One of the biggest challenges I have with having 4 children, is fitting them in our van. We have often commented that if we had another baby we feared we would have to get a “Mothership” – Ford Econoline. You see when you have a 7 passenger vehicle, it only seats 7 passengers if those passengers are not in car seats. When you add car seats to the equation, a 15 passenger van suddenly becomes the only viable option.
Families with children under the age of 12 will most likely have high back boosters or car seats. Right now my 8, 6, 3 and 1 year old children are all in 5 point harness car seats. The baby is still rear facing and will be until he reaches the weight limit for rear facing on his carseat (33 lbs).
Because car crashes are the number 1 killer of children under the age of 12, I am pretty adamant about car seats. When in doubt, I check Safe-Car.gov. It is a comprehensive website full of information about how and why to use car seats.
I love this breakdown they have by age to tell you what kind of seat your child should be in:
Birth – 12 months
Your child under age 1 should always ride in a rear-facing car seat.
There are different types of rear-facing car seats: Infant-only seats can only be used rear-facing. Convertible and 3-in-1 car seats typically have higher height and weight limits for the rear-facing position, allowing you to keep your child rear-facing for a longer period of time.
1 – 3 years
Keep your child rear-facing as long as possible. It’s the best way to keep him or her safe. Your child should remain in a rear-facing car seat until he or she reaches the top height or weight limit allowed by your car seat’s manufacturer. Once your child outgrows the rear-facing car seat, your child is ready to travel in a forward-facing car seat with a harness.
4 – 7 years
Keep your child in a forward-facing car seat with a harness until he or she reaches the top height or weight limit allowed by your car seat’s manufacturer. Once your child outgrows the forward-facing car seat with a harness, it’s time to travel in a booster seat, but still in the back seat.
8 – 12 years
Keep your child in a booster seat until he or she is big enough to fit in a seat belt properly. For a seat belt to fit properly the lap belt must lie snugly across the upper thighs, not the stomach. The shoulder belt should lie snug across the shoulder and chest and not cross the neck or face. Remember: your child should still ride in the back seat because it’s safer there.
Given the car seat laws, it can definitely be a challenge getting that many car seats and boosters into a minivan or SUV. Finding the right car seat for your child and your vehicle is the first step. Currently we have all
Britax car seats. I love love love Britax, however they are wide. A better choice for a family trying to safely fit 5 or more car seats into their vehicle would be the
Sunshine Kids Radian car seat. It is a convertible car seat that can be used from 5-100 lbs – both as a 5 point harness and later as a high back booster. This is the narrowest car seat in the industry at 17 inches wide. Paired with a Toyota Sienna, the minivan with the largest back seat, you can fit 3 children in 5 point harnesses in the back seat.
It definitely can be a challenge getting “all those kids” to fit in your vehicle, but it is so worth it. My children’s safety is worth every gray hair I might get trying to configure where all the seats are going to go, and it can be done.
If you have a large family, what kind of vehicle do you drive?
We have Dodge Durango SUV and four kids in car seats. We can actually fit three across in the second row, and two more in the third row. I had five kids for a while (we were fostering)…so we had four 1-year-olds and a 2-year-old in car seats. When you do three across, you need at least one thin one — like a Radian.