Rear-facing

I was wondering how long everyone keeps or is planning to keep their toddlers rear facing? My girls will be 1 on Sunday and I have no plans to switch them soon, but I was curious about what everyone else is doing and their reasoning. TIA

 

my girls switched to forward facing around 11 months. We did it for a couple of reasons....1. we got new carseats and they were huge and took up so much space rear facing. 2. the girls had reached the weight and height requiremnt to be forward. 3. they were starting to HATE riding rear facing.

why are you waiting to turn them forward facing?

 

we also did 11 months. My boys are tall (95th percentile) and they were literally complaining every car ride. I didn't want to because I know it is beneficial to keep them till 2 rear...but there was no way. If your babies are not complaining I would keep em rear.

 

we switched at 20 months - i would have liked to keep them RF longer because they are small (we switched them when they had barely hit the weight requirements), but like a PP they took up so much room in our back seat when they were rear facing that DH physically could not drive the car for more than 30 minutes or so at a time.

sistersbeall - studies have been done that show that being rear facing is safer in the event of an accident. which means people are preferring to keep their kids rear facing longer & longer now. i believe some states/countries now officially recommend keeping children rear facing until at least 2. i'm sure if you google it, you'll find the info.

 

We turned them at 21 months...at that point they were getting too tall to be comfortably rear facing.

 

Our boys are 18 months and still rear-facing. Our carseats are rated to be rear-facing until they are 45 lbs (Sunshine Radian carseats). We have a long way to go before they reach that requirement. The AAP has changed their recommendation to state that kids should be kept rear-facing until they reach the upper limits of the carseat.

My husband is a bit uncomfortable (he is 6 foot 6 inches) but it is worth it to provide them with a bit of extra protection.

http://www.carsafety4kids.com/rearfacing.html

 

Ours are still rear-facing at 17 months. We are 95th percentile of height, but we still plan to keep them that way as long as possible. We asked the pediatrician at the 15 month appointment, and she said to keep them that way as long as we could, as "it is much easier to fix a broken leg than a broken neck." Most of the studies say it's safer to remain rear-facing, if possible. We did put big mirrors back there for them to look around, and to see us. They don't seem to mind it.

 

We switched dd1 at 2 1/2 yrs because of the configuration in the new xar we got when we had the babies. I wish we would have kept her that way.

The babies are almost 16 months and I have no intention of switching them before they hit the limits. They're so small (Eve was just 18#6oz at her last c/u), so they may be rfacing until they're 16 :lol:

 

we just switched at 14 months. their feet were hitting the seats and they love sitting forward and looking out the windshield.

 

My 30-month-olds are still rear-facing. They don't know the difference, I figure why switch them when they aren't at the upper limits of their seat for RFing yet?

 

Mine are still rear-facing at 18 months. I have no plans to switch them anytime soon. So far they don't seem to mind.

 

This is us - these girls will be rear-facing until they can drive themselves. :laughing:

 

My guys will be 2 next week (WTH?!?! :shok: ) and they are still rear-facing. If they had problems like car sickness, I would switch them at this point, but being rear-facing doesn't seem to bother them so I'm just leaving them the way they are until they complain or hit the limits of the seat. Of course we bought a portable DVD system for our car and installed it "backward", and DH turns it on for them every time we take even a 5 minute drive , so I'm sure that helps.

 

My 18 mos olds are still rear facing and will be till they hit the weigh limit on their seats. Riley will be getting new seat as soon as he hits the weight limit on his seat cause it's only 33lbs. and the seat expires next May. I am sure he will outgrow the weight before it expires.

As for feet hitting the seat back, lots of kids will fold their legs Indian style. I have read where moms say their kids are happier rear facing cause their legs are more comfortable. Forward facing puts lots of pressure on their legs and the legs fall asleep quickly and is more uncomfortable.

 

11 months, we were taking a trip to Canada and having to borrow carseats, which were FF'ing only, and when we got home they weren't happy RF'ing any longer, they realized they could see out the front when FF'ing

 

The boys just turned 1 but will be rf as long as their seat allows! They're "Tall" 95th percentile and are quite comfortable in their seats still. I like the my older girls can keep an eye on them for me while I'm driving too

 

We are still RF'ing and have the Radians so they can stay that way for a while, fortunately we have a large vehicle which allows for the extra room ERF takes up. I'll re-evaluate at 2, perhaps we will change then

 

27 months and still RF. I watched several of the safety videos and that was enough for me along with the new recommendations to RF until the limitations of the seat. as for seeing... they still see everything, just see it as its going by... instead of having things "whip" by them at 50 mph!

good luck with your choice. we don't have any preconceived ideas as to when we'll FF... until then the RF convertible carseats actually took up less room than the infant car carriers in our car so we have plenty of leg room up front.

 

It is illegal and very unsafe to turn a baby around before one year AND twenty pounds. My kids stay RFing until they no longer meet the requirements. (usually around 3 years). A two year old is 5 times safer rearfacing than forward.

http://www.joelsjourney.org/ViewJoelsvideo.html

 

Great video to share!!

 

The twins were rear facing until 13 months, a decision that was made by dh when we had moved the carseats from one car to another. They were bad car riders forward & rear facing. It just is safer to do it later when the babies' necks are stronger.
Evan was 2 when I turned him around. He enjoyed it.

 

That is what I was going to say, it's one year AND 20 lbs not either or.

 

Thanks for the responses! I plan on keeping the girls rearfacing until they were 35lbs (max in the marathon). Two of my friends have kids just a few months older than mine and they asked me when I was going to flip their seats when we all went out last week. When I told them I wasn't, they seemed shocked. I didn't have any links to information about keeping your children RFing for as long as possible, it was just a discussion I had had with their pedi at 9 months. Thanks everyone for sharing!

 

knowledge is power!

 

Here is another clip from youtube if anyone is interested. Short but to the point. I posted on my fb page a while ago hoping for more responses but nothing.

Youtube video about RF carseats

 

I posted this link too, without many responses.

 

yeah, a friend posted this and I shared it... I got a few responses... one friend in England who has a 4 mo. old just asked a bunch of questions... evidently the norm there is 20 pounds OR 9 months! she is now a convert to waiting, but the problem is that very few carseats there go rear facing past the 9 months.

I had another friend send me a private message on FB to ask why I was still rear facing, and to 'turn the kids around so they could see the world'! oh brother!! when I sent back a message that it was for safety she never responded...

anyway, we are happily rear facing still.

 

I am struggling with this. I kept my older two rearfacing until they were 2+, but I am considering switching my boys at the end of the summer at 15 months. I feel so guilty about switching them, but I can't figure out any other way to have all four kids fit in the car and have my oldest be able to get in and out quickly for the school carpool lane.

 

This is a really tough decision for everyone - especially with those with more than two children in carseats. We plan on following the rear-facing recommendations, which in Colorado are 2+ (note, it isn't the law until 2, just the current recommendation.) That being said, we will probably be RFing longer as we will shoot for the weight limit first, and we won't reach that until probably...well, ever actually! The girls will be too tall and too old to want to sit RFing...HA! But I watched this video just now because I had not seen it. So creepy using the child-like figure instead of a crash test dummy...ugh. And I kept thinking with all the glass flying and stuff, what the heck is happening to the parent up front? Okay, need to watch a shiny, happy video now! LOL!

 

The boys have outgrown their infant carriers and we are planning on getting them the convertibles this weekend. I will try to find a carseat that fits well Rear facing, but have a Toyota Corolla- I may have to go FF much, much sooner than I'd like. I can't really replace my car right now.

 

22m old and rear-facing in Sunshine Radian XTs until the weight limit.