Ok, so I know the new guidelines say that children should be rear facing until age 2, but I'm already having trouble squishing my 12-month old into her seat in the rear-facing configuration. I want to do what's safe for my daughter, but I'm having a hard time imagining her still fitting into the rear-facing seat almost 12 months from now. For those of you who have made the switch, when did you switch to a forward-facing car seat configuration?
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My oldest son RF'd until he was 4, legs crossed in a convertible seat. The only reason we switched him was because we got a new car and he was putting his muddy boots all over the back of the new seats. But he never minded riding backwards at all. We switched Tractor Girl at 2 because she gets car sick pretty easily. I'm still kinda torn about that because I'd rather clean up puke than plan a funeral, so we'll see, I may turn her back.
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I had G long before this recommendation so keeping P rear facing is all new to me! From my understanding though it's still safer for P to possibly injure her leg than obtain possible internal decapitation (which is why they've changed the recommendation). Idk how long we'll stay rear-facing but it'll definitely be a long time!
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I've heard it's safest to keep them rear facing as long as possible. That's what the officer who inspected our seat told us. Their legs can be squished up against the seat. The officer told us a story of a girl who met the requirements to sit forward, car seat was installed properly, she was strapped in properly. But she died in an accident b/c of the whip lash. It snapped her neck. That story has scared me and my son will sit rear facing as long as possible.
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DS is 16 months & rear-facing. We plan to keep him that way as long as we can for all the reasons mentioned above.
When children are small their heads make up a significant amount of their body weight, if they are thrown forward in an accident the weight can snap their necks. -
Ok, so it sounds like we can make it work. Don't get me wrong, I definitely plan on putting DD rear facing for as long as possible b/c I want to keep her as safe as I possibly can. I just can't picture how she is going to fit!
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Yeah, I think they can just cross their legs and they'll be fine.
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@skibobrown: same here! he seems squished back there (he's a tall boy!), but doesn't put up a fight or get sick... yet. If he does we'll have to see where we are at that point and make a decision then
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My 19 month old is finally growing out of her infant bucket seat. I'll buy her a new one soon, and I'm going to forward face it then.
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X is so lightweight and short that he's still in the reclining rear-facing position (in a convertible seat) at 17 months. He'll face backwards for a long time still. Our car seat safety class instructor said they should sit rear facing as long as possible-- until their heads are too high for that particular seat/whatever the recommendations are for the seat. Even if they have to sit with frog legs. They said "better to have broken legs than a broken spine."
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my son just turned two and is still rear facing and he is 24 pounds and 33 inches tall. I put his 4 year old friend in his seat once a week and he fits just fine. I will keep my little dude rear facing until 35 pounds or he gets to tall from butt to head.
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@runsyellowlites: ummm after hearing this I am even more committed to keeping my LO rear facing as long as possible!
My LO is 17 months and still rear facing...fortunately she does great in her carseat...I'm hoping this lasts a long time.
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@skibobrown: what carseat are you using now rear-facing? is it that your baby is outgrowing the infant seat? Or is he/she in a convertible seat rear-facing?
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In Australia, the law says they only need to be rear facing until six months - yikes! DD is almost ten months and she will continue to be rear facing for quite a while to come yet. The tricky bit here though, is that Australia doesn't use the Latch system (don't even get me started on how much this has annoyed me!), so we have the seatbelt that goes around the back of the car seat, meaning to put a baby in rear facing, you have to navigate around the straps (see below picture). It is tricky as all buggery and I'm just not sure how this is going to continue to work as DD gets bigger, but we'll have to figure out a way as I'm not prepared to take any risks with her safety!
*this is not DD, it is a stock photo from google just to show what the car seats look like.
ETA: if you have a tall car, it's not as bad. We have a RAV4 so it's ok but not great. When we had a rental car that was a standard sedan, it was an absolute nightmare to get her in and out....and she was only seven months old then! I don't know how people do it.
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We'll probably keep her rear-facing until 2 or until she outgrows the weight/height for it. We'll see what happens. She doesnt seem bothered by it, so she'll probably just stay RF.
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I am finding that it is easier to keep kids rear facing in a seat like the radian because it has a lower profile on the sides and there are little wing type things that fold down. They still need to cross their legs but it doesn't seem nearly so squished to me.
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We have a very tall 20 month old still Rear Facing. She just kinda bends her knees.
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The problem I'm running up against is that DS is almost at the RF height limit for his Brirax Marathon. He's a couple months shy of two. So unless I want to buy another seat, we have no choice but to turn him soon
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@Mrs. Yoyo: Wow! How tall is he? We have a boulevard and I don't think she's that tall yet. I do remember we outgrew our chaperone really early due to height though.
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DS1 was 3 when we turned him forward. I was so scared to do it. Haha. DS2 is 15 months and still rear facing.
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I've got three convertible seats in three cars, one forward facing and two rear facing. My son is 28 months old.
The Cosco Scenera is ff in my mom's Toyota Highlander, she does day care drop off. The Graco MyRide is rf in my dad's Honda Odessy. The Britax Blvd is rf in my Toyota Venza. My son's about 36 inches tall and 31 pounds, and he'll be rearfacing until he reaches the weight and height limits.
I also have a Swedish Britax from when we lived in Europe, that goes rearfacing up to 50 pounds, but can't be used in the US.
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My 24 month old is in the 90th% for height and still happily rear facing. I have no plans to turn him anytime soon. I think many safety recommendations are overkill, but car accidents are very common and this is something I can do to keep him a lot safer. It's true that leg injuries are far less dangerous than head injuries, but also, there is research showing that leg injuries are NOT more common rear facing than front facing.
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@T.H.O.U.: good question, I haven't measured him in awhile! But he needs an inch of shell above the top of his head, and it's getting close! I love the seat bit had I known it had a shorter shell I probably would have chosen another.
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@ohapostrophe: what seat do you have?
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@Mrs. Yoyo: that's a britax boulevard 70cs, we also have a diono radian in my husband's car.
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@Mrs. Yoyo: but the Diono will last way longer RF
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