baby carseat....when do you change them to the forward position?

hello everyone

When do you change your babies car seat to the forward position. My DD is 5months old and she is still in the rearward position in her carseat. I personally find this more safer and would prefer to keep her this way as long as I can. My mother inlaw thinks otherwise and is hinting to me and DH that she should be going into the forward positon very soon as dd is a very long baby for her age. Well thats my mother inlaws opinion, shes had lots of those since dd was born, and has been hinting about the carseat for over a month now. So when she started hinting my dd was only 4months, it sounds very early to be thinking about changing her to the forward position. This is coming from a lady that was trying to tell my DH that we should try solids on our dd at 5 weeks, so I dont really think that my mother inlaw knows what shes talking about and whats right for babies these days. :confused:

Usually it states on the individual seat
BUt generally at 8-9 months.

I found DD was about 9 months when i changed her around because we were driving long distances and she was more inclined to sleep reverse and now she is bored reversed.

IMO 5 months is too early to turn around

MILs are to be ignored ;) JK! (or am I? LOL)

I'm actually not sure of the official recommendation, but the guys who do our car seat installations recommend 12 months or 12 kilos. Our DS is 12 months and almost 10 kilos, and he's still rearward facing. I plan to leave him that way a bit longer yet, despite people telling me I should do otherwise. Fortunately it's just friends, family are very supportive of this move :)

Someone posted a great link to a youtube clip about this, I'll see if I can find it.

I'm not sure if it was just VIC but isn't it now law to have them rearward facing until at least 12 months?

And no, your MIL sounds like she hasn't got a clue!!! Solids at five weeks??!

I think it depends on the manufacutures specifications. Our says 9kgs so we have turned our seat around as DS is over this now. You can usually find this info on a big sticker on the side of the seat.

IMO 5 months is too early so just do what feels right for you.

HTH
Spring

i hired a baby capsule from the Qld ambulance, and their recommendation was that babies can move into a forward facing restraint when they are 8kgs.

The law in Aus is that they can't be turned around until 8kgs, and with most seats they can only stay rear-facing until 12 kgs. Rear facing is MUCH safer so I highly recommend you leave them that way until 12 kgs. This is your choice, but you really shouldn't turn before 8kgs, it is just not safe. In Sweden (I think, it's one of the scandanavian countries), they make bigger rear facing seats and by law all children travel that way until 4 yo.

We only turned DS2 around recently, he was nearly 18 months then.

The law (in NSW at least) is 6 months old, 8 kilos with no head lag. If they still ahve head lag and are in forward facing, and you are hit from behind, it can snap their necks as they don't have the strength to keep them steady.
I agree with Janie- MIL's are to be ignored!! ;)

Izzy is 1 on Monday and still rear-facing. She weighs nearly 9 kg, and I just feel safer with her facing rearwards.

The clip that Janie was talking about is HERE on a great thread about it all. Show it to your MIL!!

Good luck!

Thanks Tan! I knew you'd posted about it, I just couldn't find the damn thing!

I just looked at the carseat again and it says you can change to the forward position after 8kg.
DD was 7910g at her 4month check-up, so she would be around the 8kg now I suppose. But I wont tell the MIL that, or she will just think shes always right. I don't think I could do harm by leaving her rear facing for now until I feel shes ready.

Its hard to take advice from someone in the family like my MIL that suggested that I give my dd solids at such a young age. So when she started about the car seat, I just freaked-out

Holy smoke, I've just watched that video. I feel so guilty, I had no idea. I will be getting DH to change our seat back to forward facing when he gets home from work before DS and I go anywhere.

Why is it that the sticker says 9kgs and doesn't say as a minimum? You think you are doing the right thing following the instructions. Those videos seem to make the choice clear, why then is it so confusing?

Spring

ETA I've just gone out and looked at the seat and it says

To be used forward facing for 8 -18 kgs but in the little booklet that comes with it in fine print it says, can be used reward facing up to 12 kgs. I am so angry at myself for not looking into this. We got it professionally installed so I just trusted when the sticker on the side said 8 kgs. DS isn't going to be happy as he isn't fond of reward facing but safety always comes first.

Tanstar/Janie - OMG... thanks for that video,it brought tears to my eyes seeing what happens to a child in the forward position. I can't wait to show it to DH and maybe my MIL. I will be keeping dd in the rear position as long as I can and as long as its safe.

No probs hun - I had no idea either until I saw it, and it strengthened my resolve even though it would be much more convenient to have her facing the other way in the car.
Europe and the US have a law that says kids should be rear-facing until 12 mths - not sure why we are so far behind in something that is so important for our kidlets.

Oh. My. God. That video is so full on. We.re staying rearward for as long as possible. Thanks so much for that.

I know, I wish I could show it to everyone.

Spring, DO NOT feel guilty hun. You did, as always, what you thought was best, you weren't to know unless someone made it clear. What matters is that you know now, and that you want to do something about it. Good luck with DH, just show him the video ;)

Thanks Janie, I didn't even question it at the time but after watching those videos the proof is obvious.

DH will be fine with it, it's DS who won't be happy, he'd much rather be forward facing but I'm sure he will get used to reward facing soon.

Both my MIL and Mother wanted to turn my ds front facing. I just said no he's too small (mind you this was months ago). He may get bored and go to sleep rearfacing, but its safer. My mother has a baby seat in her car for my nephew whos 10mths older than my ds thats front facing and I hate putting him like that.

My car seat says rearfacing to 12kg (or so many mths) but ds is apparently ''light'' for his age, so he'll be that way for a while. Some of the mothers at mothers group comment that he's rear facing, coz their kids aren't. Doesn't bother me. If I have an accident, least I know his little neck is safer.

Show mil the tag on the carseat that has the ages/weights for front and rear facing. Say when DD is closer to that point you'll think about it then... get dh to back you up, they're more inclined to listen. Good luck!

We kept DD rear facing until 12 months old (after seeing the crashtest videos) as we felt it was better to have her safe than "able to see". She knew no different so we kept her rear facing as long as possible. The best investment was one of the rear vision mirror things from Coles for $12 that we could see her in without turning around.

Hi,

Although the recommendations for some seats are for 8 kgs, there is no way I would turn bub around if there is not good head control. we aren't going to have this worry, as we have a tiny tot of 6.4kgs at 6 months.

A friend of mine has a 3 and 1/2 month old that is bordering on 8kgs, and is going to turn her bub around as it is easier for her(this is her 3rd child, so suppose she is informed, and she shrugged off my concern), but I was holding her DD the other day, and she doesn't support herself at all.

But as a parent it is your decision. Tell your MIL that although you appreciate her advice (just to keep the peace as I do), you aren't comfortable turning around yet..

DH just turned the seat around and I'm heading out for one of those mirrors so I can see DS and he can see me. I feel so much better

Thanks for all the info in this thread.

Spring xx

Glad you're feeling better Spring........you're a great mummy :hug:

right back at ya Janie :)

Spring, you won't know how you lived without the mirror thing :D It comes in 2 parts - one for next to your rear vision mirror and the other to attach to the side window next to bubs. Once bubs is forward facing you just use the one next to the rear vision mirror.

I can check on DD all the time while I am driving without having to turn around - it makes things so much easier and safer!

I saw that video when it was posted here last time... sure is an eye opener and that is the EXACT reason we didn't turn Oskar yet. He's 13 months and still rear facing and will be until we HAVE to turn him. He doesn't seem to have a problem with vision, he actually sits his head onto the side of his seat a bit so he can see out the opposite window..(does that make sense?) lol. I have a little mirror as well so I can see when he goes to sleep ;) I reckon that they should pass some more stringent laws on car seats and how long they are used for and in what positions.

i saw that YouTube video sometime last year, so glad i did.

i had been hearing "turn the seat around when baby hits 8kg" - but something in my gut always - well, didn't sit right with that, so i felt much better about my gut instinct after seeing the YouTube video.

it annoys me that such important safety issues - which could mean the difference between your child being in a wheelchair the rest of their lives - or not - is given such scant regulation in Australia.

My bub is 18 months old now, a bit short for her age, weighs about 10kgs i think, and we still have her rearfacing. I need advice how to KEEP her rearfacing. We have a baby carseat called "Turn a tot" which is labelled to have a baby rearfacing until NINE kg, not 12, like some other brands do. I want to get help, to keep her rearfacing as long as possible, but as the official line here is the "8 kg" thang, i don't know where to go to get help about this.

I have no problem being thought of as "difficult" or "weird" for doing this, no MIL or mother around to say anything about it to me, i just want my bub to be safe, we're in traffic often and there are heaps of idiots on the road, something about becoming a mum has made me so much more aware of potential for road accidents.

Just not sure what to do now.

the only place i can think of is the Red Cross Child Safety Centres - what do the rest of you do as your child gets bigger (but you still want them in a rearfacing seat).

we are on one very low income, but if i could buy one seat that would keep her rearfacing until she was 4 years old (which is what they do in Sweden), i would make the $$$$ sacrifice to do that. The only seats i've heard of that do that, are ones that people bought in Sweden and brought back to Australia.

Hi Everyone

I'm new to this forum today and have been trying to locate the video that TANSTAR posted but am having no luck.......is someone able to help me??

Cheers

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we are on one very low income, but if i could buy one seat that would keep her rearfacing until she was 4 years old (which is what they do in Sweden), i would make the $$$$ sacrifice to do that. The only seats i've heard of that do that, are ones that people bought in Sweden and brought back to Australia.

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Over here, there are only seats going up to 12kg rearfacing. You have to be careful about importing a seat from Sweden because from what I understand they fit in differently to the cars - I think they have something called Isofix - which is only in newer, european cars over here, so without this, you couldn't fit one of there car seats safely into a car that didn't have the isofix.

Unfortunately, from what I understand, bevause the regulations are only to 6months or 8kgs, manufacturers realy won't make car seats that go much higher - because they'll say they don't have the market for them. And I suppose thats partly true as something like 80% of car seats are incorrectly fitted.