What age did you turn the car seat?

[Taurean]

Our car seat is rear facing until 12kg or it can turned if the baby gets too big. We turned DD just before her first birthday. She looked a bit squished and she was grumpy rear facing by then. Not a great reason to turn her but we felt the change was necessary and positive. I can't remember what weight she was then but she's 11.5kg now at 19 months.

[*Beema*]

only once they reach the weight limit on the seat, DD1 was 19-20 months before she hit the limit on her seat, we just had a mirror for her to look at and toys, after watching the links a couple of years ago that Melbel has put links to we wanted to keep them rear facing for as long as possible. I think their safety is paramount, rather than a change of view, if they are "bored" or what "other" people expect or think you should do. The video evidence really says a lot.

[Gigi]

i turned bilby around when she hit 12kgs, i think she was over two then. she was (and she is) a shorty. i would have kept her rear facing up to four years old, if i had the right carseat to do that. I saw a video on youtube, that convinced me of the safety benefits, for keeping a child in a rearfacing seat, as long as is possible, so that's what i did.

in scandinavian countries, baby car seats are manufactured so that children can be in them from birth to four years old.

no matter WHAT we do with our bubs/children, other people will ALWAYS make comments. often unfounded, based on nothing or hearsay, and not with the same amount of concern, that we have for our children.

No matter how you feed, clothe, protect your kids, stickybeaks will make comments, that is guaranteed. but i know, when they're doing it, it does your head in, takes a while to grow that thicker skin, i remember it really getting me down, so i'm not being flippant, but you do have to develop that thicker skin (to cope with the comments).

Make your decisions FOR your child, FOR what suits your family - , not to shut down the comments, cos in my experience, the comments NEVER stop coming! regardless of what you do.

in years to come, what you do now, will become standard.
the first people that wore bike helmets were ridiculed etc etc.
people that recycled decades ago were called crackpots, etc etc.
now these things are standard