Front or Rear facing car set

otbrbrde · June 2011

I am curious...is your child's car seat front facing or rear facing and how old is your child.

I know the AAP suggests keeping children in rear facing seats until age two.

LilaFowler* · June 2011

My daughter just turned one and is 22 pounds and we have no plans on forward facing her until she reaches the rear facing weight limit (35 lbs) on her car seat. The longer you can keep them rear facing, the better.

B&C03 · June 2011

My DS is a very tall/big kid. To keep him rear facing we would have had to get a seat that does both (rear and forward facing) . In the beginning we would have had to tip the seat all the way back so his legs would not squish and this position would not have lasted long so we decided to just go front facing at about 14 months. I know what AAP suggests, but he is big and it is not a law in NY. My son is 18 months now and is 35" in length and 29 pounds.

aubreysmom1 · June 2011

My DD is 15 months (22 or 23 lbs) and she is forward facing. Although, I could turn her back around in her seat if I needed to.

ladyjaz76 · June 2011

My son is 13 months and we still have him rear-facing, but his feet kick the back of the seat. Is that a problem? If not, we'll just keep him rear facing at least a few more months.

BellieRue · June 2011

A is 22 months and forward facing, and he has been since 14 months, we're all a lot happier because of it.

lindylogana · June 2011

DD is almost 17 months and she is forward facing and much happier because of it.

MsAlyss · June 2011

He's 20 months, 32 pounds, 35 inches & rear-facing. He'll stay that way until he reaches either the height or weight limits of his seats.

Chelle112 · June 2011

Almost 15 months, 23ish pounds, and rear facing.

lilibet · June 2011

DS is 20 months. He is still rear-facing (in the center seat) and will until he reaches the height limit of the seat for RF.

KimW · June 2011

At almost 1, DS is of course still RF. No plans to switch him anytime soon though. I'd like to keep him RF until the end of next winter because of the bad roads, but I'm not sure we'll last. He is pretty horrible in the car, always has been, and I might cave earlier. We'll see.

LoriJ11 · June 2011

16 months, FF and she is a much happier baby in the car now.

MsAlyss · June 2011

cmeon_the_water:
My +average one-month-from-4yo can still fit RFing in her sister's MyRide for a few more lbs and inches. So I'm just going to have to roll my eyes at the "But, I have a big kid!" defense.

Yes

yourfaceyourface · June 2011

dd is 13 months, 24 lbs and forward facing.

RedCardinal · June 2011

My LO is still RF he is 13 months and 26 pounds. He doesn't mind being RF because that's all he has known. We have about 4 small toys that stay in the car and he plays with them too. He can see his brother who is FF just fine, and they babble back and forth and make faces at each other. Our car rides are never quiet.

ali0608 · June 2011

DS is 22 (almost 23) months. He's small for his age at about 25 pounds, but will be rear facing for awhile. He doesn't know any different and has no problem rear facing on long trips. We just went 3+ hours over the weekend and he didn't cry at all. That's good for any kid, I think!

The crash test you tube videos sold me on keeping him rear facing as long as possible. I've been in a bad car accident and was saved by good safety features in my car. I will keep DS as safe as possible in the car.

ToBeMrsT · June 2011

14 months and rear facing. No plans to turn her.

12bailey18 · June 2011

Forward facing. We turned him at 12 months and 20 pounds.

tak2002 · June 2011

Henry is 20 months, 26lbs, and 33in. He is rear facing and will remain so until it is no longer humanly possible.

lemonJAM · June 2011

We turned DD forward facing at 21 months. She had been screaming and crying during our entire 30-40 minute commute for weeks. I was on edge the whole ride. We turned her around and haven't had any days like that since.

MNgirl326 · June 2011

LO is a year and over 20 pounds and still rear facing. I plan to keep it that way as long as humanly possible.

However, we do have to have him forward facing when he rides in my husbands truck. The carseat doesn't fit in the back of the cab when it is rear-facing and therefore has to ride in the front seat with the air bag off which I hate. So, on the very, very rare occasions that my husband has to drive him somewhere, we have started turing it around and to be honest LO hates it.

TinaL99 · June 2011

14.5 months, 22 lbs., rear facing and will be for as long as possible.

Alexandra*sMom · June 2011

13 mo, 18 lbs - RF. I do not plan to switch her for a long time. We have integrated seats in our van that start at 22 lbs (FF).

hikerbeth · June 2011

I kept DD rear facing to 20 months which is when she outgrew the height limit on her seat (old-school Roundabout and she's all legs). We also had a Marathon, but once she was turned in one car, she wouldn't stand to be turned in the other.

DS is 14 months and just about to outgrow the height limit on that same seat (he's all torso and is heavier than DD was as well). I will move our bigger seat from car to car to get him closer to 2, but with his size (he's about 30 lbs.), I'm guessing we'll probably make it to around 18 months.

shopgirl78 · June 2011

17 months- RF in my car and FF in MH

Mrs.MLR04 · June 2011

DS is 16 months and RF.

July25Bride · June 2011

DD is 16 months (today!) 21lbs, 31in and rear facing.

I don't really get it when people say their kids are much happier forward facing. Maybe my kid just doesn't mind, but did your kids cry all the time rear facing or what? Aliyah doesn't know any different and she is just fine in the car rear facing. She looks out the window or falls asleep. I'm not judging or questioning anyone, just really wondering about that reasoning.

Blackvelvet · June 2011

DS is RF in two of our trucks they are the daily drivers but he is FF in the other truck it only goes across out little town to feed/check the cows it's the "farm" truck and I couldn't justify another seat that could RF when he was 18 months old and got to big for the seat

shortstuff15 · June 2011

She is 20 lbs (or just over), 16 months, and forward facing. We moved her a 13 months and 20 lbs (yes she has gained minimal or nothing in 3 months) when we got the tether hook put into our car for forward facing. If it hadn't taken so long to get the hook in we would have moved her at 12 months.

penguingrrl · June 2011

My daughter is FF but I just turned her a week ago. I intended to keep her RF longer, but we drive a very small 2-door car and I felt that at that point the safety difference for her being RF vs FF was negated by DH being in the dashboard right near the windshield and airbag. Also, we park on both sides of the street (on-street city parking) and I felt it was important that the kids be able to always get out on the curb-side, which was impossible with the RF seat. The reason we changed right when we did is that we moved to a new neighborhood of the city and drivers here seem to be far less conscious of the possibility of children and I felt it was far more likely that my kids would get hit by a car when they had to get out street-side.

In an ideal world where I had a 4 door car and didn't have to park on city streets DD2 would have been RF until she reached the height or weight limits on her radian. But, I feel I looked at the overall safety concerns and while having her FF offers one new concern, having her RF offered several different concerns to her, her sister and whoever my passenger is (usually DH, sometimes various other people) and I felt that those concerns outweighed the concerns having her FF.

kcisthebombdotcom · June 2011

My DS is almost 18 months and RF. At 15 months, he was 25.5lbs, 34in tall so I'm guessing he's at least an inch or 2 taller and maybe a pound heavier by now. We will be RF past 2-as long as we possibly can. He's clearly way taller than average, so we may have to switch them earlier than I want, but definitely not before 2.

zeptattoo · June 2011

17 months and has been FF since late Feb. I wanted to keep him RF longer than I did, but I kept throwing my back out since I still had to lift him into the carseat when it was RF. And when I say throw it out, I mean I ended up in Physical Therapy for 8 weeks. So, we switched him and everything has been fine since.

blueyez09 · June 2011

LO is 18 Months (in 2 days), 25 lbs and 32 inches tall...he is currently RF and will remain as long as our seats allow.

We have a Honda Civic (his Britax Roundabout is in the center seat) and a SUV.

Leap08 · June 2011

My daughter is 18 months, 22lbs, 33 inches, and is RF. She'll remain RF until baby number 2 is born (she'll be 2), and she will only be turned then because we can't fit two car seats in RF.

TTC76 · June 2011

My DD is 21 months old and is rear facing, we will probably switch her at around her 2nd birthday.

superaunt · June 2011

RF- and she'll remain this way until she reaches height and/or weight restrictions.

RedCardinal · June 2011

jenniferb123006:
Addie is 13 months. At her 12-month appt she was 18 lbs 15 oz and 28.25 inches. She is not only still rear-facing (as by law I can't turn her), but she's still in her infant seat. Her seat goes to 32 lbs or 32" so we haven't made the switch to a convertible yet. We'll be buying one for my van (yes, we have 1 kid and a van' but we have 2 mid-size dogs that travel with us) and an extra just in case seat for DH's car at the end of the summer. She will stay rear-facing as long as possible. She's a peanut so I don't foresee a problem. She also hates the car seat and has since birth. I have an hour commute one way every day to work and daycare. She may hate it, but if she's safer, she'll deal. FWIW, while she still has her moments, she's slowly getting used to it.

My LO is 13 months and 26 pounds and sometimes when my friend picks me up ( I don't want to switch out his convertible) and drives I put him in his infant seat too. He has the Graco Safeseat that goes up to 30 pounds. He doesn't mind it at all lol...and he falls asleep better in it )))

MrsWindyCity · June 2011

He is RF and will be that way for a long time. He's currently 14.5 months old.

Tina272 · June 2011

FF as of last week because our car is small and with the rear facing seat my seat had to be all the way forward with my knees in the dashboard. I put up with it as long as I possibly could. DD is also tall and would kick the back seat screaming because she was uncomfortable. I reclined the back seat (the tiny bit it would move) and that made her happy for a few months but then the screaming started again. We are all much happier FF for the time being.

No idea how we are going to fit a second car seat in the near future.