Hellobee Boards

3.5 is still too little to be in a booster. I think around 5 or so is when people switch to a booster. Could one of the convertable car seats get moved to the middle?

So my friend successfully fit a britax frontier, combi coccoro, and boulevard in her passat. So it can be done. The keyfit and coccoro are the slimmest for an infant. Dionos are also very thin for convertibles.

You should join the car seats for littles Facebook group. You can give all the details (seats you have, ages and weight for the kids) and they can help you with a car seat setup.

@mauxie: I think being big enough for a booster depends on when they grow out of the convertible seat. My LO is 3.5 now and we were just talking about this. The AAP recommends they stay in the convertible as long as possible but different seats are rated to different heights/weights. She is currently 42 inches and 33 lbs. We have two different Britax seats, and one goes up to 46 inches, the other 48. So we figure within the next year she will be too tall for the convertible (just in time for baby brother to inherit it!).

Here are the AAP recs:
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/on-the-go/Pages/Car-Safety-Seats-Information-for-Families.aspx

We were dealing with the same thing. We ended up needing to get 2 new car seats. We bought two diono radian rxts (they will last them for a very long time since they adjust to a booster) and they will go side by side a (one FF and one RF) and then the infant seat behind the passenger. It was the only way to make it work. The radians are amazing car seats!

Previous posts have good advice on seats. Just want to add that the least protected child (in this case, the one in a booster) should go in the middle seat, since that is the most protected position.

I wouldn't want to put a child in a booster before 4, but I admit I have done NO research on it other than seeing that NJ law just changed so all kids under 4 should be in a convertible seat.

@Kemma: Agreed, and that's the type of booster I would recommend in this case. A harnessed booster. Not a belt guiding booster. The kiddo isn't big enough to be out of a harness.

We are in a similar position - LOs will be 1.5/3 when the 3rd comes along. I drive a Prius and plan to put the oldest in the middle FF in his car seat. Like @Rainbow Sprinkles: we have Diono Radians and they are awesome. I'm hopeful that the infant seat will fit in on the outside next to the FF Diono.... we'll see. I haven't done a ton of research yet because we also have a minivan and we will not usually need to put them all in the Prius.