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August 2013 Moms
Rear facing car seat
Everything I'm reading says LO should remain rear facing until 2 years old. What?!?! Everyone I know turned their LO around and had them forward facing at 1. What is the explanation for this? And STMs...did you wait the full 2 years? Just curious.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Rear facing car seat
The recommendation changed before DD turned 1. Anyone not following it needs to read up. Check out some You Tube videos or Google about why to rear face longer and internal decapitation.
DD stayed RF until she outgrew the height restrictions on her seat. She was about 32 months old.
DD2 8.22.13
MMC 1.4.17 at 16w
Expecting #3, EDD 1.29.18
This!
My nephew is still rearfacing though and he turned 2 in March. My sister in law plans to keep him rearfacing as long as possible.
Mommy to DS#1 7/1/04 and DS#2 6/15/07
M/C 2/16/10 at 9wks 5 days~ D&C 2/18/10
BFP#4 5/17/11 C/P.
BFP#5 11/30/12 Surprise! DS#3 born 7/29/13
The change was absolutely made for safety reasons.
https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/babies-kids/baby-toddler/convertible-car-seats/rear-facing-longer-is-better/convertible-car-seats-rear-facing.htm
Just a tidbit from the article:
The study states that children up to 23 months old are about 75 percent less likely to die or sustain serious injury in a rear-facing car seat than a forward-facing one.
DD2 8.22.13
MMC 1.4.17 at 16w
Expecting #3, EDD 1.29.18
DS turned 2 last month and I'll keep him rf-ing as long as I can. I really like this video and try to reference it whenever anyone asks why we don't turn him around.
When my kids were little it was recommended to wait until they were a year old to FF. My kids are 5 and 6. I know now it is recommended to wait until at least 2 years for safety reasons. I am also going to have to get up to speed on this topic.
This, my youngest two are still RFing, and will be for a while. DD2 turned 3 in February (she is almost 30 pounds) and DS3 will be 2 in June (he is about 25 pounds)- Unless they max out the height or weight limit of their convertible seat there is no reason FF them.
FWIW my 7 1/2 year old is still in a 5 point harness carseat, which again is safer as long as your child has not exceeded the limits on the seat.
ETA- Not directing this at the OP (because I've seen this IRL all the time), but I don't see why people are so eager to FF as soon as their child hit the minimum requirements.
There isn't.
DD2 8.22.13
MMC 1.4.17 at 16w
Expecting #3, EDD 1.29.18
We got through almost 2 years of RF with DS. He knew no different, but man, the look on his face was priceless on his first car ride FF. DS never had an issue with his legs, either, which for some reason always enters the argument about whether to RF longer... Seriously? We can fix a broken leg. You can't fix a broken neck.
we went with the Britax Boulevard 70 (I don't think it's actually called that anymore, I think it's the advocate now?) which has a high RF and FF weight and height limit. Plus it's a nice and comfy seat. I think we paid around $220 for each (one in DH car, one in mine). I couldn't put a price on safety.
No hard feelings haha but let me just explain why I was confused. My mom had me at 15 years old so when she was ready to have another child I was 20. I have a 5 year old little brother and I was still going to college and living with my mom and step-dad for the first year of my brother's life. The recommendation at the time was 1 year old and I remember it being so exciting on his 1st birthday when they put him FF. That was only 4 years ago. He LOVED it. Now that I have multiple friends with young children I still haven't seen anyone RF after 1 year old. I don't know their situations and I don't know if they've grown taller than the height limit or if they're just not aware of the recommendation. The children that I know that are about 20 months old seem way too big to be RF in my opinion but that's before I knew the reasoning behind the 2 year recommendation. I just can't picture a 20 month old child RF so I was shocked to read this new recommendation but hey, if that's what is safe then we'll follow it too.
I forgot to add...so, in my case it's not really being eager it's just, my initial reaction to the new recommendation was that I was shocked and thought it was a bit over protective. That's why I wanted to ask around and get some research.
https://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/03/21/car.seat.guidelines.parenting/index.html
"Always use a car safety seat for infants and young children. All infants and toddlers should ride in a rearfacing car safety seat until 2 years of age or until they reach the highest weight or height allowed by the car safety seat manufacturer. Once your child has outgrown the rearfacing height or weight limit, she should ride in a forwardfacing car safety seat. Updated recommendations on safe travel can be found on the AAP parenting web site ."
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safetyprevention/onthego/pages/CarSafetySeatsInformationforFamilies.aspx?nfstatus=401nftoken=00000000000000000000000000000000nfstatusdescription=ERROR3aNolocaltoken
LFAF Summer 2016 Awards:
The second link isn't working. (for me anyway) but I read the first link...thank you!
Why are people so flipping eager to forward face? I had to get a rental car while DD was with me. I put the car seat in and the guy helping me with the car was criticizing me for it. He also had a kid her age and couldn't comprehend what I was doing. I have family members that give me flack about it too because *gasp* DD has to BEND HER KNEES now that she is taller. WTF people, she's not uncomfortable. If they took a peek at the video monitor of how she sleeps sometimes, I think that would shut them up about her legs being too long.
She's ridden ff once because we were riding with my sister and just used my niece's car seat that was already installed (they are the same size/age). DD went back to rear facing in my car and didn't care one bit, although the look on her face when she rode in my sister's car was priceless.
When I was pregnant with DD, the guidelines switched to two years, or once they outgrow the RF limits of their seat. DD switched at 15 months. She would get car sick every time we drove with her, starting around 9 months. Horrid time. We tried it out of desperation, and it really helped.
There are many reasons people want to switch earlier. The biggest is that baby can see you and car trips are a lot more enjoyable.
This LO will RF as long as we can.
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to be over, it's about learning how to dance in the rain." -Unknown
Married 3-1-08 | Nathan 11-24-08 | Kaelyn 11-30-10 | Alicia 8-17-13
Age 2 is just a recommendation. We turned our daughter around a little bit after 1. It wasn't right at 1 because she still hadn't fit those weight requirements for turning around yet.
I wouldn't let anyone guilt you into keeping them rear-faced. "Friends" were trying to make me sound terrible for turning daughter around. But keeping them rear-facing past 1 is optional. And as said above, some even keep their kids rear-facing until 5. Whatever floats your boat I guess.
Yup. I also went by the guidelines of my car seat. Many people tend to forget you should follow the restrictions of your particular seat.
It's not "just" a reccomendation. It's based on fact and safety and the build of a child through age 2. Also, I do believe it's endorsed by the American Academy of Pediactrics as well as in numerous other European countries already. I understand those not doing it before the newer data was released regarding safety but I find it hard to swallow to just do it "because" with all the data available now. I was in the 1 year and you flip them boat before I had DS, and quickly learned about the data through my BMB ladies, as were doing here, again. Even our pediatrician brought up the 2 year timeline multiple times.
my nieces went front facing at two different points, but for the same general reason. The older one got too tall for her seat and the younger one was a chunky one year old. In both cases, the restraint system no longer properly held them in the correct position so it became safer to have them properly restrained in a front facing.
I plan on doing the same for my twins.
Dd stayed RF until nearly 2, despite the recommendation being 1 at the time. However, she got violently carsick every single time we went ANYWHERE. Once we turned her around, that changed. So essentially, that ended up being a major benefit for us!
That being said, I agree with the recommendation to RF as long as possible. I just wanted to point out a benefit that we experienced in changing.
My son is still rear-facing. His car seat is rear-facing until 40lbs and I plan to keep him that way until he reaches that weight.
He doesn't know any different so it's no big deal to him. It might be a little less convenient to get him in and out. But I always choose safety over convenience.
My third is almost three. I think the new recs we're just becoming widely circulated when she was little.
She was a car screamer. And by that, I mean she started screaming as soon as I set her in the seat and she screamed at the top of her lungs until she was removed from the car pausing only to vomit due to the screaming. She made it an entire 2 hour 45 min trip to my in-laws screaming the entire way. DH had to wear ear plugs. Her screaming was still the case at one year. It was hard on me, but DH couldn't tolerate it and it made me literally unable to talk to my other children in the car and due to pick-ups/drop-offs we spend about an hour a day together in the car... My girlfriends thought I was exaggerating until I brought her with to a jewelry party that we carpooled to... The party was 25 min away and she screamed and vomited the entire way.. They were shocked ("but car rides are supposed to put babies to sleep!").
We turned her FF at 1 and she immediately tolerated the car quietly. She still didn't love it and would not sleep for anything..but she was QUIET and watched out the window. It. Was. Bliss.
I will wait until 2 years this time after seeing all the supporting info but I absolutely do not pass judgement on moms with toddlers like my third. I am shocked I didn't have an accident due to the screaming. Honestly I was putting all of my kids and I at risk driving under those conditions so often. And no, I never was able to just tune it out. Even after a year. And it took me a good 30 min to unwind after pick-ups/drop-offs with her. It was brutal.
I feel your pain, DD was the same way. We've always joked that the drive home from the hospital was the only car ride that she didn't scream for. Last summer she screamed the whole 9 hours back from Virginia, a trip that took much over 9 hours because we stopped so often so we could all take a break.
But she survived. The same can't be said if she had been forward facing and we were in an accident.
DD2 8.22.13
MMC 1.4.17 at 16w
Expecting #3, EDD 1.29.18
Have you ever done any research or looked at any stats? It's not just "whatever floats your boat". Your child is 5 times more likely to survive a crash if rearfacing until 2. I like those odds a heck of a lot better. Your "friends" were right and perhaps actually trying to be a friend with a good warning and not judgmental as you seem to think.
Just wanted to add that rear facing past one isn't "optional" for all states- my sister lives in MD and they just passed a law that requires a child to to RF until 2 years old, anything after that is "optional" but still SAFER than forward facing as long as you don't exceed the limits of the seat.