STMs: at what age did your child start forward facing in the car?

MamaFantastic · December 2013

curious to see the range of answers here!! i've seen some posts this afternoon from moms who are keeping their kids in much longer than i'd guess the national average is, so i want to do a more systematic gathering of data here to see what A14 did with the younger kiddos.

thomas930 · December 2013

DS is 21 months and still rear facing. Going for as close to his 4th bday a possible with the seat we have.

Dr Quarters · December 2013

DS is 2.5 and is still rear facing (he's on the small side but I'd do it regardless). I'm going to flip him right before the baby arrives.

amhah09 · December 2013

I have two answers

We turned DS right around age 2 but DD is 19 months and I have no intention of turning her until 4. Actually I'm thinking I'm going to turn DS around RF again and he's like 3y4m.

ETA - I answered for DD in the poll. Also, if I turn DS RF that means I'll have 3 kids in RF seats when April comes.

WifeofaComposer · December 2013

For some reason I was "tagged" in this thread...?

Anyway, the laws are different now than they were when Skippy was little. I turned his seat around when he was 9 months old because he was so tall that his knees were practically crammed up his nose when he faced backward. I still have him in a booster seat with a head shield, and he's almost 7 years old. I will probably keep him in the booster until he's 8 years old. The new law about keeping little ones rear-facing until they're 3 (or whatever it is) seems a little bit ridiculous to me, but I am a law-abiding citizen...

lyndsey774 · December 2013

We will turn at 2

Sisimama10 · December 2013

Same as WOAC. I turned DD at 11 months because her legs were too long. the recommendation at the time was 1 year.

Isn't the recommendation now 2 years old? I don't understand why some people are waiting until 3-4. Wouldn't they be too big for rear facing at that point. My daughter is 3 1/2 and there's no way her legs would fit. I've only heard that the age is a recommendation not a law?

thomas930 · December 2013

@WifeofaComposer Mamafantastic started a poll just a few minutes ago but it needed to be edited and since we can't she had asked one of us to delete the one she messed up.

amhah09 · December 2013

WifeofaComposer said:
For some reason I was "tagged" in this thread...?

Anyway, the laws are different now than they were when Skippy was little. I turned his seat around when he was 9 months old because he was so tall that his knees were practically crammed up his nose when he faced backward. I still have him in a booster seat with a head shield, and he's almost 7 years old. I will probably keep him in the booster until he's 8 years old. The new law about keeping little ones rear-facing until they're 3 (or whatever it is) seems a little bit ridiculous to me, but I am a law-abiding citizen...

It's because their spines aren't mature enough to really handle a forward facing blow until around age 4. It isn't law yet but he recommendations are to at least 2 and as close to 4 as possible as long as they're within the limits of the seat.

Sisimama10 · December 2013

amhah09 said:

WifeofaComposer said:
For some reason I was "tagged" in this thread...?

Anyway, the laws are different now than they were when Skippy was little. I turned his seat around when he was 9 months old because he was so tall that his knees were practically crammed up his nose when he faced backward. I still have him in a booster seat with a head shield, and he's almost 7 years old. I will probably keep him in the booster until he's 8 years old. The new law about keeping little ones rear-facing until they're 3 (or whatever it is) seems a little bit ridiculous to me, but I am a law-abiding citizen...
It's because their spines aren't mature enough to really handle a forward facing blow until around age 4. It isn't law yet but he recommendations are to at least 2 and as close to 4 as possible as long as they're within the limits of the seat.

Gotcha. Thanks.

MamaFantastic · December 2013

i messed up on my first poll attempt, WoaC, and i tagged the mods in that original poll to delete it (which thomas already did) since polls can't be modified once they are posted, so this is a brand new one

you're not going crazy!

thomas930 · December 2013

Sisimama10 said:

Same as WOAC. I turned DD at 11 months because her legs were too long. the recommendation at the time was 1 year. Isn't the recommendation now 2 years old? I don't understand why some people are waiting until 3-4. Wouldn't they be too big for rear facing at that point. My daughter is 3 1/2 and there's no way her legs would fit. I've only heard that the age is a recommendation not a law?

The law in most states are 1 year and 20 pounds but the AAP recommends 2 years and the NHTSA recommends as close to 4 years for spinal ossification to be mostly complete. Legs aren't really something to worry about, kids are flexible and can cross them, put then on the vehical sear or even dangle them over the sides.

ksulli · December 2013

We were one week shy of her 2nd birthday. She's 95th+ percentile, so I figure she was approximately the size of your average 3yo.

amhah09 · December 2013

poru said:
We turned DS at roughly 15 months (14 in one car and 17 in the other due to car seats fitting differently) when his legs started getting squished at the advice of our doctor due to family history of dysplasia. We will do the same thing with this LO whether she she is 12 months or 36 months - aka RF until it impacts their hips.

Wouldn't they just naturally bend their legs to avoid the hip dysplasia? I'm not being smart here, I'm genuinely curious. I envision a child whose legs are longer would sit almost Indian style (like DS does when he's in a RF seat) and that wouldn't cause hip dysplasia. If they are keeping their legs straight and bending straight at the knees I could see it, but that's not a natural position. Obviously it's different with a history and greater risk of it, I'm just trying to picture it.

MamaFantastic · December 2013

we turned kiddo around just before his 2nd birthday.

Rrrrrachel · December 2013

There's really no risk to their legs from ex tended rear facing, at least for a typical child. We have a history of hip displaysia, too, but no one has ever said anything to me about it. Obviously idk about any one else's child, but I don't see anything harmful about the positions my daughter holds her legs in while rf.

That being said I may turn her soon because she's a nightmare to get into the car seat and I'm desperate.

AcaAwkward · December 2013

DD is 22 mo and still RF. I'd love to keep her RF as long as possible {up until 4}, but if she starts hating the car seat before then, we'll reevaluate.

pete0121 · December 2013

DS was 15 months and DD was right before she turned 2.

WifeofaComposer · December 2013

Okay - now this makes more sense to me. Skippy's doctor told me to turn him around when his legs were so awkwardly bent in his seat because he DID have troubles with his hips and legs. He had regular checkups with a pediatric orthopedic doctor, and he also said it was fine to have his seat turned forward.

Dr Quarters · December 2013

I can insert a link from my iPad but for more information about rear facing beyond 2 you may want to look up internal decapitation. My mom nagged and nagged me about flipping him because I kid you not "everyone else is forward facing" and finally stopped when I made her watch it. I did a lot of research and like all parenting decisions found what works for me.

KHendy27 · December 2013

My oldest we flipped at 3 and my youngest is 23 months and we'll wait till at least three with her also.

LEIGHLOVE09 · December 2013

DD was 14 months when we changed her. We actually did it for a long road trip as her head slumped forward in an uncomfortable position when she slept. I didn't want her neck like that for a long time and we were leaving at her bedtime so she would sleep the whole way. Forward facing helped with the slumped head. Ever since then we left it as we all liked it better.

jennypenny1014 · December 2013

I turned Collin around around 16 or 17 months because he's just so tall that he was sitting with his knees up in his armpits and was noticeably uncomfortable. Flipping him virtually ended the in-car tantrums every time we went somewhere, and actually had made car rides pleasant, because he's so much more comfortable.

He's over 3 feet tall and 35 lbs at almost 2 1/2 years old.

jennypenny1014 · December 2013

LalaMama81 said:

I turned Collin around around 16 or 17 months because he's just so tall that he was sitting with his knees up in his armpits and was noticeably uncomfortable. Flipping him virtually ended the in-car tantrums every time we went somewhere, and actually had made car rides pleasant, because he's so much more comfortable.

He's over 3 feet tall and 35 lbs at almost 2 1/2 years old.
It must depend on the seat, dd2 has similar stats at 28 months and is still rf.

ETA: I just double checked her height since I couldn't remember, she was 35" 3 months ago and she has grown since then.

DS was 37" and 32 lbs at 24 months and is 38" and 35 lbs at 29 months. (He was gearing up for a growth spurt right around his birthday...he's obviously had it. lol)

ETA: It also depends on the kid as well as the seat, cause DS is all leg too.

DemoDoll · December 2013

We will turn DD1 when DD2 grows out of her infant seat. If DD2 is similar in size to DD1 than DD1 will start FFing at 3. We will buy DD1 a Graco Nautilus to FF in if I do all my research and still like that car seat/booster.

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