those who are waiting til 35lbs.

HisWifeHerMom

This post cracks me up! DD was forward facing about a month after turning 1. She is almost 4 and just now weighs 30lbs and my girl is tall, 90% percentile. But, wait if you must, good luck!

jade_sweatpea

I'm going by weight she can scream all she wants I will be the one screaming if we get into an accident and she is severely injured b/c I moved her too soon. My son is 9 and in a booster and will not be in the regular seat belt until he is 57 inches. Better safe than sorry.

Rear-facing carseats are NOT a safety risk just because a baby's legs are bent at the knees or because they can touch/kick the vehicle seat.

 https://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html

LilMissLadybug

brandonsfuturewife07:

my nephew is 3 and not yet 35 lbs.  he has been forward facing since he was 1ish. 

i have never heard of extended rear facing until the nest.  there are quite a few fanatics on here.

Exactly. This board is a bit over the top on most things. DD is 3-1/2 and is 30lbs. I put her FF around 13mos, she would scream nonstop in the car until I turned her FF.  I talked to a nurse about extended RF and she kept her kids rear facing until 15-18mos and told me after that it wasn't necessary.

FolanMama

punkfiction:

ok here is the answer from the carseat tech:

"Ok, being rearfacing will NOT break bones in legs. If by chance a bone is brok.en in a rearfacing accident, it means the accident is severe enough the neck would have been brok.en forward facing, a far more serious injury.

And yes...if your four year old still fits in a rearfacing convertible, absolutely use it rearfacing. It is that much safer.

My kids outgrew the rearfacing limit on their convertibles before three, otherwise they'd all be rearfacing, even the 4.5 year old.

Graco is premiering the MyRide in the summer, with a rearfacing weight limit of 40 lbs.

The short answer is, it is still significantly safer for a four year old to rearface, if he can. It only becomes unsafe when the weight limit is exceeded or the head exceeds the shell.

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

This is an older photo album, but it shows kids 3, 4, and older who are safely rearfacing in American seats. "

 

so yes. it can be done - as long as they are safely, height-wise, in their seat.

 

but i agree with bw - i have never seen so many extended rearfacers til here

GOOD LORD!  Did you see that kid Aaron in the RFing carseat at 4+ years old! That seems like a gargantuian PITA and really uncomforable for longer than 5 minutes.  I wonder if his mom still BFs him too!  Ahahahah.  I stand by my choice to turn her around at 13 mths b/c her legs were too long. 

boo-bitz

punkfiction:

how big are your children now? you realize that could be a 4 year old, correct? *not much snark intended. i am honestly curious if they are going to be 35lbs at 2 or a bit over - or if you are planning on RFing as long as it takes to get to 35lbs*

I am going to have to turn her to a forward face at 1 year and I am okay with that. She is 30 inches long and just under 10 months. She is has been over the Canadian weight requirement now for 2 months (20lbs).

The way I see it is that unfortunately if something bad is going to happen, it will happen regardless. I used to work as an auto claims adjuster and often times the only ones who survived some of these crashes were the babies, regardless of how they were facing in the car. Injuries have more to do with tensing up because you see and understand what is happening to you and of course not being belted in. An infant usually does not forsee what is happening and is usually relaxed at the time of impact and is less likely to get any kind of injury, as long as they are properly secure, forward or rear facing. ?

zoology2

One of my cousins is 7 and still in a booster seat. Car seat different I suppose. But it is SO weird to have a 7 year old in a booster (she's underweight but TALL!). There's gotta be a point, age perhaps, on when they can be a normal kid and sit in a car without a second child restraint. Just sayin'