Rear facing car seat questions

pamis626

So the AAP now recommends rear facing until 2yrs, is that correct?

What about leg room? Don't you think they will eventually get pretty crammed up?

Is there some tips/tricks you could share with me on how to get the seat in there nice and tight?

My mom,dad & myself tried to install a alpha omega elite last night and it was still moving around quit a bit, so I re-installed the car seat carrier until Thursday when I can go to the fire station and have them install the new one properly.   

huskymomma94

Yup. You should look on youtube for videos showing rear facing vs forward facing (here's one but there are plenty of others https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sssIsceKd6U). I plan on keeping DS rear facing as long as possible--they just learn to bend their legs.

The best advice I can give you is to have a certified inspector help you install the car seat. Our local fire department doesn't do this anymore, but the public safety office of our community college does and they are super helpful. I won't let DS ride in a carseat until it has been inspected (we did for my car, my husband's car, and my mom's car). Hope that helps!

maryxc1

When we had ours inspected he said to get in the car and put the force of your body against it while tightening the strap. I think he used his knee to push the carseat into the seat while he tightened.

pamis626

Thanks for the video, and your response.

I didn't expect it to be so difficult to install these seats so I will definitely have someone who is certified install/and show me how to install it properly.

pamis626

Thanks Mary, that's where I think we were going wrong. Not applying enough pressure, it was pretty difficult to do.

bellelamb

My 27 month old who is in 3T clothes is still rear facing. He will only be turning forward once lucas goes into a bigger seat so my oldest can get though to the back of my mini van.

Young kids sit with their legs folded up all the time, plus if the know nothing different its not a big deal to them just to you.

Plus the recommendation isn't until 2 it's until 2 or they out grow the rear facing limits of the seat.

Once you watch a video on why to keep them backwards longer you may never want to turn them around.

wedsept

My almost 3 year old was rear-facing until a month ago.  She is 3 is early April.  She freaked out when we moved her to forward-facing, which we only did because she passed the weight limit.  She loved rear-facing and never complained.

picklesx

We plan on keeping DS rear facing until 2 years or he passes the weight limit for rear facing, whichever comes first. We have friends out of state who started forward facing their oldest, who will be 2 on Saturday, either at 1 year or just before and asked if we still had DS rear facing when we visited them this past week. I didnt want to get all high and mighty and preach so I kept my mouth shut but they seemed pretty surprised that our son is not yet forward facing.

We have a pool noodle under the seat in my car to level it out and secure it more. However the seat seems to get loose everytime I take him out so I end up tightening it regularly...I keep missing the installations/checks that the local hospital does but I know I need to get over there and see what I can do to fix it.

pamis626

Wow thanks for all the responses! I just had my brother look at it this afternoon and he confirmed I needed a rolled up towel or pool noodle to get it in there correctly.

So I guess I'll bring that with me when I go to get it installed!

Jess & Drew

bellelamb:

My 27 month old who is in 3T clothes is still rear facing. He will only be turning forward once lucas goes into a bigger seat so my oldest can get though to the back of my mini van. Young kids sit with their legs folded up all the time, plus if the know nothing different its not a big deal to them just to you. Plus the recommendation isn't until 2 it's until 2 or they out grow the rear facing limits of the seat. Once you watch a video on why to keep them backwards longer you may never want to turn them around.

This (bolded). Our ped told us that even though the rec is now 2, we probably won't make it to 2 because DD is so large. So we are going by the carseat manufacturer limits since they will probably come first.

GromMom

 our car seat has a 33 lb  rear facing limit,  and my son is already pushing 27 lbs,  I'm not sure if we Will  make it past a  year for the rear facing limit!   i do Have another car seat so We May Have to switch to that one if it has a higher rear facing limit.

Stacigirl413

pamis626:

Wow thanks for all the responses! I just had my brother look at it this afternoon and he confirmed I needed a rolled up towel or pool noodle to get it in there correctly.

So I guess I'll bring that with me when I go to get it installed!

I have the same car seat and we had the same issue in the beginning! We used a towel and it worked perfectly!

Best of luck

bellelamb

GromMom:

nbsp;our car seat has a 33 lb nbsp;rear facing limit, nbsp;and my son is already pushing 27 lbs, nbsp;I'm not sure if we Will nbsp;make it past a nbsp;year for the rear facing limit! nbsp; i do Have another car seat so We May Have to switch to that one if it has a higher rear facing limit.

I would totally buy a larger rear facing seat if my boys out grew our before 2 I feel like its better safe than sorry in a car. Wow I can't imagine a 27 lb 9 month old my 27 month old isn't more than 30 lbs and he's out grown all his 2t clothing. You must get tired carrying that much around.