The RF/FF discussions today got me wondering....do you know people outside the Bump that ERF?
I'm a huge proponent forcarseat safety/ERFing, but I honestly know NO ONE outside TB that feels the same way. Every one of my friends turned their kids around at 12 months, if not sooner. Even my pedi (well, now EX pedi, thank god) told me at DS's 12 month appointment that I could turn him around. I didn't, obviously, but she seemed genuinely shocked that I intended to ERF. I know that the AAP now.recommends RFing until two, but it seems like this is only common knowledge in the Bump world.
Re: Do you know people IRL that ERF?
yes although not many.
Its one of the things I like about the bump. As much as it can piss me off at times, it is good at spreading awareness about certain issues like this.
I don't know one person that does it. We turned DD FF at 12 month, before I really heard much about ERF on here. I kept hearing more and more and eventually got sucked in (thankfully). We turned her back to RF and got a convertible carseat when she turned 2. She is still RF.
Everyone I know looks at me like I'm a flippin idiot when I mention ERF. Even my pedi told me I could do it if I wanted but they only really do it in other countries like Australia!
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a few .. my brother and i both do (he works for the state DOT and his wife works in a hospital) and chances are one of my co-workers will as well ..
We have some close friends with a 18mth old and he has been FFing for quite some time now. They know about the recommendations but I believe they said their pedi said FF was fine.
We are doing rear facing and of course our family members think we are crazy. Don't get me started...
Our pediatrician told us to try to extend to 2 years. Apparently she keeps up on her research.
DH argued with me about it a little because everything he had read said 1 year / 20lb but I told him what the pedi said and sent him articles and the youtube video showing the crash tests. He didn't say anything else about it yet, so hopefully that did the trick.
me either
One co-worker. And I have tons of friends who all had babies the same year as I did from work , or DH's work, or family. Everyone always was shocked that DD was RF'ing as long as she was. (we just turned her around a couple months ago and she'll be two in a month). part of that was b/c she didn't hit 20 lbs till 16 months too, so legally i couldn't turn her.
At our 12 month appt my pedi had told us to continue RF'ing DD as the recommendations are to try to until they are 2. She said, also that we legally couldn't anyway since at that point she was barely 18lbs. She told us to just do what was best and safest for us driving as long as we could once DD met the 20lb minimum.
Yes, my sister (who is a pedi) has her twins ERF, and a few of my good friends do ERF. I have some friends who flipped their kids at 12 months, but I would say it's about half and half.
more now then 1.5yrs ago.
When DD1 was 1-2, my friends thought I was so weird for keeping her RF. I explained, most just ignored my advice
Now it's actually about 50/50. I even have some friends who have commented like "wow, you were right w/ DD1"....
The pedi we go to suggests staying RF until 2, but still says it's ok to FF at 1. Some follow the advice, some just don't care even when they are presented w/ the info from the pedi!
Overall though, it's much more common now to see people RF past 1. Though I'd say most are FF by around 18 months IRL.
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this! their argument is their feet are cramped. I just reply that I will RF as long as possible even if her feet are cramped.
I know of 2 people who do but that is all. I just chalk it up to most people not being educated. I would hope that if more people knew about how much safer it was, they would do it. I think that our laws need to catch up to the fact that motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death for children under 12, therefore we need stricter car seat requirements & car seats manufactured to allow that such as in Sweden, kids stay rear-facing until 4 or 5 AT LEAST. But over here, kids are usually in a booster seat at 4 ! Makes absolutely no sense but I guess its better than nothing & the ridiculous contraptions they had in the 80's for car seats.
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Funny how you worded that.
FTR, I am the only person I know IRL who ERF. I learned about it here on tb, but my pedi is gung ho on ERF.
This.
All of my friends have changed the car seat FF once they hit the 1 year/20 pounds. Reason being, the AAP only recommends until 2. It's not the law like 1 year/20 pounds. I never heard of keeping them RR until 2 until I saw it here on the bump.
It's really hard to get mad at someone when they are only doing what the instructions on the car seat say.
I can tell you that they don't keep their children rear facing in Australia. When we took E there, people thought we were crazy for still having her rf at 14 months, even the guy who installed the carseat for MIL at the local hospital, you know the person who checks carseats to make sure they're ok for parents to take their kids home.
And they don't use the 5-point harness in Australia either.
And to answer the original question, no most of my friends and family flipped their babies at one year or 20 lbs, which ever came first (as the law is different in MD).
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Yes, I know people who do, but the people who don't, my sister in law in particular, are either completely ignorant or apathetic about the entire thing.
My sister in law refuses to believe that the law is 12 months AND 20 lbs, so turned her son around at 20 lbs. He was 8 months old at the time. After I showed her the info and more about ERFing and why it's safer, she laughed in my face and told me I was being overprotective. Oh well. I did what I could.
Everyone else I know who don't ERF have never heard of it and so they don't care about it.
True, I'm sure many people just dont know. However, I think that once you read the research, it's pretty foolish to be FF at a young age unless you have a truly compelling reason (which I havent really heard yet, but I'm sure its possible) to do so.