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October 2011 Moms
Ms.Jade
member
Forward Facing Car Seat
Ms.Jade
member
E is in the 90th percentile for height 50%-75% for weight and head size) so when she reached 1 year and now 22 lbs we turned her Britax Marathon around to face forward and keep her from scrunching her legs on the back seat. She would whine and kick the seat and could never straighten out her legs. But now I'm wondering if I've made a mistake. What would/do you do if your LO is super tall?
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Re: Forward Facing Car Seat
Please see the link in my siggy if you still aren't sure...
ETA: this is coming from someone who's 2 yr old is still RFing and will be until at least 3 if not longer.
Agreed. I'd much rather scrunched legs than serious injury/decapitation.
Besides, they don't know they're scrunched, that's something we project since we know what it's like to stretch our legs out while t in a car.
Touching the seat back with their her feet isn't enough reason to turn them around given the current recommendation by all the safety experts to continue RF until 2 y minimum. Most babies will fit fine RF in the Britax seats until 2 or so, as long as their head/shoulders levels don't exceed the headrest and harness limits. Their legs don't have to be straight, but you can cross them Indian style. They just have to get used to it and whatever discomfort you may perceive will be greatly outweighed by the safety benefits of RF.
We're going to continue RF until 2 and definitely longer if we can get away with it.
I am not as strict on this as others may be. IMO it may be hard to turn her back around RF after you have turned her FF.
Until 1.5 years ago most kids were FF at 1 year old. I realize the new recs are 2 yo but I would guess that the odds that you would be in such a horrible accident to cause internal decapitation is probably pretty dang low. We are keeping DS RF until at least 18 mos and I am pushing to keep him RF until closer to 2.
All I can say is that it is your child and your decision to make and you have to do what works for you.
This.
N is tall and has super long legs. She flops them off of the sides of the carseat or lounges them at an angle. She's so flexible.
Here is a good video link that shows and talks some about the legs squished reason to FF. https://www.becoming-mom.net/2010/04/19/rear-facing-carseat-video-must-watch/
If I were you, I would flip it back to RF.
I would definitely RF. The video that LatteLady posted gives some great reasons why. The only kind of crash that it doesn't really matter in is if you get t-boned. And then it doesn't help if you're RF or FF.
Of course, this is all coming from a mom who is pretty sure that her DD is going to be able to be RF until about 10 with how tiny she is and her lack of growth. :oP
Thank you for sharing that link. I wanted to post something about this on my FB, but I'm not a fan of the other video that focuses on Joel (sorry kagl, I know that's the one in your siggy). I just posted this video and am hoping that some of the new parents in my friends watch it.
We specially bought an Eddie Bauer seat with a 40lb limit for RF and our plan is to wait till we reach that limit before switching Lily around. Yes, your LO might complain about being switched back to RF after having gotten used to FF. There are lots of things we're going to fight with our kids about over the years; something as important to their safety as this is worth it for me.
BFP #1: July 12, 2010 Natural M/C: July 26, 2010
BFP #2: January 30 ,2011 Born: September 29, 2011
BFP #3: January 5, 2013 Born: August 25, 2013
i actually hate the video of Joel since its so long and draw out. It is one of the few that shows crash test of both FFing and RFing. I love this video! I will be stealing it for sure!!
You're welcome. I like it because it seems a little bit milder than some of the other videos out there. I post it on my facebook periodically and share it with any friends who ask about RF. I wanted to find a video that talked about squished legs to share with H because he was concerned with that as well. After watching that and doing some research we agree that two is the absolute minimum for FF and plan to keep N RF until she exhausts the height and weight limits of her carseats.
It is common for children to outgrow their seats by the height limit before the weight limit. Our seats go up to 40lbs also, but my 2yr old is only 25lbs. At this rate she will be 10 before she hits 40lbs. LOL! We plan to keep our kids rear facing until they reach the height limits of the seat, which for any seat is their heads have to be 1in below the back of the car seat.
I find Britax seats to be on the small side. I never even consider Britax when purchasing a car seat, since I had extended RFing in mind. They do make seats that could even accommodate your DS. There are quite a few 2yr olds on my DD's BMB who are still RFing safely at your DS's size. Not pushing it down your throat just saying its possible. Of course your decision and any month you make it past 12 months is awesome!
ETA: and my 2 yr old is your DDs size. She's comfortably RFing in a Graco MyRide 65 which you can get for $110 at target when it's on sale. Just an FYI if you wanted a seat for her, again... Not pushing this down your throat. Hope it doesn't seem this way.
I would switch her back for at least a while longer. Like PPs have said, it's not that big a deal to have her legs switched and it is much safer to keep them rear facing as long as possible.
We will keep DD RF until at least 18 months. At that point, we'll have LO #2 and my husband can't fit and safely drive the car with either the infant seat or the convertible RF behind the driver's seat. Neither seat safely fits in the middle position, so we will most likely have to move DD to FF at that point unless we find some other magical solution.
Please turn your LO back around so they rear-face! The facts are hard to argue with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2DVfqFhseo
https://www.safekids.org/assets/docs/safety-basics/safety-tips-by-risk-area/sk-car-seat-report-2011.pdf
IVF # 1 ~ Antagonist ~ ER 1/27/11~ ET 1/30/11 ~ + HPT 7dp3dt
DD born med-free on 10/24/11
"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." -- Dale Carnegie
"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." --Thomas A. Edison
I'm so happy to read this! You are definitely making the right choice.
+1 Good choice
I just watched it and posted it to my facebook. I love when they say "Why wouldn't you rear face?" Watching the crash tests should open anyone's eyes to the truth about RF.
Glad to hear you are turning her back Ms. Jade!
I was just talking to one of my guy friends about FF his daughter (she is the same age as DD.) He saw my DD still RF and was like "oh we switched our kid b/c she meets the weight requirement." I told him about the videos and sent him the links, but alas he is still FF her. I feel like a lot of parents I know IRL are not aware of the recommendation and the info out there.
PS - CallMeAl - I feel like we haven't seen you in forever!
i feel like is more that they chose to ignore the information out there rather than they aren't aware of it. I've been spewing links to advocate RFing on my FB for years now and there are still "those" parents who turned their LOs on their 1st birthday. I find it so sad that they would willingly put their child in danger despite the overwhelming research.
I talking specifically about the parents on my FB, not anyone here. I know they see my links and info and they still post pics of their kids FFing at 12 months old.
I probably wouldn't know about it either without TB. The majority of people on my facebook FF at one year and I've posted about RF several times. If you post links on your fb account you are just getting the information out there. If someone gets offended it's probably because they're convicted and know what they're doing is not the right/best thing for their child. If I didn't know about the recommendations and saw a video I would start researching ASAP and then I am sure come to the conclusion I've already reached: rear facing is safest and my child will remain RF until she exceeds the height/weight limits of her carseats.
+1!
+2 Good to hear. (read actually)
I think that is for the best! Honestly I got into a small accident yesterday and I definitely got thrown forward a bit! I was so happy i was on my way to pick B up from daycare and he was not with me, but I couldn't help but think if a full grown adult gets jolted from such small impact how would a FF child do! It just reinforced my need to continue RF. That and B is tiny he doesn't even hit the weight to be FF!