Multible Carseats

My daughter is 2 years older than my twin boys. We had 3 car seats across the back of my Honda Accord. The hardest part was finding an infant seats whose base was narrow enough to also fit a Britax Roundabout in the middle. When the boys grew out of the infant seats we had three Britax car seats across. I had 2 Roundabouts on each side and the taller Marathon in the middle. We went to the Marathon because my daughter became too tall for the Roundabout.
If you can get to San Bruno make an appt. with the car seat expert at Lullaby Lane www.lullabylane.com. She helped me fit all the seats. I think the appt. was $25 but well worth the money. She saved us when every baby store was telling us it couldn't be done and we need a bigger car.

sunshine kids carseats are made to fit 3 in a row and i can squish in mine next to two behemoth britaxes in my car. let it be known they are great for what they can do, but the back is quite upright, so once you would switch to a forward facing position the child will slouch forward if he falls asleep. i bought the XT (i believe) as it has the extra side protection and i hoped it would help with the sleep positioning as we live far from town and drive lengthy trips, but my 4 y.o. asked -- begged for his britax back. i think it is great for what it does -- fits in -- but it has its limitations.

I have the sunshine radian 65s. You can fit 3 across the back seat of a Subaru Forester, a Sienna mini van, and a toyota corolla. I put my newborn in it rear facing from the start. Although I often wished I had room for an infant carrier instead...it was the best option for my vehicle.

I saw that somebody else had mentioned staying in a 5 point harness for as long as you can. My oldest is in kindergarten, he is one of the tallest kids in his class and weighs 58 lbs he fits great in his radian and has not yet balked at the fact that he doesn't have a booster seat. I love how the seat forces him to sit nicely in his seat, always safe. Occasionally I will drive his classmates places and am disturbed at how they will move around and slip out of their seat belts. When I bought the radians I didn't know there was a larger size, 85 I think, at this point I wish I had the 85 because one good growth spurt and I'll be forced to buy a new seat. But if your children are petite kids the 65 is all you will need. I would say his seat would be sufficient for the majority of the girls in his class ;-)

I'd also recommend checking out the Sunshine Kids Radian. Many people find that if you have a Britax and Sunshine Kids convertibles side by side facing the same direction, the seats "puzzle" well together because the Britax sits up on a base and the Radian sits lower to the vehicle seat.
Are you planning to use an infant seat for your new baby or going straight to the convertible?
Also, I highly recommend that you keep your oldest child in a 5 point harness instead of moving to a booster - it's not only safer for the child, but it's easier for you. When you have 3 child seats installed next to each other, it's MUCH easier to buckle the kids in 5 pt harnesses than it is to squish your hands between a booster and a convertible seat every time you need to buckle or unbuckle the child in the booster.

**Edited to add** - a couple people have mentioned that the Radian now comes in 80-lb versions - for most folks the 65 lb. version will work just fine b/c both seats have the same *height* limit and most kids will reach that height limit at around 65 lbs.

I agree with the booster idea. If a regular booster is still too wide, you might see if your daughter is heavy enough to be able to use one of those booster's that look like a booster you get a restaurants. Other than that, you might have to look at getting a bigger car. Car's these days are not made to fit three carseats (which I think they should be since you have to keep kid's in a carseat/booster for sooooo many years!). I'm in the same situation, if I try to put another carseat in my car the doors to my car won't shut, and I have the narrowest carseats I could possibly find!

Your children all need to remain in the 5pt harness at their ages, so a booster is not an option for any of your kids at this point.

Your best bet would be to purchase a Sunshine Kids Radian seat. Your 1.5yr old should still be rear facing (new recs from AAP are 2yrs and 30lbs) and if you have a Britax seat, they rear facing to 33lbs. A radian rear facing for the baby, and the other Britax will likely fit. Or you might need to purcahse two Radian's so you can fit them all three across in the back seat.

When our 3rd was born we went and bought 3 Sunshine Kids radian 65 carseats. We were able to talk a local Baby Store into a discount since we were buying 3. Our kids were newborn, 2 years 11 months and 4.5. We chose the carseat over a booster for the oldest to avoid smashed hand s while buckling the booster and he could not buckle/unbuckle himself with three carseats anthow. The Sunshine Radian 65 goes up to 65 pounds and there is another that goes up to 80.

I have a Toyota Camry, and was able to fit three seats across in the back seat. These are the seats we are using: Britax Parkway Booster (6 year old, behind driver seat), Britax Decathalon (14 month old forward facing, middle)* , and Sunshine Kids Radian (4 year old, behind passenger seat). *We used a Graco snugride infant seat (backward facing behind passenger seat, from birth until 13 months old). It is a tight squeeze, but everyone fits, and are safe. The Sunshine Kids Radian is just about the narrowest seat out there, but it is also very highly rated for safety. When we found out we were going to have third child, we searched around for solutions to the carseat issue- buy a new car, get new seats? We ended up purchasing two new seats, the Sunshine Kids Radian (which replaced a Britax Regent) and the Graco Snugride. We have always used Britax seats, but there was just no way to make them all fit. Even though the new seats were pretty expensive, we figured it was cheaper than a new car payment. I would suggest that you bring your car, with current seats, with you when you go shopping so you can try out the fit before you buy. Good luck, and congratulations!

If you are struggling to fit a 3rd full size seat on the back , apart from buying a new vehicle you could move the eldest child to a booster seat , car seats that become boosters (some of them you need to shop around) are less bulky and so don't take up as much room , until the eldest is old enough/heavy enough to use a booster with the car seat belt this is most likely your next best option.