Rearranging Car Seats

So, with a new baby coming along, it was time to rearrange the seating in our van. I’d done some switching around of car seats several times this summer to see what worked and what didn’t as far as spacing, good “rock solid” installation between the car seat and the vehicle seat, and who doesn’t do well next to someone else.

In the end, it didn’t help me much because it all came down to what would fit where. You see, the rear seat in our wonderful Toyota Sienna LE van will take three car seats across, but one of the rear seats doesn’t have a rear tether spot or LATCH (I’m 50/50 on LATCH vs. seat belt install – whichever gives me the better install). So, I’d have to put either the new (Chicco Key Fit 30) rear facing infant seat in that spot (driver’s side, 3rd row) or one of the booster seats there. The problem with putting a booster seat in the rear row is that the child will then have to buckle herself in each time and it is an awful tight fit with two other car seats to do that.

In the end, here is how it turned out for my five children (one of which hasn’t arrived yet, but the seat (base) is installed and ready to receive):

Second row will have the driver’s side seat empty in order to allow access to the third row using the tumble seat. (In winter, we’ll remove this seat completely so there aren’t snowy feet going across it all the time.) In the middle of the second row will be a Graco High Back Turbo Booster with Child #2 (age 6, ~ 45 lbs, ~ 48″). Behind the passenger seat in the second row will be Child #4 (age 2, ~ 36+”, 28 lbs) who was just turned front facing in his Britax Marathon – installed with LATCH.

In the third row, Child #3 (age 3 1/2, 38 lbs, ~ 40+”) will be harnessed in her Graco Nautilus on the passenger side installed with LATCH.

Child #1 (almost age 8, ~ 70+ lbs, ~ 53″) will be going car-seatless for the first time. With her buns all the way back in the third row seat, her feet have full contact with the floor and her knees bend nicely over the edge of the seat. I had her in a Graco No-Back TurboBooster seat. We can fit the booster seat in the middle spot, but it does not allow for a good buckle in without lots of wiggling and I’m afraid of an accidental unbuckle because of the angle of the buckle against the infant seat or an unsolid “click” because of the tight fit.

Child #5 will be behind the driver in the third row in our brand new Chicco Key Fit 30 infant seat installed using the seat belt (no LATCH in this spot).

All LATCH installs were tight (although they would have been tighter if I wasn’t super pregnant). I had to check the book for the KeyFit install because I had never used a car-seat-integrated “seat belt lockoff” before. I was a bit disturbed to see that I was not supposed to lock the vehicle seat, but when I followed their directions, the seat was MUCH tighter than I’d ever had an infant seat base installed previously and had much less wiggle than when I’d done a quick “just to see how it fits” install a couple hours earlier.

I just did the car seat rearrangement today, so I still have to see how it goes long term.

I have put Child #1 in charge of releasing Child #3 from her harness and ensuring she is strapped in well. Child #2 is in charge of letting Child #4 out of his car seat, but cannot get him fully strapped in securely at this time. I’ll be in charge of getting his crotch straps clicked each trip and can double check Child #3′s harness at the same time. Child #5 will be easy for now because of the infant seat’s portability. He or she will be strapped in before loading the car seat into the vehicle.

None of the car seats expire soon, so the next major car seat change will be when Child #5 out grows the Chicco KeyFit. I assume that will be when the child reaches 8-9 months old and outgrows the maximum length (height) requirement. Until then, I hope everyone is happy with their seating arrangement.

As a bonus, my biggest offenders in the “rolling down the window” category have been denied immediate access to the windows. This will bum them out as they loved to roll their windows down while we were speeding along the highway at 60 MPH to get a blast of air in their (or someone behind them’s) face. I wish Toyota would have allowed the front row passenger to not have their window control locked out along with the second row windows on the driver’s side override button. It is annoying when trying to get a bug out of one’s (passenger side) window only to find the window control locked due to keeping the children from rolling down their windows in the back.

New Carseat: Graco Nautilus

Before our trip, I decided we really needed to replace Child #4′s car seat. It is due to “expire” in December 2008 and we had budgeted to replace it this fall. The one we are replacing is a convertible seat that was made by a company no longer in business (Century). It caused quite an episode at a car-seat-check event about two months ago because the seat technicians were unable to get it installed “tight enough” with the vehicle seat belt and it was made before LATCH belts were on every seat. While my install of the seat allowed it to move less than 1/2″ at the belt path, that wasn’t good enough for them. Two seat techs worked together to get it “rock solid.” Just short of high-fiving each other, they realized that the seat was so tight at the belt path that over half of the car seat was not touching the vehicle seat. The angle of the seat in rear facing mode was also not acceptable. They undid the seat belt and started over.

The old car seat

On try #2, they were able to achieve less than 1/4″ movement at the belt path while the seat was at an acceptable angle and completely touching the vehicle seat. This was still not to their liking. They consulted their recall list and found that the same model (Smart Move SE) but of a different manufacture date had had a recall for a problem only when in front facing position. Since we practice extended rear facing and were not planning to turn the seat around during its remaining useful life, I wasn’t concerned. But the technicians were. The pressure to buy another seat during the seat-check-event made me feel like I was at a car lot! Thankfully, I kept my sense of humor and that was the only sticking point they had with my four seats.

The seat has always been hard to buckle, usually had uneven straps causing much consternation, and I wanted our kids in good car seats for the long road trip we were taking. Knowing I was contemplating car-seat-swapping, a friend had suggested that I might want to look into the new Graco Nautilus for one of my older children. (Child #2 just turned five years old and was in a Britax Marathon in order to stay harnessed at current height/weights.) The Nautilus would allow us to continue keeping that child in a five-point harness for quite awhile longer and was cheaper than buying another Britax Marathon. So, I looked around the internet and found a fairly decent deal. It arrived in two days (instead of the 3-5 stated) – a whole day ahead of when we were scheduled to leave town.

I was able to rearrange the car seats, install the Nautilus, change the Marathon to RF from FF. I almost forgot to move the Marathon’s harness straps down for Child #4, but was able to do so after the seat was installed.

Third Row in our Sienna - two Graco seats

Just a run down for the car seat fanatics – I installed the Nautilus using LATCH (and tether) because I couldn’t get a good install in 3rd row, passenger side with the vehicle seat belt (and tether). I haven’t tried it in any other positions. I have a Graco Turbo high-back booster in the 3rd row, driver’s side position. In the second row of our Toyota Sienna (8-passenger) LE, I installed the Britax Marathon with LATCH and the RF tether attached to a seat post with the little do-hickey they give you. The next-car-seat-to-expire Eddie Bauer (can’t remember the style name) harness/booster seat is installed tightly using the vehicle seat belt with tether.

Second row – Britax Marathon & Eddie Bauer ??