Car Seat Rules

maddycat

So we just moved Graysen into the big girl carseat and she is so uncomfortable because her legs hit the back of the seat.  She is 22 pounds and 30 inches long.  When can they turn and face forward so she is not so squished?  We have a ford escape and right now she is in the middle seat.  Do they have to be in the middle or can I move her to the side?  I am very confused.

Thank you,

Melissa

angluvsammon

You can have the seat in the middle or on the side. The law requires infants to be rear facing until the are 20 pounds AND 1 year old. So by law she should be kept rear facing for a few more months. Although, many people choose to keep RF as long as the weight limit allows as many studies have shown that it is the safest way to travel. That being said, we turned DS around 13 months. He HATED RF, and would kick and scream as soon as the car door opened and then would continue to scream the entire car ride. I had been planning on keeping him rear facing until 35 pounds, which is the limit for our seat.

MrsAmyB

I could have wrote angluvsammons post word for word. 

Sorry your DD is so uncomfortable!

Mama_v2.0

https://www.cpsafety.com/articles/StayRearFacing.aspx

And you can see (in the linked page) that 3 year olds do it all the time...so for sure your DD has plenty of leg room. 

tfarabians

We have always had Cruz behind the paddenger seat not in the middle.  I have back and neck issues and there is no way I could crawl into the middle of the car especially the way people park next to you sometimes!  I also turned Cruz at 11 months, Yes I KNOW that its 20lbs AND 1 year but as a parent I made a decision that made me as a mom drive much better without a ticked off baby screaming in the backseat.  Cruz LOVES facing forward and being able to see where we are going and interacting with us!

keri1013

There isn't a rule that they have to be in the middle of the back seat, it's just the safest place in a crash, so if it's possible to have them there, it's ideal. Ditto what others said about rear facing as long as possible. Good luck!

scarletii

No, you CAN NOT turn her until she's at least a year old and 20lbs.  Also this is the MINIMUM requirement.  You should keep her rear facing until she hits the rear facing seat limit.  DD stayed rear facing until she turned 2 because she was at that time at the rear facing weight limit.  It is 5 times safer for them to be rear facing for them in the event of an accident.  Personally, I'd rather my child cry and be safe in an accident then be seriously hurt.  Please read the info on this website:

https://www.thecarseatlady.com/car_seats/rear-facing_seats_2.html

scarletii

Oh and I have a ford escape, too!  DD has always been on the passenger side.  However, the middle seat is safest in a collision.

pixelvixen

We turned DD on her birthday as kind of a right of passage   She was 20.2lbs and 30+ inches tall. 

Yes it's safer to keep them rear-facing, and in the middle of the back seat, sleeping only on their backs, with no blankets, eating only breast milk but we did what was best for us.  I grew up sitting in the back of a station wagon probably without a seat belt and my mom said I slept on a fur blanket in my crib. lol  Oh I was a formula-fed baby too.  I'm somewhat normal. 

The law does state that an infant should be 1yr and 20lbs before facing forward and we decided to stick with that.

Mrs.Kiltlifter

The law DOES NOT state that you have to seat your child rear facing until 1 year old or 30 lbs.  Here is the link to the law :

https://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=46.61.687 

The law only states that under 13 must be in the rear seat, children under 8 years old or 4 feet 9 inches must be in boosters, and children under 16 must be in a vehicle with a proper restraint system (seat belt).    The law also states that "the child restraint system in use is appropriate for the child's individual height, weight, and age."  There is nothing on 1 year old, 2 year old, or moving a child from rear facing to front facing.

You can do whatever you want with YOUR child.  Do not let anyone tell you what is right for you and your child.  All those nifty links above that are purporting to be the law is propoganda.  I don't disagree that it is safer for a child to be rear facing.  But if you have a child that is extra tall or hates being rear facing then do what is best for you.

Seattle_JiLLn

I still don't understand what happened with this law.  When Ben was born, the law most certainly was there for the 20 pounds AND 1 year old.   I've found many references to it, and quotes from the RCW.  At some point, I even found the references to the edits made to the RCW and it was removed.   I'm too tired to go try to find it again.  But it makes absolutely no sense at all that it would be changed and removed from the law.

FWIW, Ben is 29 pounds and 35 inches tall and he is still rear facing and is not uncomfortable at all.   Make sure you have your seat installed correctly.  With the convertible seats, there are usually two different recline positions and you need to be in the more reclined position for rear facing, and more upright for forward facing. 

Regardless, even if the law doesn't say you have to keep her rear facing, at 7 months, I do not believe she has the neck control/development that would make her safe at all in a crash forward facing.   You can look at videos on YouTube that show the mechanics of how the child is supported in a crash rear facing vs. forward facing.  I'd rather have a broken leg than a broken neck.

Edited to add:

I asked about middle vs. side when we had our car seat inspected, and the inspector said that it woudl seem like the middle is the safest, but the crash test data showed that any seat is equally safe... cars have a lot of side impact protection now I guess.  I don't know - it does seem like center would be more insulated, but that's what he said...  We have Ben behind the passenger seat.  It's just too impossible to get them in and out of the middle location in a convertible seat.

Seattle_JiLLn

OK.. it was bugging me too much.  Here's the RCW that was effective when Ben was born.  It was changed in June 2007.  Still, I have no idea why.

https://law.justia.com/washington/codes/title46/46.61.687.html

It included this paragraph:

(b) If the child is less than one year of age or weighs less than twenty pounds, the child shall be properly restrained in a rear-facing infant seat

What's crazy is that I know someone who was pulled over and she was given a warning for having her son who was less than a year old in a rear facing convertible seat.  This was after June 2007, but even still, the officer said it was because it wasn't an "infant seat".   That officer thought it had to be a pop out bucket type car seat.  Which never was "required".   Anyway, I guess now with fewer rules there's less to enforce.