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about a month shy of 3. I was pregnant and driving a small sedan, and lifting her in and out was tweaking my back. we turned her and it was much easier for her to climb in herself/me to get her in.

We flipped DD1 at 4.5 when we had LO3 and moved her to the back row of the minivan. DD2 is still happily rearfacing at 3.

We turned #1 just prior to her turning two and #2 just past two. We have Australian standard seats that have height markers and Australia has been slow to adopt extended rf’ing. Baby #3 will hopefully ref for much longer so I can fit all three kids across the back seat!

DS1 was almost exactly 2 when we flipped him. At that time, the law was rear-facing until 1 and try to make it to 2. He's 5.5 now.

DS2 was flipped a little after he turned 2. He wouldn't get into the car seat rearfacing. He would do stiff legs and it was virtually impossible to get him to sit in order to be buckled in safely. So we flipped him to be like big bro and he's much happier. He's 2.5 now.

I noticed that the poll has most of the people say they flipped their kiddos between 2 - 2.5, but not many are commenting. Hoping my comment doesn't come with any shaming.

@mrsbubbletea: Your son He knows what's best!

We did it right at 2. Actually, he was still rear-facing in one car for a couple months till we got around to reinstalling the carseat. It was such a pain... We'll see what happens with DD, she is a lot more vocal and hates car rides as it is.

For us, the decision really came down to what makes 12 hour road trips easier With DS forward facing, it is sooo much easier to communicate with him when he gets into the pre-tantrum phase and try to head it off.

DS1 is 3 years 1 month and still rear facing. Hoping to keep him that way as long as possible. Probably will have to turn him by the end of this year.

DS1 was switched a week or so before he turned 2. We got a new car and decided to just go ahead with FF. I didn’t have a great reason besides we were driving 2 hours one way every weekend and 2 hours back. I was always solo and it was challenging to get him what he needed all the time by myself when he was RF.
DS2 is only a month old, but I will try to keep him RF longer. A huge motivator for me (besides safety) is that I do think RF looks comfier and makes for better car naps.

@catgirl: I know all of that. I was replying to desertdreams as the way she worded it sounded like she didn’t know convertibles could be ff, but maybe wording was just off, or I read it wrong. Both of us have 4 week old baby’s (as of today!) so if one of us was wrong I’ll chalk it up to that.

@SweetiePie: yep, I meant what @catgirl: said.
And also now I remember that maybe 1 or 2 of our 3 cars (babysitter's car) can't fit a convertible RF behind the driver, so that's part of it too, so 1 kid will have to FF once the infant seat is outgrown.

My son was 3y8m when we switched him. My daughter is 2y9m and is still RFing. She’s only 22 lbs so I think she will be RF for a long time still! (My goal is age 4).

We switched DS around 22 months. He had been screaming and screaming every car ride and fighting me about getting in his seat. We decided to turn him around and it all magically stopped. Turns out he gets horribly nauseous in the car. Once he could communicate better, he would tell every time we got on the highway that his tummy was hurting. I don’t regret switching him at all. And now at 4.5 he’s in a high back booster with just the seatbelt and it’s awesome. He’s big enough and he sits great in his seat and he just buckled himself.

I’m not sure when we’ll front face DD. She fights a lot at getting in the car, but is fine once she’s in. Mostly. She’s 19 months and I’m guessing we’lol do it around 2 so that getting in the car can be less of a fight.

We kept DD RF until just after her 3rd birthday. We ended up switched her FF when we installed the new car seat for the baby and moved hers to the other side. DS is 16 months and we have no plans on switching him at least for another year.

LO will be 3 at the beginning of May and is still RF. If I ever get pregnant with a viable pregnancy, we'll probably have to switch one of our cars to front-facing if/when it gets too hard to lift him into the seat. He can climb up by himself in one car (can vs will may still be an issue...) but the way the seat fits in the other car makes climbing up very challenging.

My daughter is 2.5 and still rear facing. Was planning to switch her in August at 2 years 9 months when we have another baby. We were in a bad car accident on Good Friday where we hydroplaned across 3 lanes of traffic and crashed into a huge cement wall going highway speeds. She only had a bloody lip from either biting her lip or her Fire hitting her in the face on impact. Not a scratch on her and absolutely no whiplash the next day. I guarantee she would've had nasty whiplash or worse had she been forward facing. It makes me rethink flipping her when the new baby comes.

Just shy of age 4 (and my daughter is in the upper 90 percentiles in both height and weight). Neither complained so we just kept them RFing until they outgrew the weight limits on their RFing car seats!

A couple weeks after her 4th birthday. We were traveling and she was too big to RF in the travel seat, and wasn’t happy about RFing when we got home. The other day she said she wanted to face backward again, though, so if she really means it I’d flip her back for a few more months. Maybe I’ll give it a try this weekend.

@PurplePeony: my 4.5 year keeps saying she wants to face backwards again, but I think it’s just because her sister does and I told her she can’t (she’s in a conbo seat now).

The responses on here are so different than my real life experience. I know at least as many people who switched before 2 and who waited, and probably 4, total, who didn’t switch until after 3. Now with a 4.5 year old a lot of her friends are already in high back boosters.