Best Infant Seat/Position for Sienna minivan?

Danabimytwomiracles said:

I tried to search the board but nothing came up and there's way too many posts to go through more than a few pages!

I'm due in February and need a new infant seat for my 2004 Toyota Sienna minivan, which has 8-passenger seating so we can do 2 or 3 seats in the 2nd row. The infant seat is just to fit the baby better until he grows into a Marathon. My twins are in Britax Wizards right now, one in the middle of each row.
So - my question is which infant seat is safest? Weight of the seat is not an issue as I will be mostly slinging the baby or using a lay-flat stroller or bassinet.
I also need to figure out how to configure the kids, which will have to be my daughter and the baby in the 2nd row and my son staying in the 3rd row (he'd give the baby all kinds of dangerous toys, food, etc).
We have an automatic door on the passenger side but safety's more important than convenience for me.

suggestions? Whatever we get can be checked by a CPST in our area.
Thank you!

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skaterbabscpst said:

The problem with using the DC from birth is that the padding won't fix the problem of the harness slots being too tall for a new baby. Yes, it will support them better, but they'll still ramp up in a crash.

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lodonal65 said:

Not to be snarky, but why would this be an issue when there is so much of the shell there to protect the head?
Also, if I remember correctly, both of my friend's babies fit well in the harness straps. I don't remember seeing the straps being that much to tall for them (if any at all).

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Jeanum said:

I'm a carseat obsessed mom of two with an '05 8-passenger Sienna, and I used a Baby Trend Latch Loc and a Graco SafeSeat 1 infant seat for my youngest. The Baby Trend base installed rock solid very easily using LATCH in any of the second row seats, and the SafeSeat base was pretty easy to install using the seatbelt in the second row center seat. The SafeSeat base has a built-in lockoff for the seatbelt which makes installation easier (so easy in fact I never tried to do a LATCH installation). I usually have the second row passenger side seat tumbled forward or removed, and my older DD rides in the third row center, with the baby in the second row center seat with the seat moved forward in the "front and center" mode.

If your twins are forward facing, you may want to consider keeping their seats in the middle of the second and third rows, respectively, and install the baby's carseat on the driver's side second row seat. This is because a forward facing child would be more protected by riding in the middle, while a rear facing child is considered most protected by virtue of being rear facing. Then you could leave the second row seat closest to the passenger side power door open for tumbling or remove it altogether to ease access to the third row and to get to the second row carseats from the passenger side.

As to which infant seat is safer, that's kind of subjective because they all must meet certain safety standards to be on the market, KWIM? But ease of use features like built-in lockoffs on the base and a front harness adjuster, as well as EPS foam lining (like bicycle helmets) are very good things to insist upon when buying a new infant seat and can technically make a seat safer by making it easier to install and use the seat properly. Well liked models on the board with the EPS foam, front harness adjusters and lockoffs are the Chicco KeyFit which starts at 4 lbs. and fits smaller babies quite well, and the Graco SafeSeat which has the largest infant seat weight limit of 30 lbs. (starts at 5 lbs.) but may not fit newborns very well from birth (some moms find the SafeSeat's lowest shoulder harness slots to be above their newborn's shoulders or the harness won't adjust snugly enough for the brand new baby). A new KeyFit model with a 30 lb. weight limit is supposed to come out next year, not sure exactly when it will be available.

Congrats on the new baby, and hope this helps.

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Jeanum said:

Baby Trend shows the Latch Loc and a similar seat called the Flex Loc on the products section of their website, but I don't know where to currently buy a new Latch Loc. The Latch Loc model was discontinued last year around the time I bought ours in the spring of 2005. A tech on another board who works at Babies 'R Us recently posted the Latch Loc was going to be available again which may be why it's listed on Baby Trend's web site. I've seen the Flex Loc for sale at Target.com and as part of a travel system at Babies 'R Us, but no sign of new Latch Locs yet AFAIK. Baby Trend may be able to give you more definite availability info.

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