Stroller

My wife and I took our stroller to the dealership when we bought our 2009 Patriot just to make sure it would fit. We had a Honda Accord and we had to take the front wheels off of it just to get it in the trunk, but with the Patriot we had no problems. It is a little pricey, but it fits just perfectly in back and it is a double long stroller. Graco Quattro Tour Duo Double Stroller. I think any car seat fits by the way, the Patriot has all the necessary fittings built in to properly fit a car seat in the back.

 

We have a baby car seat in the back, no problems for fitment.

 

http://www.evenflo.com/product.aspx?id=148&pfid=1660

We loved this car seat so much we bought 2 of them one for my Pat and the other for my wifes Accord. forward facing is a little tight but doable ...Its also comfy and safe for our little girl. Best of luck.

 

One thing i didnt like about the car seat but was unforeseeable, that i had to move the drivers seat further towards the steering wheel. And at my height (6'2") it is a taaaaaad uncomfortable to drive.

 

when you say toddler...i am presuming that you mean Forward Facing? once the child is able to ride forward facing, you get the biggest BANG for your BUCK by going with the Graco Nautilus. You can use the harness until 65 lbs, then you can scrap the harness and use it has a belt positioning booster. then, you can take off the back and just use it as a backless booster.

you can use that seat more years than most other seats. especially for that price...it's a steal. it goes for roughly $150 on Amazon.com. divide that for the 6 or so years that you will be using the car seat...it definitely becomes a reasonable annual price to pay for the safety of your child :smiley_thumbs_up:

 

First, congratulations father to be!

If you plan to use infant carriers (removable bucket in a cradle) for the first year-ish, don't buy a convertible yet. Car seats have expiration dates and most are good for 6 years from date of manufacture. No point in acquiring a seat not you won't use for a year and then getting 1 less year of use from it. Is the Patriot going to be your main family vehicle? My Jeep is the secondary family vehicle. It has worked well for almost every 1-day trip/excursion. We also have a minivan.

That said, I will warn you that infant carriers are longer than convertible seats even when reverse facing. I have a relatively short Graco Snugride and it has to be placed in the center in order to fit as it squeezes between the front bucket seat backs. Putting the infant carrier directly behind either driver or passenger seat makes makes the front seat unusable. Since you have twins coming, you may want to skip infant carriers and go right to convertibles.

I have an Evenflo Titan and a Britax Marathon. I have two kids, older was 2.5y when second was born. Another one coming in June. My older used both of these seats in two different vehicles (wife's/mine). Once my younger moved out of the infant carrier, my older moved into 2 Britax Regents, one for each vehicle and my younger now uses the two convertibles. I love the Marathon, but it costs 4x the Titan. The Marathon will laster longer as harness slots are a lot higher and is easier to install in vehicles and use/adjust harness.

Budget? Costco Scenera is a great starter seat. It is similar to my Titan, but even less expensive. It is available at every Target/Walmart/Kmart/Sears/etc for under $50, as low as $35 on sale. A few colors, pink for girls and neutrals for both sexes. That should get most kids to the age of 2, maybe 3 and you can consider something like the Graco Nautilus at that time.

You should find a local Babies R Us and test how some seats fit, especially the infant carriers. That store lets to test fit before buying. Just ask a worker for help.

As for strollers, I don't know what you'll be able to fit that holds 2 infants. I believe you have about 38" in length in the back and many of the tandem strollers are longer when folded. The Graco DuoGlider may work. =4]This Valco Tri-Mode Twin looks like it would work with the additional car-seat adapter.

I bought a Baby Jogger City Mini Double last Spring and love it, but it does not work for infant carriers.

Check out Child Seat Forums for seat info overload. There is also a strollers and gear forum under shopping and deals.

 

I'm so proud of my daughter! When she had her twins, she went out and bought a Jeep Wrangler!

She bought it two and a half years ago and has put many miles on it! The thing is worthy of the name Jeep! It fits nicely in the back of the wife's compass and the two baby seats in the back do too...

And, congrats! Twins are awesome...

 

Thanks for everyone's posts.

It looks like I have a bigger problem than I thought. I need two rear facing infant car seats, one for each twin. I went and checked the graco one and in fact it is too big to use the front seat at the same time. I tried a Peg Preggo car seat, it is a little bit shorter and I could actually fit behind the steering wheel, but it felt very uncomfortable and even unsafe as I had a hard time moving from gas to break.

Does anyone know a way or a type of infant rear facing seat that you can fit in two seats and still have the drivers seat somewhat back? This is one thing I don't foresee when I was buying the Jeep, our families only vehicle. Who expects to have twins?

 

did you try a graco snugride or a graco safeseat (step1)? the graco snugride is a decent amount smaller than the safeseat.

also, what is the position of the carry handle during your installation?

the reason why i asked some of these questions is because these car seats have been "fit tested" in cars such as the Toyota Yaris, so i find it hard to believe that they won't fit in the Patriot.

 

Oh, I forgot about one more site. Check it out and look at the Caliber and Compass as well as the Patriot as they are all the same as far as seats go.


I have the Snugride (SS1 wasn't out yet) and am 6'4". Almost any infant carrier will fit in the center of the rear seat of any vehicle because the front of the bucket is rounded and will wedge between the front seat backs. People put them in Mustangs. Putting two of them in a small vehicle is a problem.

One option may be to put the two seats in the middle and on the passenger side if your wife is shorter and can be comfortable. This would require some narrow seats too. I don't know if two Snugrides would fit next to each other in the Patriot. I did use the Evenflo Titan on the passenger side forward facing for my older child with the Snugride in the middle and had solid installations. The Titan is wider than the Snugride and the Snugride at 17.5" wide should fit next to each other. We have 51" of hip room in our Jeeps, but using only two of them can be offset a little and still get solid installations.

Note regarding middle/side installations: We have two sets of LATCH connectors on the outboard rear seas. You can use one from each side for a center installed seat, but you cannot hook multiple seats to the same connector. So, you would have to install at least one using the vehicle seat belt. The outboard position is probably easier to use the shoulder belt and allows to you keep the center buckle in the slot on the side in the cargo area if you use LATCH for the center seat.

All three rear seating positions have lower anchorages that are capable of accommodating LATCH-compatible child seats having flexible,
webbing-mounted lower attachments. Child seats with fixed lower attachments must be installed in the outboard positions only. Regardless of the specific type of lower attachment, NEVER install LATCH-compatible child seats such that two seats share a common lower anchorage. If you are installing LATCH-compatible child restraints in adjacent rear seating positions, you can use the LATCH anchors or the vehicle’s seat belt for the outboard position, but you must use the vehicle’s seat belt at the center position.

The other option is to skip infant carriers and go straight to a small convertible like the Titan, or Scenera. There are tradeoffs to that you may not prefer, but it allows more seat/installation options. When are the BBs due?

I have my 3rd child due the end of June. At that time, I'll have a 4yo, 18mo, and newbie. No combination of seats I have now will fit for three in the back seat, but I plan to get 2 Sunshine Kids Radians or maybe a narrow high back harnessed booster and a Radian and use the Snugride in my Jeep.

 

Hello friends.I have something to share with you guys.I bought Mickey Bungee Deluxe for my baby which can be converted car seat.It is very comfortable and my baby likes it too.There are many more baby stuff available out there,from where I've purchased.If you guys are interested then please visit the link given below.:smiley_thumbs_up:

 

I have been using the Snugride right behind the drivers seat of my Patriot for 6 months now. Today I went to install the Britax marathon reverse facing for my daughter because she just outgrew her snugride. Low and behold it will not fit!! I am so upset and not sure what to do. I'm 5'5" and the snug ride JUST FIT behind the drivers side. I can see how others are having a problem since you all are in the 6 ft or above range. I feel for you having a problem. I am not sure what to do now. Any suggestions on a convertable that people have been able to get in reverse facing?? I was able to put it in behind the passenger side BUT the seat is so far up no one will be able to sit in it. Call me crazy but when my husband and I go out with the 2 kids we like to be able to drive together in one car. Other than this problem, I LOVE my patriot. Just can't go trading it in because of this.

 

AJsmom,

What is your older child using? It may be possible to put the Marathon in the middle and your older child on either outboard side.

I used the Evenflo Titan reverse facing behind me. The Marathon is a very tall seat, so depending on how your front seat is adjusted for height, (do you have the height adjustable drivers seat?) it may hit the headrest. I could adjust the Titan to hit right between the headrest and seatback which was acceptable for me and solid for the child seat. Cosco Scenera is another shorter seat that should work too and is even cheaper. But first, you may want to play with the driver's seat height, back angle, and fore/aft to see if you can get the Marathon to fit behind you. First move the drivers seat all the way forward, install the Marathon, then try to adjust the driver seat in a comfortable manner for you. You can wedge it right up against the top of the child seat.

The Marathon is a great seat because the harness slots are higher than almost any other convertible which means your child will last in it longer than the Titan and Scenera for example. My older child outgrew the Titan before 3years. My 2nd child is even taller for his age and will probably not make it until 2yo. Yet, my odler still fits in the Marathon and would until at least 4.

 

I think APT already mentioned this but I second visiting: http://car-seat.org/

My wife is a registered car seat inspector and not all seats are created equal. There are even cheaper seats that are safer than the more expensive ones. Best to educate yourself on all your options.

 

you can't go wrong with a Graco. affordable, safe, and they have never had a handle recall on their infant seats ;-)

 

Thanks everyone for your imput. APT, my older child is in a Graco Nautilus. He had the Britax Marathon before my daughter. I will try to play around with the seat adjust like you said. If it weren't for having to do the recline cause of her age I think I would be ok. It's the recline of the carseat that is messing things up. I will also check out car-seat.org. One other question I'm having trouble getting an answer to. I've asked the Jeep Dealer plus called Chrysler. Does anyone know how many lbs the LATCH anchors can hold? The car seat is good to 65 hooked in with the latch but no one can give me a straight answer as to the weight the anchors themselves will hold. My son is 50 lbs and I have the seat hooked in with latch but wondering if I need to switch to the belt. The five point is good till 65. Jeep dealer said they thought 100 which does not seem right to me. The manual doesn't say anything and car seat manuals say to assume 40. Anyone know the answer to this??

 

the majority of LATCH anchors in vehicles are only rated to 40 lbs. if you read the Jeep manual it will state the max weight that the LATCH anchors should be used for. i am guessing that they are only rated to 40-45 lbs, but i cannot be sure for certain. check and see what it says, and if it is under 50 lbs, then i would take your son's car seat installation out of LATCH mode immediately, and re-install using the vehicle seat belt.

 

I was diappointed to find I counld not find a matching jeep car seat.

 

48 pound limit for the lower anchors in our Jeeps.

 

Thanks. I will be reinstalling my sons seat with the belt then. This has helped a lot. Wish I found this forum sooner!

 

Hey -I have another question for you. Anyone know the weight limit for using the top tether?

 

from carseat.org

...but generally the weight limit given is for lower anchors and for top tether; however, techs will generally agree that the benefits of using the tether beyond the stated weight limits outweigh the risks. The tether anchor is not the sole form of attachment (the seatbelt would be), it is only a supplement to reduce head excursion, and even if it were to fail, it would only do so after it has done the job of reducing head excursion, after the brunt of crash forces have occurred.

That's what I follow from multiple people there. No reason not to use it, just make the seat as secure as you can prior to tightening the top tether.

 

Jeep Stroller

http://www.babyproofingplus.com/cat464_1.htm

You need a Jeep Stroller

 

Well I have found that you can fit 2 Evenflo Infant car seats with one behind passenger and the other one in the middle. I have tried many seats and these are the only ones that fit. I'll post a pic when I get them. It is not the brand we wanted but it's better than selling the Patriot. My next challenge is finding 2 rear facing toddler seats for the around 6 months to 1 year time frame. We'll see what happens. Thanks again to everyone for their thanks and input.

 

Great that you found a solution, Brian!

With twins, they will probably last a few month slonger because twins are usually smaller than single children when born. The Infant carrier is very convenient for the winter. It would be nice to last until Spring. My older child was born on Memorial day and we switched her out of the infant carrier before winter. My 2nd child was born in early Dec and made it through winter. They were both over 8 pounds and 21.5/22" long, though.

For the next seats, you can go with a short convertible like Evenflo Titan or Cosco Scenera. I had th Titan reverse facing behind my drivers seat and managed for 8 months. Another option is something like 2 Sunshine Kids Radian seats. They are narrow, but very tall/long. Again, they would be installed middle & passenger side making the front passenger seat useless (just fold it forward). However, since they are narrow, your wife could sit behind you next to the BBs while reverse facing. Once turned forward facing, they could go outboard and wife could rejoin you up front. These seats will easily last 50% longer than a Titan/Scenera because the harness slots are so high. I'm considering getting one for my 4yr that would be handed down to the next BB. They also cost $200ea vs. $35-60, though.

 

I had a Doona baby stroller with my first kid and I really missed having the portability. With #2 and #3 kid, I used a Graco Snugride 5pt. With #4, I bought the Graco Safe baby stroller (higher weight and height limits). I recommend the Graco Baby stroller. He is now in a Britax Marathon RF but he can still fit in the stroller and he will turn two in July.