Help! 3 Car seats in back!! (UK)

[Eltjuh]

So when I was pregnant I tried out our 3 car seats in the back and after trying all sorts I managed to just about squeeze all 3 in!
But now, my middle child needs a new car seat as he's getting too big for his stage 1 car seat! I've bought 2 seperate car seats who seemed quite slim but neither of those fit, so I returned those. And now I'm stuck as to what car seat I'd be able to fit in the middle!

We've got a 2004 Ford Mondeo and have a Halfords high back booster (which I'm willing to swap for a different one if need be as it's quite wide) and a group 0 baby car seat (the one that goes with the Venicci pram).

I preferably need a car seat that's about 11 inches (28cm) wide at the smallest point at the back, that goes between the seatbelt buckles.

Ugh!! So annoying!

Any suggestions are welcome - as long as it's a highback booster, seeing as booster cushions are soon only allowed to be used by older kids.

 

[donnarobinson]

No advice Hun but wanted to say hey and hope ur all doing well x

 

[RainbowDrop_x]

I have a BMW X3 and I struggle getting 3 car seats in the back if we have one of DD1's friends over! Could you not put your oldest in the front?

 

[wishingonastar]

I needed 3 car seats in back. Hubby has a saab saloon and I had a small hatch. Even in hubby's saloon we couldn't get the two high back boosters and baby seat. I have now swapped and have a citroen picasso which does for them all though admittedly we still need certain seats for this to happen!

We have graco junior seat, britax adventure (both high backed and both very narrow). Then baby about to change for an extended rear facing seat which we're again getting narrow one

 

[Eltjuh]

Just a shame that all the car seats that seem to get suggested by other people online (I've done LOTS of googling) are all so expensive!!

 

[Ganton]

We have a similar issue. We have a mazda6, which is pretty much the same car as a ford mondeo and I've given up trying to find a combination that works so I sit in the middle and DS1 sits in the front. It's not ideal but I couldn't work it out despite all my googling.

 

[george83]

We had the same with our Astra and couldn't fit three seats in.

I know your personal viewpoint will probably mean more than the law but from my understanding the change in laws will only apply to new car seats being brought after the changes are made and secondly if you can't fit three car seats in then you are allowed to not use one/use a backless booster

Eta: we also brought a new car so we could fit three seats in, we ended up with a ford s-max, it's amazingly spacious, definitely worth the swap

 

[Dory85]

The above is true. The law in the uk is that if there isn't space for a third cat seat in the middle, the largest child can sit there without a seat. As my eldest is only 3, I didn't even consider this option.

We have a rear facing infant carrier, stage 1 and high back booster in our car. We really struggled to find cars that would fit three with a gap between each seat as they should be and ended up getting a Picasso as it had three full sized seats. The said, it still took a lot of time and research to find 'safe' car seats that would all fit.
We now have britax baby safe, britax eclipse and a joie trillo.

 

[mazndave]

I had a Honda Civic when I had my 3rd, and couldn't even get a booster seat in the middle never mind a proper car seat! We ended up buying a new car, a Citroen Grand C4 Picasso. 3 full size seats across the middle so plenty of room for car seats, plus 2 extra folding seats in the boot if we have other passengers (and a massive boot if we don't) Really pleased with it.

 

[baileybubs]

Hi everyone,

No advice but I'd be really interested in this as we are hoping to have a third child in the near future and I have no idea how we'd fit 3 car seats in my Focus! My dd will only be 4 at the youngest if we get pregnant soon so I don't like the idea of a booster.