Car seat won't fit!

[Almostmum]

Has anyone else had this problem? Being about a week away from my due date, I had our new Baby Love car seat installed yesterday. Only trouble is, the front seats had to be moved forward to give enough clearance between them and the baby seat, which is in the middle of the back seat of the car. Now, driving is quite uncomfortable and the front seat passenger will be knee-capped if we ever have to stop suddenly!

It didn't look like we bought a particularly large model of baby seat, so we are concluding that it is the size of the car that is the issue. We can't return the baby seat as the installer disposed of the box for us. Any suggestions, other than buying a new car?!?!

[jembelina]

HAve you tried putting it behind the passenger seat rather than in the middle? We had a safe n sound capsule early on and that was the only way it would fit. At least that way the driver can be comfortable, even if no-one else is! I found in the really early days I often sat in the back with bub while hubby drove anyway. Before you know it you'll be turning it around, in which case you shouldn't have any probs! Also (and this would be a last resort) I remember reading that you can install them in the front seat if all else fails which is safer than in the back if it doesn't fit if that makes sense. In this case your tether strap goes over your back seat so you would be loosing space that way too. Obviously you would have to check you can do that with your particular seat. Hope that helps...good luck!

[Miss_Vicki]

Oh no i rember this happening to me I could Just fit the baby capsual in my 2 door an the passenger front seat had to be pushed That far forward i could sit there so would be Me in back or bf
i agree with jem , is there a way u can put it behinde the pas front seat?
Im so glad i have a big car this time

[Ky]

I have a babylove car seat and with it facing rearward the front passenger seat had to be pushed as far forward as it could go. This meant that I had to put my toddler behind the drivers seat which was a pain getting her in and out of the car as she was on the road side and with a toddler you never can predict what they are going to do!

I found that we didn't have our baby rear facing for too long .... I know, naughty me, against recommendations etc ... both of our kids were forward facing before 12 months. My dd at 9mths and my ds at 3 months (he was huge, see photo in How big is your baby thread!).

We had a Mazda 323 sedan and it is amazing how much room a carseat takes up! I wouldn't out the carseat in any position other than behind the passenger seat though, as it is more of a risk to inhibit a driver than for the person in the passenger seat to be a little squashed for a few months!

Both of my kids are in half boosters now and my carseat has this most gorgeous, incredibly petite 4mo little indian baby named Abigail using it now and it is delightful to see it being used again! She is like a precious little doll!

[Almostmum]

Thanks for the advice - we have managed to exchange our Baby Love seat for a compact Safe N Sound one, so should be OK now. We did find out that BL's seats are the longest on the market, so that kids up to 4 years old can sit in them. Don't know how useful that is in reality though - the 4 year olds I know would much prefer a booster seat to a baby seat!

Now just have to wait for baby to arrive..... :-)