I had our seat professionally fitted and he told us to have it facing "rear for a year". It gives much more chance for the spine/neck to become stronger and better chance of coping with an impact. I would only turn if they were not fitting in the seat or over the weight limit (which is 12kg in most it seems). DS has only just been turned recently at 13 mths and he loves it (and was getting unhappy facing backwards) but I still would not have turned him any earlier. There are so many idiots on the roads that I wanted to leave it as long as possible.