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Hi girls
DS is 1 year (!!) and still rear facing in his SNS meridian car seat but I'm wondering when do I HAVE to Change him to forward facing? He is happy rear facing and I am no rush to change it by I dot want it to become unsafe for him to be traveling that way.
What should I be looking for?
Heya usually it doesn't go off age, it goes off either weight and or height. Have you got height markers on the carseat? And there's usually a rear face weight limit that differs from front facing!
Rear-facing is much safer so you've done the right thing keeping him that way this long, well done! :D When you need to turn him FF will depend on the year your seat was manufactured. If it is an older model Meridian, with no height markers, you need to go by weight, which will be 12kgs. If it a post 2010 model it should have height markers, so when he reaches the turn FF marker that's when he needs to be turned.
If you'd like to keep him RFing longer than your seat allows, the new model SnS Meridians and the Infa-Secure Neons and Kompressor models with height markers, have been tested to 15kgs rear-facing and have the highest rear-facing markers on the market at the moment.
Well done for keeping him rear-facing so long!! :D
ADDIT: If you have a model with height markers it is ok to take the insert out and continue to use RFing without it. That will give you even more time RFing :)
Willow it's a 2012 model - he is under the height limit that says must be fear facing until hits this line - so am I right to assume that once he is at that height marker I need to turn him forward facing in this seat? What is the higher marker? For when they have to be moved from that seat completely?
Yep that's right. Keep him rear-facing until he hits that first line, then he needs to turn forward-facing. The higher line is when he needs a new seat as he's outgrown that one. Lots of people get 2 years plus rear-facing in that seat. The first batches that were released with height markers actually came out with incorrect seat covers, on these covers the height markers were too low. If you want to check if yours is one, just look at the model number and date of manufacture on the seat and give SnS a call. They'll be able to tell you if you have the old cover or not. If you do they will send you the new one with higher markers for free :)
Also don't forget whichever cover you have, if you remove the infant insert, it will give you even longer rear-facing :)
It also does not matter if his feet are touching the back seat it's completely safe. There have never been any documented cases of leg injuries of rear-facing children in accidents. The opposite is true, there are many recorded cases of leg injuries in forward-facing children. They are rarely uncomfortable rear-facing either, they fold, cross or hang their legs over the sides of the seat, even stretch them out up on the back seat and a re very comfy. They are just a couple of things you'll hear people say who don't know the benefits of rear-facing.
Thanks willow - the insert is already out so we are still going well under the height marker. I will def look at the serial number and man date. I figure if he is happy RF then why change!
Thanks for your help - I was hoping u would come on as I know u have a lot of knowledge on this stuff!
No problem. I'm a bit of a rear-facing tragic :lol: But it is so much safer and all the myths and excuses really bug me. Like about leg injuries etc which just aren't true. (I added about that in my previous post :) )