families with three kids

[3littlelambs]

What vehicle do you drive?
We will need to fit 2 convertibles and one infant seat. While a minivan is the obvious choice, I've heard of some doing three seats in a row in an SUV. They say they like this option to have the kids closer to the driver instead of so far in the back but that it is a little cramped and not great for road trips.

Any thoughts/suggestions appreciated!

[Amila]

I love my Sienna I have all three in the middle row, and having that huge storage in the back is awesome for roadtrips and groceries.

[Peony]

There is no way in heck I am putting all 3 of my kids in the same row. "Mom!! Her feet are on my side!" Followed by hitting, biting, screaming. Repeat about every time we go somewhere. I have have them all separated, one in back, 2 on the outboard sides in the 2nd row.

I like being able to take extra kids, the space to travel with what a family of 5 might need. I have no problems with one in the very back, I keep water and snacks back there for her, she can get herself and and out.

[Mrs-Mama]

We have an 8-passenger Sienna. While we will likely have the infant in the middle row and the two older kids in the back, I like having the option of putting all three in the middle row if we want/need to.

[Llyra]

I had three across in the back seat of my Pathfinder. It is definitely doable, but you'll want to look for narrow convertibles. We had two Graco infant seats and an Alpha Omega, and then later on we had two Evenflo Tributes and the Alpha Omega, but when the twins outgrew the Evenflo seats, we got two Radians and a Turbobooster for DD1.

It can be awkward depending on how you arrange the seats-- having a rear-facing child in the middle seat can be real pain in the neck, for instance, and you may find the infant has to ride outboard, if you can't manage to lift the infant seat over the outboard covertible seat. So you kinda have to play around with the configuration to find out what works.

We rarely use that car for all three kids, though, because it really is cramped-- there's a lot of bickering and arguing and elbowing one another, now that they're older. We just got a used Grand Caravan and we use that, and the Pathfinder is for trips when we're not all going.

[DahliaRW]

Sienna (7 passenger) and LOVE it! I can't imagine not having a 3rd row!

[Twinklefae]

I used to have three across the back of my Mazda Protege for the daycare kids. It's possible, but as pp's have mentioned, not ideal do to the arguing and bickering!

We just got a minivan, and I'm so so happy!

[CherryBomb]

We have a town and country. Dd1 sits in the back, dd2 and dd3 are in the middle seats. After this baby comes, dd2 will move (with her booster) to the back, and the baby will go in her seat.

[luv-my-boys]

well we have a full sized suv and comfortably fit 3 in carseats across 1 row alone plus others (no carseats) in the other row. LOVE LOVE LOVE it but my kids dont really bother each other for the most part there usually too busy doing there own thing. Plus honestly with that many people in the vehicle we usually have lots of stuff that needs to come with us and I love having the full size cargo area so it all fits, I dont want to have to choose between groceries or the kids

[Sharlla]

2 convertables and booster in the volvo 960.
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[greenemami]

We have two convertibles (one RF, one FF) and one in a seatbelt in the middle ( a very tall 9-year-old) in a toyota matrix. It is squished for dsd in the middle, but doable for now. I don't think we could fit another carseat or booster unless maybe we bought radians.

I would love a bigger car, but dsd is only with us ~40% of the time, so we are considering the mazda5-better gas mileage, a little more room, but not huge for when it is just three or four of us in there.

[TheGirls]

We're about to have 3 kids- we got a Honda Odyssey. I'm working on getting all kids in the 2nd row so we can have the extra cargo space for now. We carry other passengers on a semi-regular basis so it really makes sense for us to have the extra space. Plus we may have another child at some point...

[MangoMommy]

We have a Murano, which barely has room AND my kids make me crazy with the whole "she's touchinglooking/breathing at me" thing! I totally regret not getting a vehicle with 3 rows!

[bmhpke96]

I have an Expedition and have all three in the middle row, 2 Nautilus car seats and a Britax Roundabout. They leave each alone so it works really well.

[an_aurora]

I have 3 rear-facing car seats (Complete Air, Coccoro, and Radian XTSL) in a BMW X5.

[mamadelbosque]

Theres a whole thread over on car-seat.org of succesful 3-across installs on various cars...

[3littlelambs]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

Theres a whole thread over on car-seat.org of succesful 3-across installs on various cars...

thanks!

[MJB]

I have 2 convertibles (1 RFing 1 FFing) and a booster in my 93 Volvo wagon. We're looking for a new car and have installed them easily in a Hyundai Elantra touring and a Mazda5. I have found that looking up the vehicle's rear hip room is an easy, accurate way to tell whether my seats will fit or not (they are 51" total so I need at least 51" rear hip room to fit my seats). We've also considered the Chevy Aveo5, the Honda Fit, and the KIA Soul.
We aren't having any more kids and don't want to drive something that's terrible for the environment.

[ChetMC]

When We Had Three

When we had three kids we drove a VW Golf TDI. We had three Radians in the back seat. The baby rear faced in the middle. Our girls were forward facing on either side. Unfortunately, this meant that we had to turn our younger DD forward facing at 32 months.

We also had three in a Mazda 5 for a month. Our girls were 5 and 3.5 forwarding facing in Britax seats, and our DS was rear facing in a baby seat.

[elmh23]

We have a Honda Odyssey and I love being able to move everyone around so they aren't bugging eachother!

A friend of mine has three in a Prius. 2 Radians and a Keyfit 30. She's looking into getting a minivan now. The 2-year-old really enjoys kicking (he's RFing) his older sister (who is FFing.)