.

babyherder · Jan 17, 2010

I have 5 seats and NO kids! Although 3 of them (seats not kids) got crashed a few days ago and will probably be replaced closer to summer when I start babysitting again. Although if you want something cheaper than an xtsl for a backup/spare seat I can understand that

Kat_Momof3 · Jan 17, 2010

extra seats are fun!

I wish I could afford to have more of them!

I have 3 seats for Ruthie RIGHT NOW (the Nautilus will be given to my niece for her little girls after Ruthie outgrows it or turns 6... and the way she is right now, she may outgrow it any day)... but it will be 2... one for dh's car, one for mine

I have 1 seat for Jeffrey for my car, as he now fits the seatbelt in the middle seat of his dad's car.

Damian is 5'2" and 110 lbs... I think I've said enough right there... lol.... he doesn't have any seats... just uses the seatbelt.

NannyMom · Jan 17, 2010

My daughter has 5 seats installed in cars, Me, DH, Grandma, Grandpa, and now her uncle has one too. The one in Uncle's car was her extra that sat at home, just in case. She goes to her grandparents' house once/week, but I leave a seat in each of their cars. I am a tech, and good at installing my seats, but once they're in I don't like taking them in and out. Too many chances to forget something. Also, because I'm very particular about the carseat usage, I don't want to have to trust someone else to install her carseat in an emergency, even if I have taught them. Anyone that would take her in an emergency now has a seat in their car.

The kids I nanny for have 3 seats each (and there are 3 kids). They each have 1 in my car, Mom's car, Dad's car. They have a few extra backless boosters for the big kids (6 and 9) in the basement, and for any friends they may have over. I also have 2 extra high back boosters, and 2 extra backless boosters for them at my house. The kids don't often ride in Dad's car (he works alot), but they all have a seat there anyway. The baby is 12 months, and she's only been in his car twice, but we feel he still needs a seat installed there. They have no family or close friends in the area, so the 3 of us are the only people that would drive the kids, even in an emergency (I live 15mins away, their closest family is over an hour away).

I'd suggest having a carseat in the cars your child may ride in.

momtoirs · Jan 17, 2010

One child -- 5y, 3m DS:

In the basement:
Expired Alpha Omega won in a raffle long before DS was born (and replaced by friends after a crash in their vehicle)
SnugRide -- expires this year
2 Roundabouts -- probably have about a year left on them
1 Marathon
1 or 2 EFTA (crashed seats from a friend)
1 shield booster ("rescued" from a used toy/equipment sale/fundraiser)

In vehicles or easily available in the house:
2 Nauti
1 "old" Parkway
1 Turbobooster
1 "old" RSTV

DS rides in any of the options not in the basement. His primary seats are the Nauti -- one in each vehicle usually. Mostly, right now, his friends (who are often in backless boosters with their families), are the ones who usually ride in our boosters (we have no headrests and insist on using our seats). DS does ride in the boosters from time to time and will sometimes ride in the RSTV when we are not traveling. In our family, DS rides in both cars about equally, so for us, having a seat in each vehicle is essential.

Tina

karlatta · Jan 17, 2010

I think that it's a good idea for you to have a spare seat in your DH's car. If budget is a concern, maybe not a seat as expensive as the Radian, but I think you should have a seat there for sure.

We have 6 seats for 4 kids. My car has our main 4 seats, and then DH's car has two seats installed that can hold any combination of our 4 children. His car can't hold 4 seats anyway (small sedan), so this way we can split the kids up 1 and 3 or 2 and 2 and go places in different vehicles.

luvsviola · Jan 17, 2010

We have seats for each of our cars, seats for daycare, and an extra Frontier that I found on a good deal, but a not using right now and a FPSVD that I don't really like that is our spare for when DD goes places with friends and I don't want to uninstall her other seats. I don't like that it doesn't tether RFing, so it pretty much sits in the garage. I was going to sell it on Craigslist, but think I'll send it home with DFS if he goes home.

2 Boulevards
1 Marathon
1 FPSVD
1 Frontier
1 True Fit Premier
1 Radian XTSL
1 SafeSeat with 3 bases

Here is my thoughts on having so many seats...I don't EVER leave my children anywhere without seats. It is a safety issue for me. If their caregiver needed to take them to the ER or some other emergency, I want that person to have safe seats. I had a friend who only had one set of seats and inevitably, if she went anywhere, her DH was stuck at home since the seats were in her van and it is a PITA to put them in and out all the time.

CommMom · Jan 17, 2010

Put me in the "seat for every car" column. The more you have to install/uninstall, the more likely you are to slip up...especially on that one day where you're tired/running behind/whatever. And frankly, it's just easier.

We have several seats...(and 1 LO

)
1 Snugride (w/ 2 bases) that's currently unused (saving for the next LO)
1 Marathon (installed in primary car)
1 MyRide (currently installed in secondary car)
1 TrueFit (was in secondary car until a couple of days ago, now sitting in the garage)
1 TrueFit (in grandparent's car)

I have been kicking around whether to get rid of our extra TF...but I really think now that I'll hang onto it. In the case of an accident, I've got a good backup seat for either vehicle. Or, worst case...if something happened and somebody else had to transport DS, I have an extra seat that they could use.

simplychels · Jan 17, 2010

We have 3 seats, 1 child. She mainly rides in 1 vehicle. Though occasionally shes in daddies truck so we have a seat for there as well and I keep 1 installed in my car, and 1 in my house. And thank goodness for that spare floater seat because honestly things happen and you can end up hooped if you dont have the floater seat on stand by.

As soon as the true fit premier is released in Canada I'll be buying one of those as well. That will most likely take the place of the seat in daddies truck and the seat in that truck will then become another floater. Though I can admit i'll prob hang on to it until I actually have to hand it over once she finally outgrows the seat thats in there now.

kathysr98 · Jan 17, 2010

We have 4, soon to be 5, seats for one child. One each in mine, my mom's, BFF's, and an extra. We will probably leave the one from my car in DH's truck after I get the new one next month. My reasons are similar to others listed. If I have a wreck, either with or without dd, I want something else to put her in. The people who have seats installed are the ones that would be available in an emergency. (DH is a student, so it'd have to be BAD for me to call him to leave class.) The extra seat stays at my family's business, so dh or my dad could get it if I needed them to, but I would need to install it.

mylittlet · Jan 17, 2010

I am an odd one on here. We only have 2 kids in seats and only have 1 seat for each. We have 2 backless boosters, but kids are almost 3 and almost 4. We have no family close. I am mostly a SAHM. Dh only has a car for about 6months before he changes. You never know what he willl have- 5 seater car currently, but looking for a pull vehicle.

If we ever crashed, we would have problems, because the only seats that would work for my kids long term would be a frontier or regent, which are 2+ hours away in stores.

featherhead · Jan 17, 2010

We only have one vehicle, and we don't go in other vehicles very often. At this moment I do have a spare seat for each girl, but not for long. The one seat is one that I only bought to tide me over till I could get a MyRide or new Radian. That one I am trying to sell right now. The other one is the Keyfit which Kezi is just about too big for. So pretty soon I'm down to one seat for each of them (until I get my new Radian). I like uninstalling my seats every once in a while anyway, just to check things over, etc. So to me, once or twice a month isn't often enough to have a spare seat.

April · Jan 17, 2010

I have I think 13 seats and 4 kids. One for each in two vehicles, a spare combo seat that any of them can use in an emergency, two spare boosters that often get used for friends or fieldtrips, and an 86Y harness that we use if someone needs to go in a friends car with lap only belts. Oh and another booster that we'll use when I re-configure in June when #5 is here.

Honestly, I'd be nervous without spares. Our van got rear ended and totalled in Sept and I wouldve been screwed if I didn't have spares to use while I was fighting with insurance to replace ours. Also, more than once our kids have come home from fieldtrips with other kids' boosters because they got mixed up. I wouldn't be comfortable using those seats if we didn't have others, so I figured 2 $25 boosters were worth it in case they got lost.

We switch seats around quite a bit depending on who is going where. Its also nice to have a spare for when friends come over with seats I don't feel are appropriate for them, so I don't have to drive other people's kids in less than safe seats.

I don't know that I'd keep an XTSL as a spare, just because of the cost of them. I have cheap seats for spares, but that's just how it is for us.

My DH freaked for while about how many seats I bought, but once I showed him that there was a valid reason for each of them, he got it. I'm not allowed to buy anymore though.

concerned4you · Jan 17, 2010

Lets see...

Two boys currently 5.5 years (47lbs) and 3.5 years (38lbs).

Alpha Omega (outgrown by both)- currently sitting in garage
Graco ComfortSport (outgrown)- sitting in garage
Britax Roundabout (outgrown)- sitting in garage
Eddie Bauer Prospect (3.5 years)- currently used as main seat although will become the extra seat once I get the new Evenflo Generations 65.
Cosco Scenera- babysitters car
Evenflo Big Kid Booster (5.5 years)- main seat
Graco Backless Turbo booster (5.5 years)- babysitters car
Graco Backless Turbo booster (5.5 years)- extra seat

So I guess that totals 8 car seats? I think I better get rid of some. The first three are expired or near expiration and need to be disposed of. Maybe next month.

I think having extra seats is the best. It takes so long to switch car seats from one vehicle to another (especially when you live in a cold state). Anyway, I would say get a seat for DH's car. You should check some of the new cheaper higher weight seats on the market out. They may offer you a longer term seat.

I also agree with the others that it is a safety concern for me. I feel that there should always be spares in the garage (just in case) or with the sitters (just in case). You never now when you will need one of the spare seats. For example, my best friend was rushed to the hospital after collapsing at the mall. I had to go pick her kids up from the hospital and was able to just throw two of my seats in (since she didn't have any with her). We would've been in trouble if I wasn't able to do that.

Good luck!

myliljunebugs · Jan 17, 2010

I have 2 kids and currently we have 5 seats, but will soon have 7.

DD right now has Radian XTSL, Britax Regent, and Recaro Vivo

DS right now has Britax Regent, Britax Parkway, and a Clek Olli.

When I get school funds I will be getting a Britax Parkway SG and a SK Monterey and putting him in his fave in my car, the other in my mom's and the old PW in his Dad's. Then DD will be harnessed in all cars and the Vivo and Olli will go in my trunk.

I obviously am a huge advocate of car seats in all cars they regularly ride in (they are in their Dad's car on avg twice a month, risk of incorrect installment is there every time you install, especially in a "rush" situation, it's just better for me)

How many seats do you have?

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