At what age did you turn the car seat around?

[kawazuki]

Don't forget to check the laws regarding car seats. They have all been changed in November for Victoria and NSW. I 'think' you must leave them rear facing until a minimum of 12 months of age. Just something else to consider.

aooarently its only minimum of 6 months..

Summary of changes
The new national child restraint laws state:

Children younger than six months must be secured in a rearward facing restraint.
Children aged six months to under four years must be secured in either a rear or forward facing restraint.
Children aged four years to under seven years must be secured in forward facing child restraint or booster seat.
Children younger than four years cannot travel in the front seat of a vehicle with two or more rows.
Children aged four years to under seven years cannot travel in the front seat of a vehicle with two or more rows, unless all other back seats are occupied by children younger than seven years in a child restraint or booster seat.

from the NSW rta website this morning..

[MantaRay]

Most people in Australia turn the seats around too early (ie once their baby reaches the minimum age/weight for front facing), so the recommendation to use the insert all the time while rear-facing might be based on that. If you have checked out that youtube clip you will know that rear-facing is much safer than front facing so keeping your baby that way for as long as possible is a good idea. My second DS is small for his age and was over 18 months when we finally had to turn him around!

[Heaven]

We've just turned DD around, so almost 18 months.

[Shanti]

We turned DD around at 15 months. We waited as long as possible to turn her around as we knew she was always going to be safer rear facing. She's very, very tall (off the charts!) and we knew she would be more comfortable forward facing