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Upstate NY Babies
what's the hurry to forward face?
I don't get it. We are leaving Ethan rear facing for as long as possible. His seat is approved rear facing untl 35lb. We have a while to go for him to reach that. Our pedi is all about staying rear facing as long as it is the weight requirement. He might have to go forward in DH's car once Sophia is here b/c he isn't sure both carseats will fit. My sister is ready to switch my neice who just turned 1 and is 20lbs so that she enjoys the car more. To me safety is more important than letting my child see out the window. So when did/are you forward facing your child?
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Re: what's the hurry to forward face?
People think it's easier to give their kids snacks and entertain them from the front if they are forward facing too. We're waiting until 35lbs...unfortunately we're getting close.
When we were at the pedi for DD's 12 month appointment, the Dr. mentioned that we could turn her seat around, and got all excited like it was an accomplishment or something. I told him that we were going to keep her rear facing for a while longer, and he just said, "ok".
We are going to try to go as close to the 35lb limit as possible, or until it seems like she's uncomfortable.
She does FF in my mom's car because I didn't like the way the car seat that she has installed for the RF option. But she is rarely in her car.
I agree, which is why it really annoyed me when our pedi sort of "suggested" we turn Eve FF.. And it annoys me even more when i hear people turning their kids around like the day of their 1st birthday (or before in some cases..makes me nuts)
I plan to leave Eve RF at LEAST til she's 2.. and probably until we have baby #2.. I really don't think 2 RF seats will fit in my car. I guess Eve could stay in the middle and #2 could go behind the pass seat.. but that seems like it would be hard getting them in and out. i don't know if we will make it to 35 lbs.. because she's only 22 now.. She might not weigh 35 lbs when she goes to kindergarten.
My other pet peeve is when people move their kids to boosters too early. This bothers me more than the FF thing actually. My managers little boy just turned 3 the other day and they moved him to a backless booster..
m/c 1/2/08 and 3/12/08
Eve Amelia- Born 2/24/09. 6lb 9.9oz
Natalie Ruth - Born 6/13/11 7lb 6.6oz
Everyone tells me how the kids will be so much happier.
Well, seriously, highly increased chances of spinal damage etc. are a little more of a concern to me than if my kid can see out the window or if I can hand them cheerios faster. I kept DD rear facing until after 2 years, and she was big (22 lbs at 6m!)
Nest Bio ~ ~ Baby Food Blog
I'm one of the moms everyone's flaming, haha! No hard feelings.
Justin's ped said we could turn him at 1 year so I did. She assured me it was safe. She went to medical school, google didn't- so we turned it. Never really thought twice about it.
I'm also one of the moms your flaming too. I can't wait to turn Abby around. I'm sure our doctor will tell us at a year that we can flip her and we will. Like Melanie said she went to medical school, why should I question her.
Plus with all the driving we do to visit families it would be so much easier to check on her when she is forward facing. Now I have to unbuckle and kneel on my seat to see her.
I didn't mean to flame anyone. It was more of an annoyance at my sister. We are just very different parents sometimes. She does things out of convienience.
It really suprises me that peds can have such varying opinions.
Google has nothing to do with it. Physics of a car accident has everything to do it. Sheesh.
Sheesh? I know nothing of physics, I don't think that the average mom does. That's why I go by what Justin's Dr says. If I chose not to listen his Dr, I would do lots of research to back up my decision to ignore the advice of a trained professional. MY option would be to google, to find articles/info from reputable sites.
If you do a quick search, the reason to RF is because kid's heads are disproportionately large to their body size for quite some time. The majority of accidents cause less damage if they are RFing. Basically their head size yanks on their spinal cord very hard.
My pedi actually discussed and agreed about the RFing, but he also agrees about alternate vacs and stuff like that. It is really personal preference or priorities. Not trying to 'Fuel any flames" here, just elaborating on my comment about spinal injury and what people are saying about their pedis.
Nest Bio ~ ~ Baby Food Blog
We turned Charlie at 2, he was getting close to the weight limit & we went on a long car ride & it was easier to entertain him forward facing.
AAP recommends waiting until 2 years now. We will be keeping Paul RFing til he's 2 as well (maybe longer, but I may need to find a seat with a higher weight limit RFing the way he is growing!)
Charlie 11.01.07 ~ Paul 05.07.10 ~ Annaliese 02.24.12
Here's the info that the AAP site links to:
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/on-the-go/pages/Car-Safety-Seats-Information-for-Families-2010.aspx
This site has videos at the bottom that show the impact on a child in a rear facing seat vs. a front facing:
https://www.cpsafety.com/articles/StayRearFacing.aspx
I was surprised when Eva's pediatrician told us we could turn her around at her one year appointment but I attribute it to people in any field- they get used to things being a certain way and are slow to change when new info becomes available.
Michael went FF after his 1st b-day. his Peditrician advised me that the recommendation was RF till 2 but i could make the switch if i chose to do so. i also have a good friend, a mother and nurse at childrens, who has atteneded classes on child seat installation and saftey and after i told her Michael's 1 years stats she said i could flip him. she also checked our seats that they were installed properly.
the way i see it, there are a lot of recommendations out there, more reommendations now then when i was a kid, can anyone actually say they follow every single one?
just do what you feel is best for you and your family.
Those videos are FANTASTIC for opening people's eyes! I've sent some to a bunch of people who have delayed turning their kids around because of them. You don't need to know anything about anything to understand just how much safer it is. I firmly believe that sometimes you should go above and beyond blindly following a pediatrician's advice. Hopefully they'll all get on the same page soon.
I will keep Ryan RF as long as possible.....I read this once....
Broken leg....cast it
Broken neck....casket
Kind of makes sense, however I wouldn't judge anyone who chooses to FF at 1.
It looks like I'm the minority here
We turned Joseph (and Bella) forward at a year, but that was because he would cry on almost any car trip somewhere. He is so much happier now that he can face forward and see Bella. We have the Britax carseats for both kids and when properly installed those things don't budge an inch. I think if you feel better keeping them rear facing, then do it. It's just a personal preference.
Chiming in late since when I opened this yesterday, it only had two replies. My pedi actually told me at the 9 month appt that recommendations have changed and we need to keep her rear facing until at least 18 months, and she said she would remind me again at our 1 year appt. And I am pretty sure she didn't get her medical degree from google.
Well, that was the nurse, not the doc, right? I have found that the nurses, at least at my pedi office, are not as educated on these kinds of things as they should be. Drives me NUTS!