Question Infant seats for twins

My BFF is due to have twins at the end of the summer. She knows her OB will not let her go past 37 weeks and she may end up delivering sooner. So just to be on the safe side we are assumng the LO will be on the smaller side. She drives a 2010 camry and her DH drives a 2011 terrain. I am helping her narrow down her choices for seats since I am sure I will be her "go to" car seat person ( I take my CPST class next month!!!!! ) Anyways back on subject.... She is dead set on an infant bucket style seat so my original thought was for her to get the keyfit 30 since I know that they fit smaller infants. Do they fit well side by side? I was thinking that he best positions for the seats would be passenger and center since I know that in at least the Camry car seats cannot touch the front seats because of advanced airbags. She was a bit concerened about having on in the middle bc she is super short and didnt think she could reach it but I think that having a infant seat behind both sides would leave too little room up front. How do the Keyfit 30 compare with the different graco seats in size relation to room for the front seats? I know that there are difference with the graco seats on how they fit smaller infants. So of the graco seats which fit smaller babies better? Do they fit side by side well? I know the safety 1st seat worked well with little ones, But isnt it fairly tall? What about peg-perego infant seats? I know nothing about them but she sent me a link to some twin travel systems and 2 of them were peg-perego brand. Also, these will be the only seats in their vehicles and they have no older children. Although she keeps talking about the possibility of the gma that is watching them having the twins and 1 yo nephew together in the car. Im not sure this would be possible though. Im sure he will be FF ( don't get me started on that- im trying to work on him being properly restrained now as a 9 month old) and gma drives a larger BMW car. But I just dont see 2 infant seats and a convertible/FF seat working. So this isnt a hugely important issue- unless someone knows of something that would work. The FF seat hasnt been bought since he is only 9 months now. And I cant see them spending money on radians. The plan is to go and try seats with the cars at BRU soon but I wanted to make sure on the seats for small babies first. I didnt want her to fall in love with a seat that fit well in the car but that had harness slots too high up. Sorry this was so long but I was trying to include as many details as I could!

Hi. Good luck on your class next month!

Kecia just wrote a blog on carseats for preemies and small babies this week: http://carseatblog.com/9813/recomme...ies-multiples-carseatblogs-list-of-best-bets/ . The KeyFit 30 is a good choice, though I don't know how well they fit side-by-side in either of the cars you listed. Don't forget that the handle can be left up in that seat, which buys quite a bit of room for the front seat passengers once the seat is installed.

I believe the Graco infant seats are longer front-to-back than the KeyFit; the KF is a deeper design. But, even on the SnugRide 30 which has a min. weight limit of 4 lbs., the bottom harness slot is pretty high for a small newborn.

Peg seats have a history of being tight and narrow. Many folks find the base to be difficult to install. It may be easier for mom to find a stroller she likes, then look for connector bars for the carseat she likes.

Peg seats do NOT fit small ones well. I had a check with a full-term 5 lb. 5 oz baby with an average torso for his fairly average height, and he didn't quite fit.

ketchupqueen said:

Peg seats do NOT fit small ones well. I had a check with a full-term 5 lb. 5 oz baby with an average torso for his fairly average height, and he didn't quite fit.

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The Peg seats fit our pre-term 5.5lb twins just fine. YMMV. Can't comment on how they'll fit in your vehicles, though. They're not small seats. Heavy, too, which may be a consideration for times when she's going to be wanting to carry both at the same time.

They have average-to-high bottom slots. While they may fit pre-term babies with long torsos just fine, they are not a good GAMBLE when thinking of smaller babies who may have smaller torsos, KWIM?

Also, I've had many parents tell me they're concerned about the way the headwings push baby's head forward. For most babies this is an annoyance; for a baby with an immature airway and neck muscles, it could be more dangerous. So that needs to be watched carefully with the Peg seats.

And the sr30 does have pretty low slots...when it comes out of the box and on the store shelves its at the 2nd slot which can be a bit deceiving...also I would look into the onboard35 its a good price and fits in the back of my coupe so i'd say it fit in a bmw 5 or 7 series (you said its larger so i figured its one of those two)

I'm actually doing this with a friend too (picking out seats for her twins) and one thing that came up is that she plans on using a Baby Trend Double Snap n' Go and they're only compatible with certain seats. The only ones that I felt comfortable recommending that are compatible are the Snugride 30 and the Chicco KF 30. I like the On Board 35 but it's not compatible with the Snap n Go. Apparently EVERYONE p) uses a Snap n' Go with twins so you might want to know if she's interested in that and go from there. If not, there are actually only a few other strollers that will fit two infant seats at the same time (the Chicco Together is one but only compatible with the Chicco seats, and the Bumbleride Indie Twin is another and it's compatible with the Graco or Chicco).

The Chicco is a nice seat (I love/loved mine-- my 10 month old still fits with 2 inches of shell) but its spendy. I don't know that its worth the extra price tag if you're going to have to buy two. The SN30 you can usually get for under $120 apiece and they have a longer shell so she can use it for longer.

I think that the Peg seats require the handle to be down in the car as well...eating up front passenger space.

I loved my KF22. My son fit in it at 12 months.

What about the Safety1st OnBoard?

Susan

My BFF went with the Safety 1stOnboardAir for her twin boys - she delivered at 37wks, they were just at 6lbs each. They fit well next to each other in the back of her Saturn Aura (outboard Driver and center) both installed with seatbelt. There is room for her to ride in the back with her 6'2 husband driving.

ETA, my friend used the double at first and although one seat was at a slightly more upright-but not airway comprimizing manner because it rested on the other seat due to the taller shells. They snaped in, just didn't seat fully in the opening. She used the safety straps with the stroller too. She recently got the new Baby Jogger CitySelect double and is able to put both carseats in it as well with the multi carseat adaptor.

morninglori said:

ETA, my friend used the double at first and although one seat was at a slightly more upright-but not airway comprimizing manner because it rested on the other seat due to the taller shells. They snaped in, just didn't seat fully in the opening. She used the safety straps with the stroller too. She recently got the new Baby Jogger CitySelect double and is able to put both carseats in it as well with the multi carseat adaptor.

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Can I bug you to clarify here? I'm totally in the dark about twins and also trying to help a friend, and she also wants this Snap N Go contraption: are you talking here about the Onboard Airs snapping into the Snap N Go?

http://community.babycenter.com/post/a9407065/safety_1st_onboard_work_with_double_snap_n_go

The 8th comment down has pics and how to do a double Snap N Go with Onboard 35s.

luvsviola said:

http://community.babycenter.com/post/a9407065/safety_1st_onboard_work_with_double_snap_n_go

The 8th comment down has pics and how to do a double Snap N Go with Onboard 35s.

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The woman who wrote the blog is very very nice. I wrote her an email about her use and she did state that although the onboards fit in the double snap n go it didn't have a rock solid feel to it and it's not approved by the car seat or the stroller. So, while it is possible - it is a risk.

KaiLing said:

Can I bug you to clarify here? I'm totally in the dark about twins and also trying to help a friend, and she also wants this Snap N Go contraption: are you talking here about the Onboard Airs snapping into the Snap N Go?

Click to expand...

autumnlily said:

The woman who wrote the blog is very very nice. I wrote her an email about her use and she did state that although the onboards fit in the double snap n go it didn't have a rock solid feel to it and it's not approved by the car seat or the stroller. So, while it is possible - it is a risk.

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When my friend put the seats on the snap-n-go, they did "snap" in, but they were not fully seated where the base is cradled by the stroller frame and the head of one carseat was resting on the foot of the other, thereby not allowing the "top" one to recline as much as the "bottom" one. My friend always used the straps on the snap-n-go to ensure the seats would stay on the stroller.

Truly, my BFF hated the double snap-n-go. it is very long - front to back, and not very easy to manuever. and EVERYONE in her twins group told her she had to have a snap-n-go too. Good thing for her she got it at the twin sale and got at deal.