Turn around at 1 and 20 pounds or stay facing backwards

What did you do? I have read all the "new things that have come out" to keep your child rear facing til 2, but not sure about it...

If it is safer then of course, but is it really that much safer?

My pedi said to turn then around forward facing bc they have good neck and head control and were big enough.

I turned around one of my girls last week she is 21 pounds and the other one I have not turned around yet as she is 19 pounds.

what is your opinion on the subject and waht are you doing? tia!

 

I left my my boys rear-facing until 2 months before their 3rd b-day. So, I'm all for extended rear-facing. All of the studies and information out there say it is safer and it certainly doesn't hurt anything to leave them that way. I believe the new AAP guidelines say that they recommend babies stay rearfacing until they are 2 years old.

 

We are keeping our guys rear-facing as long as possible. We have the Graco MyRide that is rear-facing to 40 lbs, so hopefully they can stay that way for awhile (they are 25.5 and 27.5 lbs now).

 

I'll probably keep mine rear-facing until at least 18 months. DH is ready to turn them around now, but he has trouble folding them into the seats. Being shorter, I don't have any problems getting them in and out. On a related note, I think the recommendations should be completely based on height and weight instead of age. Not everyone's 2 year olds are the same size, so I think it's odd that there's an age on the new AAP guidelines.

 

The AAP recommendation have changed here they are: AAP

They have changed in Ontario too and say 20 lbs AND 12 months of age AND walking. My girls meet all these recommendations but I will be keeping them rearfacing until 2. It seems to be safer so why not?

 

This was before they changed the AAP recommendations, but I kept my two rear facing until a couple months shy of turning two.

 

Rear facing until they hit 30lbs is my goal. Jacob is about 28 and should be there at 2. Henry will be there about 2-2.5.

 

If there isn't a reason (car sickness) to turn them around, I wouldn't do it. In our case, A&R never traveled well in the car facing backwards, constantly car sick and angry/screaming (for hours on road trips) so we turned them around at 12 months. If those were not a factor, I would have left them rear facing for longer. But *I* couldn't take it anymore. (Of cousre, I don't know where they get the car sickness from :lol:, I certainly don't get sick on the train when I'm facing backwards and I certainly don't get sick in the car if it's a bumpy road. . .:sick

 

I turned mine around just shy of their first birthday. The only reason why I did, was because William wouold scream everytime we went somewhere in the car, and I mean NO STOP screaming until he was throwing up and choking, since I flipped him, he is fine. Nathaniel I flipped because he would fight hard not to go in his seat. Make himself go stiff, arch his back, kick his legs, scream. I dropped him once into the trunk of the van..... :blink: After I dropped him I flipped him. He no longer fights the seat.

 

wow! thanks for all the responses ladies! I thought their would be a mix, but it seems as if everyone pretty much keeps their chidlren facing backwards!! oh, decisions!!!

I too agree it should be weight and age! Not sure what I am going to do, lillianah loves seeing me! but now i feel liek i should turn her back wards!

 

My one daughter seemed to take forever to reach the 20 lb weight requirement so we waited until 17 months to turn them. I didn't think it was fair to turn one and not the other (I don't know why). When we read the carseat book (Britax)it recommended a child taller than ( I think it was) 29 inches should face forward and my one DD was that, so we turned them. They enjoy looking forward, I can see them better, they have a better view. I do find they don't fall asleep as much in the car now though. Which is sometimes good and sometimes bad.

 

My boys are 22 months and 25-26 lbs and they are still rear facing. From what I've read studies show that if your are in a car wreck and they are rear facing your LOs are more likely to suffer a broken leg, for instance, but if they are forward facing and in a wreck they are more likely to suffer spinal injuries. So rear facing is definitely safer. Since my boys don't seem to mind rear facing we haven't really been in a hurry to turn them around. It's really not a big deal to us to put them in their car seats rear facing either (of course they don't thrash around either, lol). It helps that we have these mirrors so they can always see us and vice versa, and I hear it is easier for them to nap rear facing because of the include (whereas they tend to be more upright forward facing which isn't as conducive to napping). We'll probably turn them forward facing in another couple of months, whenever we can find time to switch the car seats forward facing and then get them inspected to make sure they are installed correctly.

 

I turned my two at 11 months. I know most of the moms I know in real life also turned their children at or around 1 year as well, if weight was 20 lbs or more.

 

Mine just turned one like yours. My son is almost 21 lbs. But I don't have any plan to turn them soon. I will keep them rear facing as long as possible. At 12 month well check up, our Pedi said 'keep them rear facing'

There is a reason they make those carseats rear facing up to 40. Our marathon can rear face up to 40 and symphony can rear face up to 35. I will try my best to rear face them that long )

 

There are studies showing it is 5 times safer to have them rear facing. I'm sorry, but I don't have the time right now to look up the citations for you, but maybe someone else does?

I find the research on the safety of rear facing to be persuasive. Mine will stay rear facing until at least 2, but I hope to get to age 3 if we can. At 3, I think I will probably just flip them.

The issue isn't the strength of their muscles--it's whether their spine is solid enough to keep their head from being flopped around. Spinal maturity is something that comes with age. The consequences of their head flopping around are death and brain damage.

Since spinal maturity comes with age, a small 12 month old and a large 12 month old are equally safe [or unsafe] forward facing. I believe that is why they used the age criterion.

Me too!!

I have a huge mirror mounted for them and mine can see me great and are quite content in the car, well, usually.

 

I turned mine at a year. I didn't want to, but they were too big for the infant seats by then which were unsafe, & our car could not support the seats we bought rear facing. I wish we could have done rear facing for a while, but it just didn't fit with our small Toyota.

While being forward facing is nicer for them, if I could I would do rearfacing and get a new mirror and a few toys for the baby who was forward facing for a bit (just to give her something to do/look at).

 

Studies say that extended rear facing is five times safer. FIVE TIMES!!! To me that is a lot safer and well worth keeping them rear facing for at least the second year of life. We have seats that RF up to 35 pounds, and I'm already looking into options for after that so that we can keep them rear facing. This is not "a friend of a friend of a friend said it's safer" type of thing. It's proven, it's safer, period. Yes kids have better head and neck control at a year than they did as newborns, but to be honest nobody (not even an adult) has enough head and neck control to safely and without doubt withstand a crash, especially a head on collision.

 

the only reason I waited until 15 mos to turn mine was because she wasn't 20 lbs yet...

you can spin studies, and statistics into whatever you want them to say - I don't think that FF is any less safe than RF in your average ordinary every day 25 mph crash - when you get into crashes at highway speeds, then there might be a slight difference - Jori and I have agreed to disagree on this subject (*muah*) but I will tell you I was an insurance agent and claims assistant for 10 years and the only child ever hurt in those 10 years was actually a pedestrian - the kid rode his bike right in front of the car that hit him!

 

I think it is definitely safer to keep them rear facing as long as possible. That being said, I have one rear facing, but my twin in the third row of the van is front facing. We might swap him out with my older DS so he can go rear facing again, but haven't done it yet. inertia I guess!

 

Kept my older son rear facing until 18months, that was five years ago. My Girls are rear facing now (14 months) and I plan to keep them that way until they are 2 years of age. I agree with the comment about the spinal maturity, I have a good friend who is a nurse and installs the car seats at the hospital and that is how she explained it to me about the spine and it being 5 times safer.
In my mind its just not an option to turn them around at the moment.

 

Can you show me how to do this? I have 2 headrest mirrors for them. I would love to have a mirror that they can see me lol. Many thanks !

 

We are leaving them rear facing until they no longer are willing to stay that way.

 

My boys are 27 months and still rear-facing. They will be rear-facing until they reach 45lbs (the upper limit for our car seats for rear facing or they outgrow the height requirements). One of my boys was above the 90th percentile in height at 2 years and has zero issues with being rear facing. He finds a place for his feet/legs. Some countries overseas require children to be rear facing until age 4.

This video shows crash testing with forward facing and rear facing car seats. The info is now outdated (1 year/20 lbs) but you get the picture.

It is simple to keep them rear facing. They don’t know any different. Sure sometimes they protest getting into their seats and we’ve had phases were they scream. But they’ve survived both. Both of mine can see out the windows now.

This blog is also a bit to the point considering it is by a family who lost their child in a car accident.

 

If you can see them in the mirror then they can see you. It might take them a bit to figure it out, though!

I'm with everybody who said that it's not an option for them to turn the seats yet. I have heard the 5x safer number and explanation of spinal maturity, so that's why we are still rear facing and will continue to be. My girls haven't objected, though, so it's been a very easy decision. When they start fighting it, I'll let you know...

 

I have one large rectangular mirror on the hearest of the center seat. I got the mirror at BRU and it was the largest one they had. I played with the angle until it was just right.

 

From an article:

Car seat safety advocates recommend that babies stay in a rear-facing car seat to the weight limit of the seat or at least until age 2. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently revised their car seat policy to recommend rear-facing to age 2, as well. Several car seats today have rear-facing weight limits up to 40 pounds, which might accommodate the average child through age 3 and maybe beyond. You should also check the manufacturer's rear-facing height limit to be sure baby is not too tall to safely stay rear-facing to the weight limit. My advice is to simply leave your baby rear-facing at this point. The safety advantages far outweigh any convenience.

But check your carseat for its limits with height as well as weight for rear facing

OK I just had to go look at my seat because it was bugging me. I have a 2009 Britax Marathon and it says right on it RF if height is less than 32 inches.

 

I turned all my kids right around 1 yr and 20 lbs. With my older 2, that was the "norm", there was no recommendation to leave them rear facing longer back then. With the twins, it was winter, and my older kids were having to crawl underneath the twins carseats in our Yukon XL to get to their seats in the back. As soon as the twins turned 20 lbs I bought them Graco Nautilus carseats so i could flip them and have them in a smaller seat than their britax marathon's were. I don't regret my decision at all

 

Mine just turned one at the end of March and are still rear facing in their infant seats. Ours go up to 35 lbs and 81 cm and I'm sure they will hit the height restriction long before the weight. Once we switch to the toddler seat I'd like them rear facing until 2

 

My initial plan was to keep them rear facing until 2 but at 18 months DD hit nearly 35 inches (the problem with having a husband who is 6'5") and I just couldn't get her in the seat. DH drives an Element and because the doors open funny she would push off the door or I would hit her head on the ceiling or doorframe trying to get her in. If DS doesn't get what DD has it is world war 3, so we flipped them both. It still makes me a little nervous.

What makes me even more nervous is that in the fall we will add a third and so I assume I will have to move them to the back of the van and have the infant seat in the middle. My van only has tether hooks on the middle seat so I worry about their seats tipping forward without those tethers. I don't know any other option though.

 

This is my opinion. We just turned 2 in March and my one is only 20.7 lbs, so this has not been a hard decision for us. Still, I am in the camp to rear-face as long as we possibly can with height - we will never reach the weight until they are past these car seats...lol! For me personally, the research is crystal clear. You just cannot manipulate their findings. The hope of course is that no one has to get into an accident and find out. When they do face forward they will be in a 5-pt harness forever.

 

I planned to rear face til 2 but we ended up making it til 21 months it think.

 

we're rearfacing still and are a week away from their third birthday. they kids don't mind. my dh flipped them in his car last weekend (ugh!!) without consulting me. Yes, it was definitely more interactive with them, but they didn't mind the flip to rear again this week in my car, so I'm really glad. I'm sure I could flip them any time now, but was kind of hoping to make it to 4 yrs... I read the articles about their spine not being solidified or some other medical term... they say 5 times safer... the only time you will ever test that is IF you are in a horrible accident, and there's no going back on how you strapped them in that day.

other things to think about. I LOVE the Sunshine Kids Radian carseats... one main reason - which I didn't realize ahead of time, is that they sit LOWER ... meaning if you are in a regular passenger car, you can still see over the top of the carseats rearfacing in the backseat... the other set we have is a Recaro - which is like the Britax I think... it's tall and sits on a "base" of sorts, which puts it up in my line of vision... this means that it really does impair looking back over your shoulder to see traffic, and such. Because I moved the Recaros to my dh's car, and got the Radians in my car, I love that I can see what I need to see in traffic. With that in mind I will probably at least keep my seats RFing for a while longer. I can see why the taller seats in my dh's car will be aggrevating to him...

anyway, there are so many things about each different carseat, but that's something I hadn't thought about before we bought our sets, and something to contemplate if you are going to RF for a long time...

 

I've been in a car accident with my babies. Trust me, you want them rear facing which is clearly safest for their little necks.

 

You can get floor tethers put in the back of your van. We had to do that in our old van.

We planned to rf as long as possible but the boys hit the 30lb mark at 15mo (which is our seats rf limit!) Of course their weight gain slowed down considerably after that,

 

My boys are still rear-facing; they will be 3 in August and I have no intention of turning them around any time soon. :good: They don't know any different, and are perfectly content rear-facing. I've looked at all the data, and I am convinced it's a much safer option for my boys. I would not be surprised if the laws in at least some states will be changed soon to enforce rear-facing until 2, per the AAP recommendations.