Need help finding narrow seat!

My son 5 years old (on Sept 12), is 42 pounds, and 43 inches tall. He currently is harnessed in a Graco Nautilus. I provide childcare to 2 other children in my home, so now that my son is starting school it will be necessary to have my son & the 2 other children ride in my vehicle. At the moment I have a Graco Nautilus (middle) and Cosco Alpha Omega(rear driver's side) installed in my 2005 Honda Civic. This leaves absolutely no room on the rear passenger's side seat. I cannot possibly see any carseat/booster seat fitting there. I was thinking of purchasing another Graco Nautilus for my husband's vehicle, but now I'm thinking I should put our current Nautilus in his vehicle and purchase a new, more narrow seat for mine. So my question is, what is the safest, narrowest seat that will fit my son...and still keep him harnessed for quite a while. Along with my son's seat there will be a Cosco Alpha Omega & another similar sized seat along the back. I really hope I can make this work! I know it will be crammed, but the Nautilus seems to be a really wide seat so I'm hoping there is something better out there! I have been looking at the Radian, but was unsure how much room my son had to grow in this, and if it was comfortable. Also, is the Frontier any more narrow than the Nautilus?? Thank you for any advice!!

What are the ages and sizes of the children who will be in the other seats?

One is just turning 2 and she is 28 pounds, the other is 2.5 and 37 pounds. Both parents believe rear-facing is uncomfortable and worry about broken legs....there is no budging on that one. The 2.5 yo is actually in a high-back booster in her mother's vehicle .

Welcome! More questions for you - What harness slot is he on in the Nautilus?

Is the Cosco Alpha Omega yours or does it belong to the daycare kid?

The alpha omega is provided by the child's parents. I do also have a spare alpha omega which is just in case of emergencies, and my other spare care seat is Nautilus, which is in my mother in law's vehicle. The third car seat is also going to be provided by the other child's parents. I've quickly seen it in the back seat and it looks similar in size to the alpha omega. I would love to purchase 3 new seats for my car, but financially that just isn't an option at the moment. I'm hoping to start with a new, narrow, high-weight/height capacity seat for my son and then if finances permit purchase 1 or 2 other seats in the future.

Oops...forgot to answer your first question!

He is on the slot 2nd from the bottom.

Unregistered said:

One is just turning 2 and she is 28 pounds, the other is 2.5 and 37 pounds. Both parents believe rear-facing is uncomfortable and worry about broken legs....there is no budging on that one. The 2.5 yo is actually in a high-back booster in her mother's vehicle .

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Where are you located? If there is a booster law in your province, this is likely very illegal. Even if there's not, it is almost certainly against the manufacturers instructions (unless I'm mistaken, there aren't any booster seats in Canada which allow them to be used at less than 40 lbs), which would also be illegal. If you can't convince them to keep their kids RF, you should at least point out that the booster is illegal for this child.

Personally, if I was in charge of these children, they would be riding rear-facing in my vehicle. As a care-giver, you have a responsibility to ensure the safety of the children in your care and that means that they are safely secured when travelling in your vehicle. In the horrible, but very possible, event that you are in a crash, would the parents be madder about their child potentially having a broken leg (which has never happened as a result of a car seat but rather because of penetration or other debris in the vehicle) or about their child having a broken neck?? I'm pretty sure they'd be more upset about the broken neck. Besides, it is your vehicle so as long as the kids are being transported safely, what right do the parents have to complain about them being RF?


I'm biased because I have and love the Radian but I would suggest having a look at that for all 3 positions. I'm not sure how well it would fit your son, having never used it FF but if he's still on the lower slots it sounds like he'd still fit the Radian - the top slot on the Radian is 1/2" lower than the Nautilus. Or to save some money, keep your son in the Naut and get Radians for the daycare kids? They have such a long life span that they should last you through a couple rounds of day care kids!

Good luck,
Melissa

The 2005 Civic is very similar to, though not quite identical, the 2001-2004. I have done exactly two three-acrosses in my 2002, and I've been trying.

First of all, check to see if your current setup is independently tight. Which seat did you install first? Remove that, and check for movement in the second seat. I think you'll find that what you thought was tight isn't actually.

With a Nautilus in the mix, I can all but guarantee that the only way to safely transport three children in that vehicle is to put one child in the front seat and the other two outboard in the back. If this is what you do, the oldest, harnessed, FFing child goes in front with the seat moved all the way back. The problem with this "solution" is that there would be no way to tether the Nautilus, which is illegal in Canada.

The one three-across that I've gotten which would possibly work for you is FF Radian, RF Radian, FF Radian.