Question Need help fitting 5 car seats in my car

We have 4 kids ages 7,5,3 and 10 months...we are starting to foster (ages newborn-2) I drive a 2005 longer escalade with 2 captain chairs and a 3 seat bench in the back, and I need to figure out how to fit 5 car seats in my car my 3 year old is in a graco myride70 and my 10 month old is still in a graco infant car seat. I need to buy my 2 older girls new car seats and figure out how to move my 10 month old inbetween them. My 7 year old daughter weighs 41 pounds and is 46 inches tall, when measuring from bottom to shoulder it's 16.5, and my 5 year old daughter weighs 36 pounds and is 41 inches tall, and when measuring from bottom to shoulder is 13.5. They are currently in the turbo booster by graco. They sit pretty good in it most of the time, I would say 80-85%, but we live 45 mins outside of town so they nap a lot in the car and when they do they slump or their legs are up, and it makes me so nervous and makes me regret taking them out of their 5 point. So I would really like to put them back in a 5point that can later on be a booster. My back seat is 50 inches wide. Any suggestions of how I can get everyone safe and 5 car seats in my car? Any advice at all would be soo helpful! Thank you!!!

Welcome to Car-Seat.org! One suggestion may be to use the My Ride rear-facing for one of your younger kids in between the older kids in the back, since the My Ride's base is very narrow and could potentially puzzle well with seats.

I personally agree about reharnessing a 36 pound 5 year old. Some narrow seats to research include the Harmoney Defender and one the Evenflo combination seats (Maestro, SecureKid 300 & 400). While reharnessing a 7 year old might be an option if buckling a booster is difficult in a tight 3-across situation, I do think working on establishing good booster-riding behavior is another route to consider.

Good luck fitting all the seats, and I hope you get some more responses soon!

I agree that it's fine to keep your 7-year old in a booster. If my daughter was any indication, she will be demanding to be out of a carseat soon enough! Keeping at least one backless booster for her in a vehicle seat with a head restraint may also help with some of your carseat issues as well.

I also agree that your 5-year old should remain in a 5-point harness until at least 40 pounds and preferably until she can remain seated properly in a booster for a whole trip. Some high back boosters do allow kids as low as 30 pounds to use them and perhaps this may be necessary if you can't get the carseats you have to fit for adding another child.

As for new carseats, while it's not the easiest to install or use in some cases, the Diono Radian is very popular because it is relatively narrow and might help you fit 3 kids in the back seat.

I'm not very familiar with the layout of the Escalade, but I'm guessing there is a decent amount of room for 3-across on the bench.