Carseat Placement with 2 - Unionville,OH

I put them on opposite sides until my 2nd got bigger. Then I put them together. It works great! Good luck!

I would put one behind each front seat. I know the safest place is the middle, but believe me, your 2 yr old WILL mess with the new baby and you don't want to have to worry about that while driving.

First off, make sure that a car seat can be installed in the middle of your vehicle. Surprisingly many vehicles do NOT allow car seats to bei nstalled in the middle, especially with LATCH. If you are using LATCH, READ YOUR VEHICLE MANUAL to make sure you can use LATCH in the middle. If you are using the seat belt to install, still read and make sure that its allowed.

If it is allowed, leave your toddler in the middle and put the baby on the outside. The safest person in the car is the one who is rear facing, so your infant will be the most protected. Your toddler forward facing is less protected, so kee phim in the middle. Otherwise, put one on each side and call it good. It really shouldn't be a stressful option, put each outboard and make sure you have a good install and you are set.

I would encourage you to visit www.safekids.org and find a CPST event in your area to help you install the car seats. they will show you how to properly install, where to find the car seat info in your vehicle manual, and how to properly use the car seat every time.

When forward facing, the harness slot should come from just at or above teh shoulders, and the chest buckle needs to be level with the armpits. The harness should be snug as a hug, and the car seat should be installed with either LATCH or the seat belt, never both. Choose whichever is easiest for you and that gets the best install in your car. Always use the top tether.

When rear facing, the harness slot should come from just at or BELOW the shoulders. and the chest buckle needs to be level with the armpits. The harness should be snug as a hug, and the car seat should be installed with either LATCH or the seat belt, never both. Choose whichever is easiest for you and that gets the best install in your car.

I agree with Amanda...that is exactly what I was going to say. Yes, the others are right about the vehicle safety aspect of the car seats, but hoenstly, you would want to avoid them being next to each other if possible. I'm sure your oldest will be careful and loving, but when you're driving and can't access them, don't chance it. My daughter was 2 when her brother was born and she was very careful and tried to do what we told her but sometimes she would try and play peek a boo with him and cover him with a blanket and she knew not to give him food but would you want to take the chance when A. you can't reach them and B. you might not even know what's going on back there b/c you can't even see the baby when it's rear facing. (yes you could put a mirror, but if you're talking safety, you really shouldn't do that either. Firefighters recommend to not put ANYTHING on the seat or car seat that did not come as part of the car seat attachments...fyi) Also, we did put my kids next to each other in the back seat this summer for a family road trip and my mom sat back there with them...my daughter was 2.5 and my son was 10 months and now that he was bigger and eating food, etc. my daughter wanted to try and feed him and was constantly messing with him!! We only did it b/c someone else was back there and it was still challenging! ;) So, it's not just the tiny baby stuff you'll have to worry about but also once they start to get bigger.

I would put the big kid behind you b/c rear facing that baby seat is going to take up a lot of room and you want to be able to drive comfortably. Hopefully you don't drive passengers much b/c it might be cramped for a bit!

Didn't read all the other responses but wanted to tell you what we did! For the first six months or so, we left my daughter (who was 2 when her brother was born) in the middle and he was behind the passenger seat. That way if he needed a binky or something, I could reach around behind the seat or something. Then for a few weeks, she wanted to be by the window so we moved her seat, but then she wanted to be back in the middle so she could see everything out the front of the car.

There have been maybe 5 times total in over a year that I have had to reprimand her for putting her foot in his carseat or bothering him. Overall, she loves sitting next to him and likes to make him laugh and there have been a few times where she's been very helpful when he's crying and would hand him a binky or a toy or just be silly and make him laugh.

I think whatever you do will work out well. One thing I liked about her being in the middle was that 1 person could still sit in my back seat.

I just went through this 4 months ago! The carseat people at the hospital (you should go to them or the fire department to have it installed) said that the safer carseat is the one in reverse, and the safer position is the middle. So, they suggested that I keep my 2 yo in the middle facing forward, and put the infant seat behind the passenger. That way they both have a measure of safety. Also, then my son is standing next to me on the sidewalk while I put the baby in and out, and I can then carry him to the other side and put him in.

K.F.
Check out www.seatcheck.org and find a free, local inspection site. take your car, your car seats and see what they say. After all, the reason they are IN car seats in the first place is to provide optimum safety. A very high percentage of people position and incorrectly use car seats. Since you'll soon have two little lives to protect, take an hour and do this right! You'll be glad you did. Good luck! And congratulations on #2!

I'm with BeckyW. We have a Toyota Matrix and is says not to put a carseat in the middle. It has the LATCH attachments. It actually made installation easier than I thought it would be and seems safer than using just the car seatbelt.
We had twins so it wasn't a descision we had to make. One behind each front seat. We found some really neat rearveiw mirrors that attach to the cars rearview mirror so we can see them. They velcro to the back of the mirror and you can direct them to see anywhere in the backseat. I figure these will even be useful when they are tweens and the bickering is in full swing "Mom she......" "No I didn't, she ......" I can see everything without turning around or redirecting my car rearview! (we also used the mirrors that attach to the back seats so we could see them when they faced backwards).

The infant is safest in the middle ONLY if the seats fit next to each other. If they don't each strap in tightly and correctly, then separate them. But maybe your 2-year-old will have too much trouble keep his hands off the baby? You could try it for a week and see. But make sure they really do both fit. another option is to buy 2 Sunshine kids seats which are thinner and most cars fit 3 across. But they are expensive!