I thought you could turn car seats at a year & 20 lbs?

Richardsmom_817

I am hearing so many people saying they can't turn their kid until age 2!

meghans30

New guidelines highly recommend waiting until age 2. 

AnnapolisLari

One year and 20 lbs is the rock bottom minimum to be legal. It's far from the safest option.

The AAP recommends age 2 or the weight or height limits of the seat. I turned DS at 21 months and DD at 2.

AZ_Erica

Legally you can turn them at 1 year and 20lbs...in most states.  About 6 months back the AAP came out with the new recommendation that you should keep toddlers rear facing until age 2 or the limits of the seat.

Angela814

AnnapolisLari:

One year and 20 lbs is the rock bottom minimum to be legal. It's far from the safest option.

The AAP recommends age 2 or the weight or height limits of the seat. I turned DS at 21 months and DD at 2.

Yep. But carseat manufacturers and experts have always recommended rfing to the limits of the seat. Rfing is just so much safer. DD1 was rfing to 2.5 years. DD2 will hopefully rf until closer to 3. She has at least 6" of torso growth left, but our seat has a rfing limit of 35 lbs. She's 27 lbs now. 

SuperCuteBenz

Its not really all that new.

My DD rear faced until she was two, forward faced until 2.5, and then asked to be rear facing again. She rear faced for another 6 months or so. She actually asked again the other day to rear face, but her new seat is forward facing only.

My DS is almost 18 months and still rear facing. 

ENI36

We'd all actually be safer riding around rear facing if we could.  It's best to leave them RF as long as you can.

penguingrrl

1 year and 20 lbs used to be the minimum. Since then a lot of research has been done and they've discovered that it's not really safe for a 1 year old to ride forward facing yet as their spines are not yet developed enough to withstand the forces of an accident forward facing. The newest recommendation is a minimum of 2 years, although longer is better. The spine finishes ossifying between ages 4 and 6, so the closer you can get to the spine being fully ossified the better.

My 2.5 year old is rear facing and will be for a while yet. She has ridden FF and it was a disaster of dropped toys and sippy cups that couldn't be retrieved and head slump waking her up when she fell asleep. She actually hates FF because of that, so we actually dread the day she has to turn lol!

Jermysgirl

DD is almost four and we have no plans to FF anytime soon. We bought our current carseats for extended RFing and thankfully, she grows in her legs and not her torso.

ghm

I always have to wonder what rock someone has been living under when they say they haven't heard of this...especially if they are on the nest

ak1234

ghm:

I always have to wonder what rock someone has been living under when they say they haven't heard of this...especially if they are on the nest

You would be surprised...my cousin has a pic of her 10 month old twins...forward facing.  I am relatively certain they are not 20 pounds either.