Minivan question

[Shanny2032]

I am a Nanny and take my soon to be 2 year old daughter to work with me. She is obviously still rear facing and will be until I am guessing the end of time since she is sooo tiny. My bosses have a soon to be 3 year old who is still rear facing but may need to be turned around based on weight before their new baby comes in March. I drive a Volvo V50 wagon right now that I am going to have to upgrade before the new baby comes (unless anyone can tell me how you could possibly get 3 across in a V50!) I am going back and forth between getting a Volvo SUV that has a 3rd row or a minivan (toyota or honda most likely). Regardless of the car, the set up will be my DD rear facing behind the driver seat, baby in infant seat behind the passenger seat (both rear facing for years to come) and 3 year old in the 3rd row most likely forward facing. I was leaning towards the minivan even though I love Volvo's because of the ease of pushing a button that opens the doors so the older 2 girls could climb in while I put the baby in. I was assuming I would need to open the hatch to buckle and unbuckle the 3 year old. BUT, as I was looking in the back of a minivan today it occured to me that with the rear facing seats the 3 year old is still going to have to climb over someones seats to get to the back and won't be able to just walk around and get in. I'm thinking if that's the case it takes one of the big "ease of use" selling points of the minivan away and I might as well get the Volvo and let her climb in the folded down far rear seat? I know I'm not the first person with 3 little ones in a minivan so help me out and let me know how it is working for you. Thanks.

[chickabiddy]

You can get three-across in a V50. You may need new seats, but that's cheaper than a new car. What seats are you using now?

[Shanny2032]

I can? I can??? Oh that would make me so happy. The older girls are in Britax's Roundabout and Roundabout 55. The infant seat they have is an orbit. I am definitely willing to spend several hundred dollars on new seats if it could save me the thousands of buy a new car. I was going to buy the radians (is that the narrow one everyone always mentions?) and try it with their orbit and my graco but I just hated to go through all the trouble thinking it would never work. Please any advice that would make the whole process easrier would be great and much appreciated!

[chickabiddy]

Ah, you have big seats. No, two Britaxes and an Orbit will not fit.

Try a RFing Radian for your daughter and a RFing MyRide for the baby (Radians are really narrow, but because they puzzle so nicely, a RFing Radian next to a RFing MyRide actually take up less room than two Radians!). The FFing 3yo can be in a Radian or an Evenflo Maestro, or you could put her in a RFing Radian as well. RFing Radian/RFing MyRide/RFing Radian will fit in pretty much any vehicle -- it's a *very* narrow grouping.

(Also, install the seats with belts instead of LATCH. You can safely move the outboard seats closer to the doors that way, which will give you a few extra inches of room, and those few inches will make a big difference.)

[Shanny2032]

Thank you so much for the suggestion - we will definitely try it. There is a tech here that has installed all of our seats in the past so I am sure she'd be helpful when it comes time. Do you think there is any infant seat that would fit in between the Radians? I have never used a convertible for a newborn and just like how they are so snuggled into the infant seat. I also worry about having to have one of the girls wait outside the car while I get the baby in and buckled versus just snapping a seat into a base. I'm excited that this might actually work!

[chickabiddy]

The MyRide fits newborns beautifully.

If you do want to do an infant seat, I'd try infant seat outboard, then RFing MyRide center and RFing Radian outboard. The Safety 1st Onboard and Chicco Keyfit are fairly narrow infant seats.

ETA: It will definitely work. It may take some time and effort, but it will work. I've gotten three-across in *much* smaller cars.

[Shanny2032]

Thank you so much for taking the time to walk me through this tonight! I'm thrilled to keep my v50 as it is my favorite car ever! (yes, I just said that about a station wagon, haha)

[DahliaRW]

To answer your question, though, you can get minivans where the middle row seats slide together. That's how I have my Sienna set up. So I have a captain's chair behind the driver, and the other in the middle. Then I can access the 3rd row from the passenger side. When I had 2 rfing I had the baby behind the driver, my 2 yo in the middle, and my 5yo (boostered) in the 3rd row passenger side. No climbing over seats!

The only issue I can foresee with doing 3 across is that you need to be sure that the ffing child is not going to bother whatever child is rfing next to him/her. Or that the rfing child isn't going to do things like stick their feet in the ffing child's seat. Constant bickering can be a real distraction while driving!

[MyFullHouse]

I hope you're able to get your current car to work out, instead of getting a new one!

But, on the minivan front, we bought one with captains chairs in the middle row when we had 3 in car seats. I took one of the chairs out, which enabled me to easily access two seats in the 3rd row and an infant in the middle row. No climbing needed! It was bliss!

[Three~Little~Birds]

In my Jetta we had 3 across with 2 Radians and a Graco Snugride infant bucket, just to present another option...