reverse/forward facing q

[Pandora]

DS2 is 7 and a half months, 9+kg and about 74cm tall
I know leaving them read facing for as long as possible is recommended, but I dont koow if its the safest option in our car, so I need some help.

I know there used to be a coupe of people who worked in shops and knew a lot about fitting restraints, on BB

Anyway, when he was in teh capsule it was fine, but he outgrew that at 4 months and I put him in the meridian ahr, reverse facing.

the problem is that in one of our cars its impossible to fit it in a way where its not touching the passenger seat, so we've been unable to use one of the cars basically for 3 months, if 2 adults need to travel as well as both boys.

Is it safer to have him forward facing, than to have his seat touching the back of the front passenger seat?

Length wise he has is only on the second (of three) shioulder strap heights so could conveiveabley be rearward facing for some time to come, but the seat doesnt fit in the car, and its the only seat that he will still fit in facing rearward.
He is also trying to sit up in teh seat at present and lifts himself as far out as he can in his attempts. I guess I feel like hes not that safe at the moment anyway IYKWIM?

I dont know what to do, we dont always have the second car available to use either.

DS1 was turned at 5 months (yes i know thats illegal now) becuase he was too long for the shoulder straps.

[Junglemum]

Ray, but our rear facing one touches the passenger seat..... i didn't know it shouldn't?!

[squidipa]

i think you need to ring a baby car seat fitter and ask this q.... I asked at the baby shop last week and they said that teh ambulance ppl fitting her child seat said it was fine touching as its actually more secure. I duno my self about this tho. They had told her that because a child falls forward then backwards in an accident it was safe as it created less movement but i dont know.

[Olive]

i dude that fitted ours said yoou just need to get one finger between the two what difference that would make in a crash! its very tight in both our cars

[Pandora]

The RACV guys who fitted it said that its not supposed to touch the seat in front at all which was why I was concerend. I might give them call to confirm.

[Visitor7]

I thought it was suppose to touch the front passenger seat for extra support? (I'm assuming he's positioned behind the passenger seat)

[sweetpea678]

in the instructions for my unity capsule where my 17 months old 75cm 9.5 kilo bub sits, it says the seat can touch as long as it does not adjust the angle of the seat.

Maybe ring the company that makes it and ask them.

[Ginger]

ours touches the seat too...now i'm worried!

[feeb]

I was told not to have seat back touching baby seat that there needed to be a gap to allow baby seat to absorb shock if you had an accident.

[Miss E]

Yeah I was told that you needed to be able to fit your hand in between the seat and front seat so that if there was an impact there was space for a little movement to absorb the impact. TBH it is a PIA because the passenger seat in our car has to be really forward to allow for it.

[Ozziehoffy]

I was told not to have seat back touching baby seat that there needed to be a gap to allow baby seat to absorb shock if you had an accident.

That's what the ambulance guy who fitted the capsule for us earlier this year said also. You should be able to fit your hand in between the seat and the car seat... eg, palm against car seat and back of hand against seat. It allows the seat to move slightly forward to help absorb shock like feeb said otherwise it's like hitting a brick wall.

[berrme]

Surely that makes it impossible for a baby to be rearward facing in most small cars? Ours has always touched the back of the passenger seat, which is why I turned both boys around once they could sit up by themselves and were heavy/ long enough.