Triplets & big kids in 05 Caravan

I drive an 05 Caravan filled to the brim with my 5 daughters. Currently there are babies in Evenflo Embrace infant seats in the captains chair & middle seat of back row. My 8 yr old is in a Graco LBB on one side. The almost 4 yr old is in a FF Radian on the other side. I saw that Radians are on sale so I'm thinking ahead to how they will fit. Will a RF'ing Radian fit in the 3rd row and the captains seat behind the passenger? When it was just two girls we put the rf'ing Radian in multiple spots, but didn't need to worry about fitting five! Will this all fit or should I be looking at something smaller like a Scenera? We currently own one Radian and my sister has another with 4 yrs left on it for us. I'm open to any kind of carseat, but if its a radian I'd like to get it on sale. Any thoughts on this set up?

I have an 05 Caravan... what I'd do is first see how well (cause it's been awhile and I don't remember this part) the radian fits rf in the 3rd row... I don't remember if you can pull it off with the 2nd row captain's chair headrest on...

if you CAN... then I'd put all 3 babies in the 3rd row and put the older two in the 2nd row... it's soooo easy to load rearfacing kids through the back hatch.

if the headrest has to come off, however, then I'd scratch doing that and instead go for 3 smaller convertibles... cosco sceneras with the 40lb rf limit.

those I KNOW fit really well in the 3rd row... you just recline the bench a touch, use 2-3 sections of pool noodle, twist the female/receiving seatbelt end down 3 full twists, and it's CAKE.

and I'd again do the trips in the 3rd row and the older girls in the 2nd row, but it may work better to do the Radian in the middle (and this is where your top tether anchor is, so only place back there I'd put a ff seat)

down the line (WAY down the line) when the triplets are forward facing and the older ones are in boosters, you'll want to have the trips go in the captain's chair and middle of the third row to have them top tethered and put the older girls in the outboard third row spots...

Is it really easy to load kids from the rear? I usually have a stroller in the back. This is going to sound dumb, but I'm worried about slipping while holding one of the babies. My sister is going to bring her Radian over to play with different configurations. Oh what an exciting life we lead, playing with carseats on a Saturday night.

Unregistered said:

Is it really easy to load kids from the rear? I usually have a stroller in the back. This is going to sound dumb, but I'm worried about slipping while holding one of the babies. My sister is going to bring her Radian over to play with different configurations. Oh what an exciting life we lead, playing with carseats on a Saturday night.

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I can't answer your question. However, you should register and become a member here and get your sister to join. It sounds like you would fit right in

Melanie

I have loaded over the 3rd in our minivan. It works okay. I would remove the headsupports if possible. Buckling a booster in a 3 across is a challenge.

Are you able to get all te handles down on the evenflo embraces? You need 1.5" between the handle and the seats infront of them.

Jan06twinmom said:

I can't answer your question. However, you should register and become a member here and get your sister to join. It sounds like you would fit right in

Melanie

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I did and she directed me here. I'm not sure if she is a member though. The Evenflo seats just fit. If dh wanted to drive our van for any length of time we would need to use a different seat behind the drivers side. But he hardly ever drives the van so he just sits a bit closer.I'll play with the Radians and let you know how they fit. Otherwise we'll look for something smaller.

it is easy... I remove the headrest/headrests in front of them... I load babies before I load a stroller... and unload the stroller first...

but in general, you could still do it working around other strollers (aka, if you are like I was and keep more than one in the back at a time... I used to keep at least one double and one or two singles)... but it depends how tall you are... I'm 5'7" for reference.

We have an '05 caravan and the first time I read about rfing in the rear and loading through the hatch I thought people were nuts! Now I do it semi-regularly. I do occasionally bonk my LO head when loading, but it really isn't bad.

I have stow and go seats and keep the rear headrests all of the way down. If you don't have stow and go, I would remove the headrests.

I keep a stroller in the back as well, and I just shift it so that I have a couple of good spots to stand.

HTH