AtownMom
New member
So I'm trying to figure out what the best options are for me and my van and my baby Sprout due this October.
I was originally drawn to the Chaperone due to the AR bar. My plan was to take out my middle passenger captains chair in my '04 Odyssey, put DD in her Frontier in the 3rd row passenger, DS RF in his classic MA in the 3rd row driver, and put baby in the remaining middle captain's behind the driver. In this way, especially in the cold winter, I can enter everyone from the passenger side, click baby in, easily help the older ones buckle, and if it's really nasty out even crawl into the front all without getting out of the van.
BUT.....I quickly tried the Chaperone in the drivers Captains chair this morning and even though I have a minivan, my DH is tall with all his height in his legs and I would have to have the Chaperone touching-even bracing a bit-the drivers seat if DH were to drive.
So, my options as I see it are either get a different infant seat other than the Chaperone. Or, put the baby behind the passenger in the middle and move the front passenger closer to the dash. (Which, as I understand it, is then decreasing the safety of the adult front passenger as you are supposed to sit as far back as you can, right?)
So with those options, is increasing the safety of the baby with the AR bar on the Chaperone worth decreasing the front adult passenger safety?
Or another option I thought of was to put the baby all the way back in the 3rd row and put DD and her frontier in the middle. But then is putting baby so far away from mommy worth it?
There is another infant seat that has the AR bar, but that one is actually connected to the seat itself and that seams like it would make it so inconvenient to use that I wouldn't be able to use the infant seat to it's maximum limits. (Which I want to get one that has VERY high limits only because I'm hoping to get my little peanut-I have small kids-through the majority of the snowy cold season NEXT year with the convenience of being able to bundle them in the bucket indoors without having to monkey with ponchos and backwards jackets and extra stuff like I would if I switched to a convertible)
Is there something I haven't thought of? Maybe a different option?
I did try the Keyfit in behind the driver and it does fit, although I was a bit disappointed with the idea that I might have to give up the AR bar on the Chaperone.
I was originally drawn to the Chaperone due to the AR bar. My plan was to take out my middle passenger captains chair in my '04 Odyssey, put DD in her Frontier in the 3rd row passenger, DS RF in his classic MA in the 3rd row driver, and put baby in the remaining middle captain's behind the driver. In this way, especially in the cold winter, I can enter everyone from the passenger side, click baby in, easily help the older ones buckle, and if it's really nasty out even crawl into the front all without getting out of the van.
BUT.....I quickly tried the Chaperone in the drivers Captains chair this morning and even though I have a minivan, my DH is tall with all his height in his legs and I would have to have the Chaperone touching-even bracing a bit-the drivers seat if DH were to drive.
So, my options as I see it are either get a different infant seat other than the Chaperone. Or, put the baby behind the passenger in the middle and move the front passenger closer to the dash. (Which, as I understand it, is then decreasing the safety of the adult front passenger as you are supposed to sit as far back as you can, right?)
So with those options, is increasing the safety of the baby with the AR bar on the Chaperone worth decreasing the front adult passenger safety?
Or another option I thought of was to put the baby all the way back in the 3rd row and put DD and her frontier in the middle. But then is putting baby so far away from mommy worth it?
There is another infant seat that has the AR bar, but that one is actually connected to the seat itself and that seams like it would make it so inconvenient to use that I wouldn't be able to use the infant seat to it's maximum limits. (Which I want to get one that has VERY high limits only because I'm hoping to get my little peanut-I have small kids-through the majority of the snowy cold season NEXT year with the convenience of being able to bundle them in the bucket indoors without having to monkey with ponchos and backwards jackets and extra stuff like I would if I switched to a convertible)
Is there something I haven't thought of? Maybe a different option?
I did try the Keyfit in behind the driver and it does fit, although I was a bit disappointed with the idea that I might have to give up the AR bar on the Chaperone.