Printable View
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.
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
DD was just over 19 months when we turned her. I would have quite happily kept her rearward facing until 12kg as per the seats specifications but DP had been hassling to turn her for a while (since she was 6 months!!). There was no way I was going to turn her at 6months as she was very petite - still is but is now (finally) over the 9kg mark.
Also, we had just bought another car seat for my SILs car (we live with SIL) and we bought the next stage seat which is only forward facing and we thought we might confuse her by being rearward in my car and forward in SILs car so we turned the meridian in my car at the same time we had the maxi-rider installed into SILs car.
DS is 16 months and still rear facing, only just, I must weigh him I suspect he is probably at 12kg now. Although they do give a little leeway for over I can't remember exactly how much. I have heard of people buying European car seats to keep rearward facing longer. You would get a fine if pulled over tough :( Sux that making your child safer can get you in trouble :wall: I'm going to look into it still.
I am fighting with DH over this at the moment as he is complaining of 'adult' leg room in the front! Will show him the videos tomorrow, thanks Mel
Thanks everyone. I'm not too worried about what others think/say. I usually have my vent & get on with it, doing things my way. But when it comes to DH it gets harder. Will definetely show him the video's. He hasn't said anything yet, but next time he's up here he probably will...
another site with great info:
Rear Facing - the way forward
We just turned Pie last week at 21 months - she has just hit 12kg.
I found a couple of practical reasons for keep bub rear facing that aren't fear based (i'm not having a go, i just like having positive reasons for choosing one option rather than just negative reasons for not choosing the alternative).
I can settle bub easier when rear facing because i can reach back to rub her face and hold her hand. When she is forward facing i can only reach her foot and leg.
If bub is facing forward she can see everything and i can't sneak any chocolate cos she knows! Rear facing she has a mirror but she can't see my hands.
I thought themost important reason to stop rear facing was if the top of their head was less than 5cm from the top of the seat. Rating or no rating, if the back of the front seat can move back (in an accident) and contact with the top of their head, then you have a real problem.
So its kind of torso length+ the ability to push against the back of the seat with their legs and come within 5 cm of the top of the seat.
Thats my understanding anyhoo..
Thats interesting LTD. My kids are all pretty tall...
What did those with long babies do? DS is quite tall already and his legs almost hang over the edge of the capsule. If he keeps growing the way he is he will be kicking the back of the seat. Sorry to take over clover.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
You're right, I wanna know the same :)
My car seat instructions say the bottom 2 settings for the shoulder straps are for rear facing and the top slot (so the highest one) is for forward facing only. This would fit with what living the dream said
:
I thought the most important reason to stop rear facing was if the top of their head was less than 5cm from the top of the seat.
the newer seats it doesn't matter which slots you use for rearfacing, the standards have just changed. For example the meridian tilt and adjust you don't actually have to move the straps in slots cos the whole headrest has multipleadjustments and the straps move up and down with it automatically...there is a shoulder mark on the seat and as long as you keep the shoulders at that level you are fine.
re the back of the front seat impacting, that is why there is a clear zone needed between the car seat and the front seat....if yu look at the installation nstructions for a car seat it specifies you must leave a gap of x cms between the carseat and the frontseat. This allows for movement in a crash situation. But yes you wouldn't want the head above the seat rearfacing, which is highly unlikely to occur in a convertible seat as they designed to last up to four years old. If the seat is forward facing it is okay for the top of the head to be above the top of the seat...the indicator in that situation is if the top of the seat gets to eye level it is time to move up to a bigger seat.
10 months, as she had reached the height/weight limits, and was HATING RF.
Unfortunately FF hasnt mad ethe long trips any better :(
DS4 is still rear facing at 15.5mths and he will be for some time yet as he is not quite 6.5kg.
I turned DD3 at about 17mths she wasn't quite 9kg but we were bringing DS4 home and I could fit three seats across the back with two rear facing...so we turned her.
My car seat is only a year old.:
