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I am wondering when other people put their car seats forward facing. DD is 9 months old and has finally outgrown her capsule. But the car seat is huge compared to the capsule and there isn't much room at all now. DH says we should just put her forward facing now, but I don't know. Isn't it safer rearward facing?
So when did you turn your seat?
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It is safer, & if you have the choice, I'd have her rear facing for as long as possible. Other countries have seats that rear face til a child is 4.
I heard a while ago that the laws may be changing to RF til over 12 months. I haven't heard as much about it lately though, since I don't have smaller kids anymore.
I turned DD3 at 8.5 months. We were on a long trip & she was in a mood. Wished I hadn't when she was still grumpy!
We turned DD2 at 19 months. Would have happily kept her longer, but we have 3 kids across the back and there was nowhere for her 99+ percentile legs to go any longer without impinging on the comfort of the other kids.
There are plenty of YouTube clips on the dangers of early forward facing if you want to show him why.
I'd love to be able to see her looking at me, but I would like her rearward until at least 12 months. I guess DH is just going to have to accept it because I like to drive :)
We set up a mirror, so Liebs could look at the driver. Changed him too early at 10m as his head outgrew the baby seat neck area and it didn't look safe, and DH hated it. DH got him the biggest, most expensive seat. We all hated it and 5 years on love a cheap version that fits the car and the Liebling.
I turned DS around at 6 months on a long trip but he hated it. So we switched it back. We then turned it around at 7 months and he loves it now. It also helps his dvd player has Bubble Guppies playing for him :)
Both my boys turned at 17 - 18 months.
DS1 because DS2 was coming and needed seat for him and DS2 because he reached maximum weight for rear facing.
Much safer to rear face, watch the You tube crash test and what happens to there neck in a crash.
DD is still rear facing in my car at almost 14 months.
She is forward facing in DHs car as we had it installed that way when we got the second seat when she was 11 months but she usually goes in my car 90% of the time.
I am thinking I will turn her in the next few weeks :) she likes forward facing in DHs car.
DD1 rear faced to 22 months. Turned her because we needed the seat for DD2. DD2 is still rear facing at 16 months, have no need to turn her. When she's too big for the seat, probably around 2 years, we'll shift her into something else.
I really like having her rear facing. Harder for her to drop stuff where she can't reach it. We have a mirror so we can tell if she's asleep or not, but we don't really need it.
My DS has maxed out the weight limit at 6 months so we turned him then
Both are still rearfacing at 7 months and 2.5yo
7.5 months we turned him. It's still reclined though so not really upright like some seats are. Originally I wanted to not turn him until 12 months.
DD is almost 18 months and hasn't quite reached he height marker in the meridian. The latest model has the hight marker about 5 cm higher so they can be rear facing longer. I would love to have her forward facing but I figure I will have to share everything I'm eating including fruit and raw chocolate so I think I'll just make myself be patient a bit longer until she definitely reaches the height marker.
DS was rf until about 18m, DD who is bigger was until about 15m. I also agree that it's much safer
Get a mirror!
Don't turn until you absolutely have to. Check out youtube if you want to see why.
Don't care what anyone else says. Imagine what they'd say if you were in an accident and being rf saved her from serious injury.
DD1 we didn't turn until after 12 months , we still feel bad about turning her so early as we just didn't know any better then :/
DD2 is almost 9 months and is still rear facing she will stay that way for as long as possible . She is only 7 kg and doesn't even meet the requirements for weight and height to forward face anyway ..
We now have the knowledge to know it's so much safer to rear face for as long as possible so that's what we will be doing .
Wow, I just got half way through one of the YouTube videos. Guess who's being turned back around to rearward facing today!
Is the youtube awful? I don't wanna see awful stuff :(
We turned Moo around at 6 months, we didn't know any better and he really did hate being rearfacing. With Buster we turned his seat around after he turned 1.
I watched one about an 18m old. Well I started watching it. I saw the accidents with crash test dummies, stopped it and went to tell DP the seat goes back this morning.
I just watched a few clips using dummies. It's fair to say i will be leaving her RF for a long time!
I kept ds1 RF till 2 - we had an sns and then I bought a neon to keep him RF longer . I only turned him cuz I was due with Bub # 2 and was having a c/s and wanted him to climb up into seat himself.
Our twins are 19 months old and are still rear facing in their maxi cosi capsules! They only weight 10kgs and I want them rear facing as long as possible! They are long and skinny - so their shoulders have just reached the height marker and their legs are a little long probably to be rear facing still, but I just wanted them to be rear facing as long as possible!
I have their new car seats at home and when DH gets back from being OS on business next weekend - I think we will be turning them. It sounds as though some mummies have rear facing car seats that are not capsules? Is the is the case? I only ask because I would love to keep the girls rear facing longer but they really have now outgrown the capsules I think.... Does anyone have a rear facing car seat that is not a capsule?
The twinnies don't mind facing the rear because normally they have their 4.5 yr old brother between them (and their 12 year old brother behind them in the back row of the car) so the boys sing to them and play with them etc, hwoever when we travel and have hired a car interstate and overseas (in the last 6 months they have been forward facing as sometimes it's been impossible to hire two capsules from the hire car place) - and they have loved it! But to be honest, it is so much safer being rear facing that I haven't considered changing them until now when it's become absolutely necessary.
I agree with everyone else, I would keep you baby rear facing as long as possible. It's just so much safer, particularly if you are in an accident where the car gets hit from the side (those videos make me feel sick). I also think the position the car seat is in, within the car - is really important! But I guess it depends on what kind of car you have and how many other kids are in the car? If I only had one Bangkok the car, I would definitely have the car seat in the middle.
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Sorry!! "baby" in the car. Not Bankok?? :) stupid spell check.
I would love to keep using the capsule, but it's just getting a bit tight. She still fits, but sorta seems like she's being squished into it. Her shoulders don't reach the line yet, but the width is a bit small. Plus her feet are pushing up against the back seat. She is an average size baby too.
I had the long legs issue with ds (still withing the weight/ height limit) but they find a way to make themselves comfortable and honestly if it came down to it id prefer 2 broken legs to a broken neck.
Thirdtimelucky, checkout the aha meridian. I recon if we had the new model DD could be rear facing until about 2.
Yay for you.:
When you have seen the youtube clips of long legged children rear facing in European countries, you won't think your DD looks squashed at all. If she isn't at the height marker yet, keep using it!
Why yay for me? I don't get it:
I wasnt being smart. IME, one of the most common arguments for forward facing is "legs are too long."
I said yay for you. As in 'great decision'. You checked it out and decided what was safest even though he might have looked a bit uncomfortable you did your research and chose the best thing for him. Yay.
Please don't derail a really important/interesting thread by assuming someone is saying something that, in this case, they are not. You could have PMd me and asked me to clarify off the boards. Or reported me if you prefer.
Tasha - this was a great question and a really important one. I hope it continues to provide support and assistance to you.
Sorry. None of that was my intention at all. I agree, great thread.:
We turned first at 6 months because we didn't know any better but second I managed to keep her rear facing until 10 months (it doesn't have a height marker) she was too heavy and big for me to keep hauling out from rear facing and I has almost dropped her a few times so I turned her
If you want something reasonably priced the infasecure neon is a great seat for about $160 (cheaper if on sale) from big w. This is a convertible seat so can be RF and then turned to FF when need be. It also has the shortest RF height (? Meaning front row seats can be further back kinda thing) when installed. If u wanted to spend a bit more there are the fancier versions at baby stores with prettier fabric available - infasecure kompressor it is called and comes in a range of pretty colours: there about $300 I think:
Thirdtimelucky77, my car seat is up to 4 years old and goes forward or backward. It's just a Hipod Milan from target about $200 i think (but i got it on special ;) )
I thought all car seats had this option. Don't they???
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Yes alot of seats go forward or backward - but most seats only go backward up to a certain height limit (often this height marker correlates to around 6 or 12 months) - so they aren't designed for rearward facing use for older children at all.
Ohhh ok. Think I have heaps of room left :)