Question Tethering an infant seat?

[mping]

I'm expecting my 3rd this October and I'm not sure of what is best now when it comes to tethering. My other kids are 6 and 8 and are in an affix and a Frontier 80. The baby will be on the curbside in a Graco Snugride, the 6 yo in a Frontier 80 behind the driver and my 8 yo will be in a backless Affix in the 3rd row of my Ody. Should the infant seat be tethered? And if so, how should my big kids get in w/o getting in on the street side. We live in an urban area so busy streets so this is a concern. And what about when the baby is in a rf convertible?

 

[jjordan]

To answer your question about tethering, there are no infant seats (that I know of) that allow for tethering. Certainly the Graco Snugride seats do not even have top tethers, so it's impossible to tether them. You should install the seat with either the lower anchors (part of the LATCH system) or the vehicle seatbelt.

As for the issue with kids getting in and out of the vehicle, one solution would be to move around the seats a bit. Perhaps you could take out the 2nd row seat on the passenger's side, and then seat two children in the third row and one in the 2nd row driver's side? Then everyone could load in through the passenger's side sliding door.

If you definitely want to keep the children in the locations you specified, then you could have the older children crawl under the snugride if it is there when they go in and out of the vehicle. Although if you are putting the snugride in at the same time, simply wait until the older children load and then put the snugride in. Of course, once baby moves to a convertible, you're not going to be taking it in and out of the car. At that point, your options are to move the children into different seating locations, or have the older children crawl under the convertible. FWIW, my older kids are 6 and 8 and do sometimes crawl under the RF convertible to enter/leave our minivan.

 

[jennsmile]

Another option is to have them crawl from the front seat to the back.

 

[mping]

Thanks. Taking out a captains isn't an option as we tend to have extra kids with us a lot. And I don't want to move my 6 yo to the third row bc he still can't unbuckle himself in his Frontier. And a booster isn't an option yet bc he's really tiny. Like 35lbs. I didn't know that infant seats can't be tethered! I thought things had changed since I had last used infant seats. I pretty much never take the infant seat out of the car, I babywear, and wouldn't even use an infant seat but a friend gave it to me so it seems silly to not take advantage of a free seat. I guess I'll worry about it when the baby moves to a convertible.

 

[henrietta]

I'm expecting my 3rd this October and I'm not sure of what is best now when it comes to tethering. My other kids are 6 and 8 and are in an affix and a Frontier 80. The baby will be on the curbside in a Graco Snugride, the 6 yo in a Frontier 80 behind the driver and my 8 yo will be in a backless Affix in the 3rd row of my Ody. Should the infant seat be tethered? And if so, how should my big kids get in w/o getting in on the street side. We live in an urban area so busy streets so this is a concern. And what about when the baby is in a rf convertible?

So, are we assuming that you have no seat in the center of the second row and that you intend for your 8 yo to go thru that center aisle to access the third row? Or that you will be removing the center seat to create a center aisle? Cause another option in most Ody's, is to move the passenger side second row seat towards the center. It makes a really easy aisle for a kiddo to walk to the third row, without crawling under and over seats. Plus, if you have a kiddo on the passenger side third row, you can easily buckle them, too. Whatever seat the infant seat is on will not flip & slide forward to give access to the third row (well, same for any installed harnessed car seat). Obviously, before you set the infant seat down into the base, they can just walk in and go thru the center, but you said you don't normally actually use an infant seat as a carrier.

And I wanted to point out--make absolutely sure your friend's seat was never in a wreck, never had the straps washed, hasn't had any recalls, etc. A lot of people don't realize you can't clean the harness straps with 409 and other harsh cleaners or that the straps on most seats are replaceable by the manufacturer for cheap.

Congratulations!!!

 

[smiley]

Very similar to my sienna with my infant seat captain passenger. I just move the front passenger seat all the way forward - it's not occupied for school drop off and pick up - and my 6 and 8 yo can get through and out the sliding door curbside. If their backpacks are particularly bulky, like on dance day, they grab their backpack from the front passenger seat after exiting.

 

[henrietta]

Very similar to my sienna with my infant seat captain passenger. I just move the front passenger seat all the way forward - it's not occupied for school drop off and pick up - and my 6 and 8 yo can get through and out the sliding door curbside. If their backpacks are particularly bulky, like on dance day, they grab their backpack from the front passenger seat after exiting.

That's a great idea. Thanks!!!

Three across works better in a Sienna's second row (the previous generation Sienna) than a previous generation Ody, though. More room.