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Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
Rear Facing....how many are waiting until they turn 2.
Hi there! My dd is now 13 months. She is still rear facing but with the big bulky car seats I am finding it frustrating. I can't use a mirror because I can't see over the car seat. How many of you have already moved them to forward facing and how many are sticking out the rear facing until they turn 2? I know with my first one it was probably right around now that we moved her to forward facing but I know that the recommendation has changed.
I would like to keep my dd rear facing for as long as I can but I'm not sure how long it wll last.
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Re: Rear Facing....how many are waiting until they turn 2.
It will last as long as you make it last.
Considering my daughter is only 17 lbs, it's safe to say she'll be rear facing for a bit longer. I would like to wait until she's 2 but if it doesn't happen that way, I am OK with that as well. Either way, I'm not losing sleep over it.
I didn't move our older daughter until she was 18 months. At that point it was just time. (FWIW, the recommendation was 20 lbs/1 yr at the time)
Absolutely waiting. The 75% reduction in death or severe injury is more than worth the hassle of rfing.
ETA: DD is barely 18 lbs and just over 28 inches so we have a while before she reaches the rfing limits.
RF until age 2 or the limits of the car seat are actually not new recommendations, the AAP just updated their official wording about it.
Anyway, my DD RF until 2.5 (she's now 6) and DS RF until 3.5 (he'll be 4 next month). We had RF car seats in our compact car and also a mid sized sedan. They fit
When I had my first the recommendation was also the 20lbs/1 year which she was. We waited until about 13 months and switched her.
What seats do you have that a 1 year old is reaching the RF height limits? Most seats on the market now will easily accommodate a 3 year old of average height for rear facing.
They are both RF and will be until at least 2.
Since I'm too lazy to look it up, what is the height limit for RF?
The girls will be RFing until college if I have my way
Really, until at least 2, preferably longer if they still haven't outgrown the limits of the seat. They are both peanuts, so I can see us lasting until close to 3 or longer.
DD1 Feb 2010
DD2 Sept 2011
It depends on the seat (some seats are taller than others), but for RF, once the child's head is within 1" of the top of the shell, the seat has been outgrown in the RF position. MOST convertible car seats will state a general standing height, but that's just a guideline, since some kids have longer torsos and some have longer legs, and it's the child's SITTING height that matters.
I just flipped DD she was 23 months old, it was getting out of control how much she hated the car- I really wanted to make it to 2- but I was so distracted while driving always trying to hand her things or soothe her that I just finally said- flipping her now will make me a safer driver becasue I will not be distracted. I made it for 23 months I was happy with that.
DD is happy as a clam now- and I am a much safer driver for having flipped her foward faving.
Depends on your seat.
We are RF at 20 months and have no plan of switching any time soon. My DS is NOT a peanut either.
That being said. In my DH's car, it's really tight fit, but it works. I just have to either sit in back (b/c the passenger seat has to be so far forward) or I sit with my knees scrunched up. We end up driving my car 90% of the time so it hasn't been an issue.
Gotcha. I'll go look at Britax's website.
DD is still rear facing and I'm not planning on turning her around anytime soon.
Ideally I would like to keep LO rear facing until 2 years of age. However, if his absolute hatred of the car and his uncontrollable screaming while in his car seat continue I may consider turning the seat to see if it helps. It is extremely distracting to have a baby in complete meltdown mode for the entirety of almost every drive, especially now that winter will be coming.
what do you mean when you say you can't use a mirror? like a mirror to see lo or your rearview mirror?
ds is still rf at 13 months. we'll keep it up as long as we can shoehorn him in there.
Is it an infant seat? I dont think there are any convertibles that only go to 32". I know some of the Eddie Bauer convertibles have a stated 36" RF limit, but again, as long as their head has at least 1" of space until the top of the shell, you can completely disregard the height limit.
This is how you want to measure if he's within an inch:
click the pic (blog)
DD rear-faced until 2.5 years. We plan on doing the same with DS, unless he outgrows the seat rear-facing before then.
ETA: Just like EM said... The minimum for rear-facing has been 1 AND 20, but most of not all manuals will state that you should rear-face until you max either the weight/height of your seat. So, this isn't anything new. I knew about it before my DD was born, hence why she was rear-facing until 2.5 years.
Less than a month until he's 2 and still RFing....I have no intention of turning him around any time soon. We're aiming for RFing until age 3! He's content, and more importantly, he's safe.
DS2 - Oct 2010 (my VBAC baby!)
I wondered this too. It can't be safe to not be able to use your rearview mirror...
We are rear-facing until at least 2. We were in a pretty bad accident last weekend and although I always thought I'd turn him around before he turned 2, I know now that I absolutely will not. It's no harder for us to put him in rear facing as it would be to put him in forward facing.
11-15-08
12-1-10