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I had to switch my son at 30 months because he outgrew his seat, BUT, I would have had to switch him regardless because the last two times I had him rear facing, he got violently sick to his stomach.

DS1 was 3 years old. He fit fine rear facing but he began to unbuckle himself and fight and scream the entire time he was in the car. Turning him forward fixed the problem and I felt ok with him forward facing at 3.

DS2 is 2 years old and still rear facing.

At 21 months because we installed the infant seat for #2 and had to move DS behind the driver where his seat didn't fit RF.

I know that 1 is legal in most places, 2 is recommended, and 4 is ideal because their spine has ossified and their head is more proportional to the rest of their body, so they can withstand the forces of a crash. If they still fit in the seat rear-facing past that, I haven't heard that it would do any harm. We'll likely face the same situation! LO is tiny, so the seat will likely expire before she outgrows it. I think we'll keep her in a harness though for a while after that. Of course, I have no idea what the future will bring, so this is all just a plan for now.

I switched DS at age 2 to forward facing but at age 5.5 years he is still in a 5 point harness. I will not switch him to a booster seat until he outgrows the 5 point harness. DD is 18 months and is still ERF and I plan to rearface her until she outgrows rearfacing in her seat or when she turns 3 whichever comes first.

C will be 2 in about a week and a half and she's still primarily RFing (she FF in DH's car due to her outgrowing that seat, but she mostly rides in mine). We purposely bought a seat that we could RF her in for a long time. She can still grow another 8-9 inches before she outgrows it (She's currently 36" tall).

I don't see us switching as long as she's comfortable riding RF, which she seems to be so far. I could see easily going RF until 3. I know the recommendation in some countries is 4, so we'll see how close we get to that.

@pastemoo: @Mamaof2: what about those harness boosters that go up to 110lbs? What's the age on that?

@Mamaof2: but when can they usually start sitting in them? 22ish pounds? More? Or just depends on the seat?

We plan to switch our LO when he turns 2 this summer.

@Bao: Oh sorry! 2yrs and 25 lbs is the minimum for my seat - you would have to check your seat to see if its different

No clue but we just got a seat to keep her RFing as long we possible. Hoping that's 3/4.

I'm in no rush to switch him. He's 22 months now and about 30lbs and we'll keep him RF until he reaches the seat limits at 40lbs, then we'll switch him forward facing and he'll stay in that seat harnessed until he reaches the seat limits or the seat expires. We'd all be safer in the car rear facing, but it's not practical for all riders to sit that way. When he no longer can safely sit RF, then he's safest in a harness. I don't understand when people are so anxious to move to the next step before their children's bodies are mature enough to handle the forces of a crash.

@pastemoo: I'm going to leave her rear-facing until she outgrows the rear-facing capabilities of this seat. It's unfortunate, I didn't research rear-facing options before we bought our seats otherwise she would stay rear-facing until at least 3. In our case, I think she will have to be turned by 2 and a half.

@pastemoo: it's the height limit. I need to measure her shoulders soon so we know how much wiggle room we have. She's always been on the high side of the range for height.

DS is almost 28 months and still RF, I've been thinking about flipping him only because he goes stiff as a board and I practically have to flip him upside down to bend and get him in the seat these days. He's under 30lbs (27) though, so I'm hesitant.