It's a bit of a puzzle to fit three child carseats in the back seat of my 2005 Mazda 6 station wagon. We thought we had a solution if we bought a different seat for Isaac, who is almost seven years old and can use the regular car seatbelt with the help of a booster. It seemed like it worked when we tried it out in the parking lot of Babies R Us, anyway.
The setup is as follows:
- Jesse in a 2012 Graco Snugride infant seat (behind the driver's seat)
- Isaac in a 2012 Graco no-back Turbo booster seat (in the center)
- Laurel in a 2005 Britax Boulevard convertible seat (forward-facing) (behind the passenger seat)
But when we tried it again on Thursday, the lower part of Isaac's seatbelt fit so tightly against Laurel's carseat that the belt can't move. The upper part of the seatbelt fits him fine, and it is still mobile and locks into place when force is applied against it, but I'm not sure that the lapbelt portion should be binding up. (His seatbelt buckle is also unreachable without partially uninstalling Laurel's carseat every time, which would be a drag!)
Now that I think about it, I wonder what would happen if I reversed the positions of Jesse and Laurel's seats. The buckle for the center seatbelt is on the right-hand side, so maybe having the infant seat on that side would make a difference. I'll try it tomorrow.
Anyway, I fear the Highway Patrol is going to say that any interference between neighboring seats is a safety problem. If they don't approve the proposed setup, we have one last hope: get a narrower carseat for Laurel, who currently rides in a very wide Britax Boulevard, and maybe the difference of an inch or two will let Isaac's seatbelt move freely.
Otherwise we won't be able to pull off this Monday baby-sitting plan at all!
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