New law - Baby to be rear facing in car capsule until 12 months? Is this True??

[LaDolceVita]

As the Title suggests...

Last night I bought my gorgeous Safe'n'Sound Meridian AHR Car Seat, which is top of the range, convertible for ages etc and looks and feels soooo comfy I want one myself!

This morning my "BFF" tells me I may have to buy another Car Seat if the Meridian can't carry bub rearwards in the capsule setting until he turns 1 as apparently they are changing the law in January 2010 that bub must face the rear in a capsule until 12 months of age... Is this right?? What is the current law? 6 months or a weight range isn't it?

Sounds a bit iffy to me, thought we would have heard about that by now if the law was changing that soon, my bub will only be pretty much newborn by then! Wouldn't they need to bring out a whole range of new car seats/capsules which would make all the others currently on the market obsolete if they can't carry a 12 months weight rearwards? Are Car Seats weight limited rearwards? Should have researched that question first before I started panicking about this one I suppose! I called Babies Galore (where I bought my car seat) this afternoon and they said they hadn't heard of this law yet so just wondering if anyone knows where I could go to find this out??

Please mind my embarrassing lack of knowledge, am on my Baby/Parenting L Plates Not sure where to go for this info, many many thanks in advance for any reply!!

Alicia xx

[STARRYSKY]

no I havent heard of it, but I think its a great idea! Im leaving ds rearward as long as possible!

[Janie]

I don't know about the new laws, but we have a Meridian, and my DS was rearward facing until somewhere past 18 months. He was very average weight and size, I just felt he was safer facing the back. HTHs

[Nelle]

I've not heard that, but surely not - my first child was long and skinny, too tall for rear facing at 12 months...I had every intention of keeping him rear facing for as long as possible, but just wouldn't have worked, at least not safely.

[feeb]

DS is in a safe and sound meridian rear facing still at 12 and 1/2 months. He is 9.5kg

I do know it has a wg limit off 12kg rear facing for our model

[Erin_25]

I would say we would have heard something if it were true, as they are not cheap to buy & it would need to be much bigger for some kids to do so. Therefore many would need a new seat...doesn't seem right to me. Yes it's safe & you do it as long as possible...but that's all you can do. Interesting to see if it ends up being true or not.
I would think the shops would say something.

[ladybird11]

I haven't heard anything about this - other than a lot of reports floating around saying why keeping the baby rearward facing until 12 mths is best...

I'm still waiting for the laws about seatbelts and children etc that were supposed to come out mid this year (where all children should be in a car seat until the age of 7, unless they're too tall etc)...

[*Belle*]

We have an SNS Compaq and have just turned it around now as Tara will be 12 months next week. She still fits in it rear facing and is 8kgs. The reason why we are turning it around as she always tries to lean forward.

ETA forgot to mention the straps are set in 3 positions, newborn, 3-6 months and 9-12 months so they are made that way for rear facing for a year. The seatbelt fitting specialist showed me this when I got it changed over from rear to front facing.

[rufalina]

We have the Sns Compaq too, and I had to turn DS at 11m as he was too long for rear facing. I kept him there as long as possible though for safety reasons... I will be using the compaq for my new baby too...

[Indadhanu]

Well I haven't heard of it and I know of the benefits of leaving them rear facing for as long as possbile but Jazz is 13kg now, so they'd have to make all rear facing seats go past 12-13kg...

Our seat went to 11kg, so we turned her a little wihle ago...

[melsa31]

You can get lots of information from Kidsafe in your home state.

[Schmickers]

All of th new car seat laws have provisions for children who are unusually tall anyway - all of the drafts I've seen allow you to alter the seating arrangement based on weight or height, instead of age.

[Mumma2three]

We are forward facing as of 5 months. DS was so unhappy and trying to sit up the whole time. He's also almost 9kilos. haven't heard of that law, but I do believe they are changing teh laws around car seats ,so it could be coming in soon xo

[Pandora]

The laws take effect in November.
Kidsafe or RACQ/RACV/NRMA, Vicroads etc will have info.
I must say I had not read the part about changing their position by height or weight - DS2 is about 8kilos at 3 months, there is no way he will fit rear facing til 12 months.

[mjsmummy]

as some of the other mums said, you shouldn't be pressured into putting bubs into the forwards facing postion too early, the recommended weight is over 9kgs or approx 70 cm in length, but if your car seat allows it it's a still perfectly safe to leave them in the rear facing position till they are even 10-12 kgs..it's really your as the parents choice.

the following is a snip it from the vic roads website of the new laws that are due to change in victoria on the 9th November

The new rules for using child restraints and booster seats
Starting 9 November 2009, children under seven years of age must wear a child restraint or booster seat when travelling in a car for improved safety.

The type of restraint will depend on the age of the child as follows:

Children aged under six months must wear an approved, properly fastened and adjusted, rear facing child restraint
Children aged between six months and under four years must wear an approved, properly fastened and adjusted, rear facing child restraint OR a forward facing child restraint with an in-built harness
Children aged between four years and under seven must wear an approved, properly fastened and adjusted, forward facing child restraint with an in-built harness OR an approved booster seat which is properly positioned and fastened.

There are also new laws for where children can sit in vehicles.
If a car has two or more rows of seats, then children under four years must not travel in the front seat
If all seats, other than the front seats, are being used by children under seven years, children aged between four and six years (inclusive) may travel in the front seat, provided they use an approved restraint or booster seat.

I'm a fully qualified child restraint fitter for my job, so if you have any question feel free to ask..

xx