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12-24-2012 at 12:07 PM
CocoR04
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ST+Ms: Car seat placement?

For those with one child (so far), do you have it placed in the middle?  I've heard it is the safest place, in general.  The next being behind the driver.

If you have had a seat in the middle, how hard is it to get the baby in the carrier into the base?  I can imagine myself swinging the carrier into the base if it is placed in the center.  Is it worth minor physical discomfort to have the base in the middle for safety reasons?


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12-24-2012 at 12:16 PM
smwiggle
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We had DS in the middle of my Escape.  It was no problem getting it into the base and I much preferred it there due to safety.  You will gain muscle just lugging the car seat around.  

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12-24-2012 at 12:23 PM
CocoR04
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smwiggle:
We had DS in the middle of my Escape.  It was no problem getting it into the base and I much preferred it there due to safety.  You will gain muscle just lugging the car seat around.  

Thanks for the reply!  I think we'll put it in the middle of both cars.  Good to hear about the muscle because I don't have any to speak of at the moment.  The car seat feels heavy without a baby in it right now!


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12-24-2012 at 12:31 PM
JJsMum
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With DS we started with him in the middle, but because of back issues we ended up moving him behind the driver.  Plus this meant that DH could actually sit in the car comfortably too (we had/have a Prius).  Now that we'll have two of them in the back seat, DS is on the passenger side and LO will be on the driver's side.

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12-24-2012 at 1:00 PM
sbevmc09
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DS has always been in the middle.  It actually has become more of a pain as he's gotten older, but I can't justify moving him to a less safe spot just because it's more convenient.  His safety is more important. 

Now, I know that placing the seat behind driver/passenger is still pretty safe, but just for my peace of mind I can't justify compromising his safety just for ease of use, KWIM?  I'm hoping to still keep him in the middle (he actually just switched to forward-facing this week, oy!) once baby comes, but we'll have to see if the seats will fit properly that way.  

I have heard others say that for the seat to fit properly in some makes/models of cars the manufacturer will recommend actually putting them somewhere other than the middle, so you may want to check into that to make sure that the middle is safest in your particular car.


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12-24-2012 at 1:07 PM
ungraceful...
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Ours is behind the driver bc the firefighter couldn't get the base installed tight enough in the middle.


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12-24-2012 at 1:21 PM
stardust31...
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In the infant seat, we had DD in the middle, but in her convertible seat, she's behind the driver's seat in my car and behind the passenger seat in DH's truck.
12-24-2012 at 1:23 PM
PrivacyWan...
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DD was installed in the middle in my sedan. My newer suv says not to install in the middle due to the split seat middle folds down attached to one side. So now she's behind the driver.

I highly recommend getting your seat inspected no matter where you want it

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12-24-2012 at 2:13 PM
jobiann
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ungraceful13:
Ours is behind the driver bc the firefighter couldn't get the base installed tight enough in the middle.

Ours will be behind the passenger seat as we couldn't get a tight fit in the center and there wasn't enough room behind the drivers seat. It's been inspected and approved! 



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12-24-2012 at 2:59 PM
dclsboo235
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Our boy was in the middle. Now with two carseats i have to put them both on the outsideinstead until DS is big enough for a booster.

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12-24-2012 at 3:51 PM
ClaryPax
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Yes I would recommend the middle.  I don't remember it being a big deal with the infant seat, and now that DS faces forward it is a very convenient spot for him.  Not looking forward to switching the car seats around with baby #2. 
 
12-24-2012 at 3:57 PM
pitterpatt...
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We had the infant carrier in the middle, but I hated lugging it around and switched to a convertible seat pretty quickly.  We chose to put the convertible seat on the passenger side.  It had to be on a side due to the LATCH system not being in the middle of my car.  We'll probably just leave him there and put newbie in the middle.  I'm hoping both seat will fit rear-facing!  I haven't attempted it yet.


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12-24-2012 at 4:00 PM
Mitsya
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jobiann:

ungraceful13:
Ours is behind the driver bc the firefighter couldn't get the base installed tight enough in the middle.

Ours will be behind the passenger seat as we couldn't get a tight fit in the center and there wasn't enough room behind the drivers seat. It's been inspected and approved! 

Our convertible seat didn't work in the middle of my car (older Honda Accord) but only worked well in the middle for my husband's (couple years old Pontiac Vibe.)  Our inspection tech told us that the most important thing is to have it properly installed wherever it ends up fitting well.


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12-24-2012 at 4:32 PM
brianabrad
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ungraceful13:
Ours is behind the driver bc the firefighter couldn't get the base installed tight enough in the middle.

This is us as well. We have a RAV4 and the connections we located on either side, behind the driver or behind the passenger, so they installed it there. However, the seat is not directly against the door and I would say is kind of half in the middle, half behind the driver. 

12-24-2012 at 4:43 PM
dlbrous
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We didn't do the middle, even though I would have liked to, because in my Honda Pilot the LATCH system is not available in the middle. We put it on the passenger side but can easily switch to the driver's side. We are going to wait and see what we prefer. When we got it inspected by a friend of mine who has the training/background, I was amazed by how much tighter he got it than we did! I highly recommend having it inspected.

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12-24-2012 at 7:09 PM
Smiley-198...
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In Canada they actually recommend middle and then passenger side. We have ours on the passenger side because it doesn't fit comfortably behind the driver without moving the seat forward. We just bought a new SUV so we might put the other base in the middle of that one.

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12-24-2012 at 9:57 PM
ClaryPax
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jobiann:

ungraceful13:
Ours is behind the driver bc the firefighter couldn't get the base installed tight enough in the middle.

Ours will be behind the passenger seat as we couldn't get a tight fit in the center and there wasn't enough room behind the drivers seat. It's been inspected and approved! 

Its interesting to hear that people were having a problem with a tight fit in the middle.  I wonder if our infant seat will have a tighter fit on the side, since with 2 I think the plan is to put them on either side.  

 
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