Mini Van - Where Did You Put Baby?

Baby is safest behind the driver. An EMT friend of mine said that is because the driver is instinctively more prone to protecting that side in a crash.

I always put baby on the passenger side (car, van, truck) because that way I can reach them from the drivers side. When I'm driving.

When I'm the passenger, I put them on the drivers side.

I don't sweat kids bumping the carseat, as that sucker is all but welded to the chair.

C.:

We put the baby in the middle row. When we had babies, the mini van we had only had the automatic door on the drivers side. So that's where the car seat went.

When that baby grew up and his brother came into the world? He moved to the next seat over.

Baby behind the driver is fine. You need to do what works for you. If you need to attend to the baby - you should pull over or into a parking lot. Makes life much easier, safer and longer!!

Passenger side. You will probably find you really want to see the little pumpkin.

My suggestion is figure it out, put in the seats but don't marry the plan. If it isn't working don't be afraid to rearrange the seats.

I always had the youngest behind the driver's seat.
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Behind the driver's seat is the safest passenger seat.

I would put the baby behind the driver because that is the safest spot (other than middle) and the baby is the most vulnerable. I would put the 2yr old on the passenger side with the oldest two in the third row.

The kids went where I could reach them - so the baby went behind the passenger if I was driving and behind the driver if I was passenger.

I've always heard behind the driver is the safest. However, we had to put baby behind the passenger seat because the car seat caused the driver seat to be pushed too far forward, making it uncomfortable, and unsafe, for the driver. It was too difficult to drive when I or my husband couldn't scoot the seat far enough back to drive comfortably. I have 2 kids still in a 5pt harness, so I just go to the passenger side first off, 3 yo walks across the inside of the van to her seat (now forward facing) while I reach through from the front passenger seat to start the van and get the AC going, and put all my stuff in the passenger seat, and I buckle in my 5 yo. Then I walk around and buckle in 3yo and get in my seat.
Go ahead and install the rear facing infant seat, and then try to sit in the seat in front of it to make sure there's enough leg room. Every car seat/car combo is a different size and fit. We have Britax car seats; they're HUGE.

Baby in the middle row, behind the driver. It's the easiest spot to pop that bucket in and out of the base and the easiest spot to buckle as you move to the convertible car seat. Two year old next to the baby, and big kids in back.

It's not silly. We have 5 carseats in our van. The baby always goes outboard in a captain's chair for us. It's easy to get baby in that way. A rear-facing child is very safe.
I'd also make sure the 2 YO is rear-facing until at least age 3.
I planned our configuration (it took hours weighing pros and cons) before each kid was born. And I change it depending on our needs. And with 5 it's difficult to have the perfect configuration for everyone.

I always had the baby behind the drivers seat, mainly because I am lazy and didn't want to always have to go to the other side of the car to put that big old bucket in then come back to my side to get in. Glad to hear it's apparently the safest position too!

Same here. Behind the driver is the safest spot in a vehicle for a baby if the center isn't an option.

When my older son was an infant he was behind the drivers seat. When my younger son was born he went behind the drivers seat and my older son sat behind the passenger seat. I taught him how to do his own seatbelt (he was three). If there are older kids they can always do the two year olds seatbelt. I wouldn't worry about the older kids bumping the baby seat, they are designed to withstand a crash!

In my Sienna you can move one of the bucket seats to the middle of the second row. I would think yours would also allow that option (I think it is standard). We have the bucket seat on the passenger side moved to the middle and our youngest sits there. It also makes it much easier to load people into the back.

We've always put baby behind the passenger seat because it makes us have to put the seat forward more when the carseat is rear facing. We don't use small, removable infant seats and instead use convertible seats. Both my husband and I have long legs and need the seat all the way back to drive so it wasn't an option to do it any other way.
As we added more kids, the youngest went behind the passenger seat while the others moved down. We have the Sienna with 3 seats in the middle row so we could do that when we had 3 and only use the third row when we have extra passengers or when the kids were fighting excessively and we needed to separate someone. Kids always know they messed up when someone goes in the third row LOL
I also always like having them by the passenger door because it was easier to get them in and out of the seat and it was the side by the sidewalk when parked on the street so I'm not fiddling with a baby and carseat buckles while standing in the road.

I would put the baby in the 2nd row passenger seat . Then you would be able to tend to him if necessary .The others can still enter on the driver side and you can have the passenger side to yourself to put in baby .

We have a short middle row. The end of the middle row (most accessible from the passenger side) was where we had DD as an infant. It was most central to the car and we felt it was probably safest.

With our oldest, I put the baby behind the driver, as that was most convenient for me putting him in and out. He still (10 years later!) sits there most of the time, unless either he or his brother have friends with us, and then he sits in the third row. Then when #2 came along (2 1/2 years later), he ended up behind the passenger, so as not to disrupt DS#1. He is still there, at least in my van (in DH's sedan, it's actually reversed...not sure why...probably something to do with leg room!). In some respects, I like him behind the passenger seat better, as I can see that side more conveniently/easily, even when he was reversed.
We toyed with putting the two seats together (I have an Odyssey), and putting youngest in the middle, but two full size car seats/booster seats didn't work well that way. And, eventhough this is an 8 person van (with a jump seat that I have never used...), it is not an 8 car-seat van, or an 8 booster-seat van.
HTH

I have an Acadia and will have my 6 year old daughter behind the pasenger seat (her request so she can SEE me), baby behind me (so I can put him/her seat in when I open my door/start car/etc) and have my 4 year old son get in and get him buckled (he can buckle himself about 98% of the time) before I buckle baby in so I can ensure he's in securely. There is a chance he will choose to be in the MIDDLE of the third row, but then he would not have a 'window' seat but I think he'll prefer this so he can see the baby better (I could be wrong). Getting him buckled will be our hardest thing to overcome, I think!

We had baby behind me, oldest in third row middle. Today, in preparation for vacation next week, we put baby in middle....so all three are in the second row. We shall see how this goes. I'd like my full trunk back.

I always wanted the baby where I could slip my hand to them. That way if they needed a snuggle they could have my hand or if the needed the binky I could hold it in their mouth with my right hand and still drive. I also didn't want to have to slide my seat far forward.

I have the second row of captain's seats and a third row bench. My oldest was/is in a booster and able to buckle and unbuckle himself so what I did and still do is have the baby behind the driver which is usually me and the now three yr old behind the baby on the back bench in his 5 pt harness seat. I also have the auto doors on each side so I had the child safety locks on and when we would get to our destination I would pop the trunk and grab the stroller, then I'd open the side door on the driver's side and reach right back to pop the bottom part of the middle guys harness, then my 4.5 yr old would unbuckle himself and help the almost two yr old with his top part of the cars seat harness. Meanwhile I would pop the baby in his stroller and have my other two little guys get out on the driver side right to me, getting hands held with no safety issues. So I did the driver side so I could keep up with those little guys! Now almost two yrs later it still works well but my six yr old is able to totally help my three yr old with the whole car seat process which is nice. I also stow the extra seat all the time and use that floor space for diaper change if needed and it made it easy when I needed to get my middle boy's car seat fastened. I still loaded everyone up on the driver's side but he would just climb in his car seat, I would secure the baby and then go around and get him buckled. Pulling that seat out for the occasional extra passenger has been no biggie. Good luck! It is more complicated with three but doable!

NYS troopers said baby goes behind passenger seat always!

My baby has always sat in the middle of the seat, neither driver side nor passenger side (sedan or SUV). (I honestly don't know what I'll do if I have another.) When other kids have ridden with us (with their mommy), the younger one sat behind me--so the mother had access to him--while the older one sat behind her. The older child did not require as much constant watch.