Our laws here (I'm in Canada) require children to be rear facing (in either the infant bucket type seat or one of the larger convertible seats) until they are 1 year old AND weigh 20lbs. My son was 24 lbs at 11 months when I went to a car seat clinic at the RCMP office and they were very adamant about him staying rear facing for another month as they physically aren't strong enough to withstand impact fwd facing until then.