Question Car seat arrangement?

[Sherlockholmes]

We're due with #2 in Sept and I'm starting to wonder what's safest for car seat placement. DS is FF in his Pria 70 and baby will be in an infant carrier. I think most convenient would be to keep DS in the middle and baby behind passenger, but is that safest? The infant carrier cannot go behind the driver seat because DH is so tall and needs the seat all the way back. So I guess basically which child should be in the middle?

 

[wendytthomas]

Ideally the least safe should be in the safest position. So that'd be your 2.5 year old who is forward facing very early in the center. He's far less safe than the newborn.

If you'd turn him back around to rear facing, which is the recommendation, I'd put the baby in the middle (provided your husband can then get the driver's seat back).

However, those are the ideals. If real life makes them not work, do what you need to. Make sure the two year old's seat is top tethered forward facing. That's important for all kids, and vital for prematurely forward facing ones.

Wendy

 

[Sherlockholmes]

Uhm thanks. I guess. I do know how to properly install a seat so yes, his seat is top tethered. I have already tried multiple infant seats (properly installed....again) behind the passenger and they will fit fine. As for my actual question about car seat placement, thank you for your answer.

 

[Carrie_R]

Welcome, Sherlock!

I don't believe Wendy was giving you any attitude or intending to insinuate that you didn't know how to install a carseat. Unfortunately, communicating online tends to lose things like facial expression and vocal cues that can differentiate between something coming across as friendly or accusatory!

Without putting words in her mouth, I would venture to guess that Wendy replied as she did because statistically, most carseats are not installed properly (up to 90% have an installation error of some sort,) and our top tethering rate is abysmally low. Google tells me that our top tether rate in the US is between 28 and 47%, which means that you are actually in the *minority* by using your son's tether! Terrifying, isn't it?

A child in the center has a 40% safety advantage over a child seated outboard, but a rear-facing child has a 500% safety advantage over a forward-facing one. So, we consider rear-facing children the most protected - then forward, boostered, and seatbelt-only. Older kids are more protected than younger kids, since their skeletons are more ossified, hence the two options Wendy gave. If your son still fits in his seat rearfacing, it would be a safety advantage to turn him around, but at over 2, he does meet the currently recommended minimums for forward-facing.

Looking at all of the above, that's where Wendy came up with her recommendation to put your forward-facing toddler in the center. Are you using LATCH for that install, or a seatbelt? Then your rear-facing infant can go outboard, balancing the safety advantages for each child. If the seats don't fit side-by-side with independent installs (such that if you remove either, the other stays tight,) then you can put them both outboard - either side is fine for either kid.

 

[Sherlockholmes]

Thank you Carrie_R for your response I did feel like I was being accused or it was being assumed I didn't know about extended RF or proper installation, but you're right communication is different online. I don't consider having my 2.5yr old FF "very early" or "premature". He was RF for 2 years and then we decided to turn him around. I am aware of all the facts of extended RF and I believe RF until 2 is great and obviously any longer is awesome. Maybe someone did "better" than me, but this is what works for us. Anyway to answer your question DS's seat is installed with the seatbelt. So it looks like I'll keep him in the center and put baby behind my seat. I've tried several infant seats and so far they all have fit great next to DS Pria 70. Thank you both again for your information I appreciate it.

 

[mominabigtruck]

I think you asked about the new baby trend seat in another post? It would be helpful to know what kind of car you have and the size of your other child.

I know I too would ask why you decided to ff your older child when the pria is such a great extended rfing seat. I have had a 2yo that was too large to rf but my daughter is itty bitty at 2.5 so I automatically am wondering how big your child is. That also helps with the choice of an infant seat so we can kinda judge how big your kids are and if you need a seat with a tall shell or if a middle of the road seat would work.

 

[Sherlockholmes]

I don't feel like it is necessary to explain myself or be judged for my decision to place my child FF. I asked where to place a FF and RF child in this particular situation. My other thread asks if anyone had any experience with that seat. I did not/do not have any questions beyond that. Actually those have been answered now so on that note I'm just going to leave this board and thank you for the answers.

 

[bree]

I don't feel like it is necessary to explain myself or be judged for my decision to place my child FF. I asked where to place a FF and RF child in this particular situation. My other thread asks if anyone had any experience with that seat. I did not/do not have any questions beyond that. Actually those have been answered now so on that note I'm just going to leave this board and thank you for the answers.

Please don't leave the board! This board is a wonderful resource and a great way to keep informed about new seats, changes in safety recommendations, recalls, etc. The longer you stick around, the more access you have to the Community Forums where you can get support and answers and fun chit chat on a number of topics. I'm sorry that this thread hasn't been helpful to you or that some of the advice was presented in an off-putting manner. I think, though, that if you stick around, any bluntness/overzealousness/judgmental advice that you encountered in this thread will really be balanced out by the overwhelming amount of information and generally positive vibe of this board. I think once you stay and read the posts you'll understand the perspective that it would be irresponsible to answer your question without providing the fuller context behind the answer, especially given that many other people visiting this forum could read this question and both you and they deserve to have the complete answer to the question, but you'll also see that most posters really do handle these type of questions well while still providing all the info to fully answer the question. So, please consider staying. My advice is to put posters that you don't want advice from on Ignore in your User CP panel as you navigate the board and see whose posting style isn't something you want to see, and come hang out on the board and give your own opinions and share your own experiences with your car seats as you spend more time here!

 

[Sherlockholmes]

Thank you bree I will consider that. I know I have learned a lot from this board in the past (as a lurker).

 

[bree]

Thank you bree I will consider that. I know I have learned a lot from this board in the past (as a lurker).

I'm glad that you are considering it!

 

[mominabigtruck]

I don't think anyone was overzealous or off putting. As someone who has been here a long time, as has jools, I've heard all sorts of things about why people do things such as forward facing or boostering early and generally it takes a little back and forth to find out what's going on. For all I know you could've had a Dr tell you that your lo's legs were going to break if you kept them rfing, or you could be having installation issues. I know most people here are here to help and inform so I would be remiss if someone came here and asked what was the best booster for their 3yo and all I said was the turbobooster and vivo fit small kids well instead of telling them that it was not safe or most likely illegal and trying to find out why they wanting to put a 3yo in a booster in the first place.

And as for the thread on the infant seat, in all honesty, the baby trend is rarely recommend for a variety of reasons, many which were already mentioned. Not that its a bad seat, its just not a lot of bang for your buck and is commonly misused so I was just trying to point out other options. I know I don't have endless funds so I would be thrilled if someone would let me know I was buying a seat that could very likely be outgrown within a couple months. Unless of course you enjoy buying new seats, which many of us do, than by all means go for it. I've owned a coccoro so really I have no room to talk.

 

[Sherlockholmes]

I don't think anyone was overzealous or off putting. As someone who has been here a long time, as has jools, I've heard all sorts of things about why people do things such as forward facing or boostering early and generally it takes a little back and forth to find out what's going on. For all I know you could've had a Dr tell you that your lo's legs were going to break if you kept them rfing, or you could be having installation issues. I know most people here are here to help and inform so I would be remiss if someone came here and asked what was the best booster for their 3yo and all I said was the turbobooster and vivo fit small kids well instead of telling them that it was not safe or most likely illegal and trying to find out why they wanting to put a 3yo in a booster in the first place.

And as for the thread on the infant seat, in all honesty, the baby trend is rarely recommend for a variety of reasons, many which were already mentioned. Not that its a bad seat, its just not a lot of bang for your buck and is commonly misused so I was just trying to point out other options. I know I don't have endless funds so I would be thrilled if someone would let me know I was buying a seat that could very likely be outgrown within a couple months. Unless of course you enjoy buying new seats, which many of us do, than by all means go for it. I've owned a coccoro so really I have no room to talk.

I was put off by a few things, but I'm over it. I get that some would like to see me RF him past 2, but I'm not. I understand now the questions were just asked to make sure I am using the seat properly. I haven't posted much on this board before so I'm not used to these types of responses, but I'll know what to expect next time I post and try not to take it so personally

I was appreciative of any info on the baby trend seat as I have never used that brand before. I've also never used any infant seat before because with DS we went straight to a convertible, but we don't want to do that this time. Thanks for the info on height and puzzle buckle (<--I think that would be really annoying, but we're going to go take another look).