struggles with car seat

well dd2 is 7 1/2 months and just under 8kg. she is in a rearward facing seat. my plan (after reading threads about car safety on bb) was to keep her reverse for as long as possible. however, she is struggling, stretching out her arms and legs, not bending to sit so her legs go stiff and she ends up standing in seat, pulling at my hair, clothes, arms, seat belt, crying and screaming when i try to get her into the car seat. at first i thought it was a phase and she would just stop but it has been going on for a couple weeks now. what am i supposed to do? if i turned the seat around i am sure it would solve this problem.

I can't remember what the reccomendations are. DD was doing the same thing at about the same age. I turned the car seat around and it fixed the problem. GL

Hmmm, that's a toughie. Have you tried handing her a snack to distract her while putting her in her seat? Food alway distracted my boys when they were babies :)

nah i dont give her finger foods yet.. well i could try a rusk

Do you have a mirror so she can still see you?? It helps immensely!!

I personally would leave her RF. what about make a game of it.. Like fly like an aeroplane or something. Or mabe give her a toy to distract her.. climb into the car holding her and then put her in the seat. all the while maybe singing or talking about where you are going ...

I turned both DD and DS around and had much happier babies.
You don't want to drive yourself crazy everytime you get in the car!

DS faces forward too. I spun him the moment I could. He carried on so much that even if I did get him in the car each trip would require me to pull over at least twice to calm him down. I had toys, the mirror, everything - even having someone in the back seat with him didn't help. As soon as he faced forward he was happy - laughing and chatting to himself etc etc. I'm not saying you should definately do it - I know the issues with facing forward in a collision but for me - he was so distracting that I was sure I was going to have the collision IFYKWIM. Good Luck with whichever way you go.

My DS didn't get turned around til he was 13 months approx.
If I were you I wouldn't turn him around.
I'd do absolutely everything possible before turning him as a last resort, it's just not safe at that age.
I'd rather have a whingey bub than risk not having a bub, sounds harsh probably but it really is quite dangerous to turn them too soon.

well she is fine once she is in there it is just getting her in there that is the problem. so the mirror thing wouldnt do any good. of course i already talk to her about where we are going etc... that doesnt help.. giving her a toy does seem to help a bit but then it is a pain getting her arms into the straps cause she is holding the toy.

how long til she goes back to normal in this regard? is it a phase and if i perserve she will go back to normal? or will it be like that till i turn her?

If she's fine once she's in there I don't think turning the seat around is going to fix your problem anyway. It may just be a phase, I'm not sure, but I would persevere with giving her a distraction such as a toy whilst you're putting her in.