Rear facing car seat?

mwd · October 2011

Sorry if I am beating adead horse here, but the was posted on the 12 -24 board , and wanted to find out everyone's opinion here. How old was your LO when you turned the car seat around from to RF to FF? With DS it was 18 months, with DD we're going for 2 yrs. No flames to any one who did it differently, BTW!

gimmietimmies · October 2011

This is definately one of those now and then things in the post a few down. With L, rear face till one was still the norm. Unfortunately, car seats 14 years ago weren't what they are now, or even close to the Euro standards. The rear facing limits on all the rear facing seats was 22 lbs. And L was that weight at four months - we tried to import a "proper" seat and were shut down.

As the rear facing limits got higher, we rear faced longer. All the girls were well beyond one when they turned around (try, at least 18m, but again, they hit the limits rf). We have a Radian XT for S. I have no intention of turning her around before her 2nd birthday. To be honest, it is more convenient for us. E & K are in the captain's chairs in our van (Frontiers) and S is outboard in the 3rd row bench. Because of the tether locations and the size of the seats, they have to be this way. So instead of me wedging my backside into the van to put her in, I pop her through the back hatch.

I have heard lots of views on why people do what they do with car seats, and very little has to do with safety. FF isn't any more convenient than RF. And there is no way a young child that is having a hissy fit is protesting that they can't see and want to be turned around, they just plain don't want to be in the seat. That doesn't fly with me, as the parent, I'm in charge and this is one of those non-negotiable things.

I could link you tons of test, studies, crash tests, articles, etc (and can, if anyone is interested). But I'm guessing most people have made their minds up regardless, and I'm not out to tell people what they have to do, but they can choose to do what they want with the info I have.

Just to tell you why I feel so strongly about car seat safety, I always was safety concious. But I became more so when Logan received a kidney transplant at the age of 5, and the donor was a 5 year old boy killed in a car accident. The boy died, his brother lived (he was almost 3). Had the 5 year old (who was tiny) still been in a car seat (he would have fit), he would still be alive. If his brother was rear facing, he likely wouldn't have had brain injuries. Does his mom regret moving him out of a car seat before he was physically the right size? Absolutely. She always will.

That is reason enough for me to rf beyond 2 and late harness. I won't even go into DH and his calls as a FF. Even I can't stomach it.

Sorry this is long, I would love to hear from the others. I promise, no flames (unless you ff your 6mo Stick out tongue ).

gimmietimmies · October 2011

Holy crap I wrote a novel. Sorry! Embarrassed

gimmietimmies · October 2011

My eyes hurt. I just read that entire thread, and all I can say is wow. I guess some of them proved my point about people having excuses and being misinformed. And someone posted the internal decapitation video....surprised it was just the one.

And I had a snicker over the ones arguing about winter jackets and all that, and how cold New York is (I guess it's the coldest place on earth or something, and shut up, you don't know me???). I guess I must be completely evil for taking off the kids coats in the winter, or doing like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLTVPqn0aR8. Seriously, like that is hard?

stever · October 2011

gimmietimmies:
Just to tell you why I feel so strongly about car seat safety, I always was safety concious. But I became more so when Logan received a kidney transplant at the age of 5, and the donor was a 5 year old boy killed in a car accident. The boy died, his brother lived (he was almost 3). Had the 5 year old (who was tiny) still been in a car seat (he would have fit), he would still be alive. If his brother was rear facing, he likely wouldn't have had brain injuries. Does his mom regret moving him out of a car seat before he was physically the right size? Absolutely. She always will.

That is reason enough for me to rf beyond 2 and late harness. I won't even go into DH and his calls as a FF. Even I can't stomach it.

Sorry this is long, I would love to hear from the others. I promise, no flames (unless you ff your 6mo).

That is so sad

As to the OP, DS was RF until he was over 2. We would have kept him RFing had he not been so big.

mwd · October 2011

@gimmietimmies: Sorry, I had forgotten this was a subject that was extremely significant to you. Thanks for your input. I also read the thread on the 12-24 board, and it really appauled me of some of the excuses to turn kids around. Both of my kids are tall and thin,we live in a cold climate. But bothRF for long after he 12 mos. yeah, you could be a professional driver, but that doesn't mean everyone else on the road is.

gimmietimmies · October 2011

mwd:

@gimmietimmies: Sorry, I had forgotten this was a subject that was extremely significant to you. Thanks for your input. I also read the thread on the 12-24 board, and it really appauled me of some of the excuses to turn kids around. Both of my kids are tall and thin,we live in a cold climate. But bothRF for long after he 12 mos. yeah, you could be a professional driver, but that doesn't mean everyone else on the road is.

Yep very sensitive. To make matters worse, when someone used the bolded phrase, I confess, I nearly lost it. On top of all the sh!t L has been through, a few years ago he lost a friend (and her entire family) to a "professional driver". He was drunk and driving a loaded cement truck and rear ended their car, which was waiting at a stop light. He hit them at 80 km/hr (or more they think, so say 60mph). He didn't brake until much later, he didn't realize he'd hit them. I came through that intersection from work not long after, and it wasn't till I got home was I told who was there. My reaction wasn't good, I'll tell you. And dh, and the FD (and L and his friends) went to the funeral. Story

You can be the best driver in the world, but you can't control what everyone else on the road is doing. The only thing you can do is do your best to minimize potential damage and pray for the best. And report idiots like the guy in my link (even though it didn't help them in time).

robynlesley · October 2011

Even though I knew that the AAP had updated it's recommendation to sit rear facing 2 years or longer, I switched DS to FF at 19 months. He had been throwing fits whenever I put him in the car. He kept kicking himself upward, so it was hard to strap him in. If he had been smaller (he was 28 lb and nearly 34 inches) I might not have.

Edit: So sorry... gimmietimmies... while I know it was a blessing for your son to receive a kidney, it's a tragic one.

gimmietimmies · October 2011

robynlesley:

Even though I knew that the AAP had updated it's recommendation to sit rear facing 2 years or longer, I switched DS to FF at 19 months. He had been throwing fits whenever I put him in the car. He kept kicking himself upward, so it was hard to strap him in. If he had been smaller (he was 28 lb and nearly 34 inches) I might not have.

Edit: So sorry... gimmietimmies... while I know it was a blessing for your son to receive a kidney, it's a tragic one.

Thanks. It's still hard, because I am now friends with the mom, she was driving, her younger son survived, her older son and mother didn't (car hit where her mother was). The story is more odd than all this, I'll post it one day. I am thankful to her for what she did for L.

Piranha54 · October 2011

DD is 23 months and still RF in my car. Her legs are getting scrunched but she really doesn't seem to care. After working trauma for years, I'll keep her RF as long as possible. She is FF in DH's car, but it's a two do and almost impossible to get her into the seat when RF, so I was OK with it.

superaunt · October 2011

we have no intention of moving Sabrina any time before the limits suggest (hopefully beyond 2). and i'm not kidding when i feel like we're the only people in the world who do so- even though i know that's not the case.

ScoobyM · October 2011

We turned Ellie around right at 1 year - I was so excited to be able to turn back and see her in the car and I had no idea about the recommendations to extend rear facing at that time (not sure when that started being more publicized, either I just hadn't seen it or it wasn't out there yet). I did hear about it after she'd been front facing for at least a few months and we did not turn her back around since she was used to being able to see us AND she is tall for her age and her legs were pretty scrunched up against the seat back.

With Noah, we will keep him rear facing as long as possible. He is also tall but not as much as Ellie and so far it doesn't seem to bother him a bit that his knees are bent and he can't see up front.

lovetohike · October 2011

Here's one for ya..... after he turned 5. I just turned him around. He could still ride RF in his seat, but we have moved to FF. Makes him happy and he rear faced for a VERY LONG TIME!

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