Car seat poll

GalLaura · June 2014

I'm not sure if this has been asked before but do you keep your child rear or forward facing?

If rear facing, for how long will they stay this way ? Do they hate the car or have they adapted? If forward facing, are you confident that it is safe enough?

Megan32290 · June 2014

We will rear face until at least 2, but preferably closer to 3-4. We have the MySize 70 and she does well in it.

nikel13 · June 2014

The pedi said that they recommend that babies stay rear facing until 2. Since Lily is so petite, we will be keeping her rear facing until then.

mamainVA2013 · June 2014

She's turning 1 tomorrow, but we will stay rear facing until she is 2. She has always done very well in the car.

My best friend who does a lot of research and follows all current recommendations did forward facing when her DD turned 1 because her little girl screamed at all car rides. It made a huge difference.

musicalsilver · June 2014

My goal is rear facing until LO outgrows the rear-facing limits on our seat (Diono Radian RXT).

KittenGator · June 2014

DD was RF until she was five. She's petite and didn't mind it. I plan on keeping DS RF as long as possible, too.

Ryanswifey619 · June 2014

Rear facing here too. We usually go by what our dr says or what all of you love ladies say since you're all so helpful

ilovemarfa · June 2014

Ds2 is rear facing still. We switched ds1 to front facing at 1. He hated the car and would scream bloody murder in the car. Once we switched him he was another baby. I know rear facing is safer but I thought that there was more of a risk of me crashing from him screaming and me trying to calm him.

Murphie82 · June 2014

We will rear face as long as possible

ETA: and will rear face at least until B is 2. I mean as long as possible after the age of 2.

mshukh · June 2014

Definitely rear facing for as long as possible (close to 4 y/o somewhere) based on what is currently recommended by experts. We bought a seat that has some of the highest limits for rear facing for this specific reason.

GalLaura · June 2014

This is helpful ladies. The car seat I bought has my lo ff already because of height. It's an infasecure seat. He use to cry every time he was in the car when rear facing and by cry, I mean sob. However the more I read about rear facing, I'm worried he should be turned around.

mamainVA2013 · June 2014

Bleachy14 said:

Oh wow thanks @CL8badB! That's super helpful! You know its interesting... I was thinking about this topic the other day actually, and I had briefly (and I emphasize briefly) glanced online to refresh myself on what the standard was on when to switch to forward facing. The few things I clicked on (which may not have even been credible) said you technically can switch at 1 year and 20lbs, but they recommend staying rear faced until age 2. I had no idea that they could/should rear face even longer than that! Here I thought age 2 was going above and beyond!

Same here! Thanks @CL8badB, something to definitely consider!

Mufflerlove · June 2014

RF as long as possible. She hated the car seat then was amazing.. Now she hates being put in her seat and is so so about the driving.

BC&LM · June 2014

Rear facing until he's at least two, then we will see.

SilverEF · June 2014

Just saw this on Instagram. Giuliana Rancic doesn't FF Duke and he is 1.

Cricket81 · June 2014

I am going to hold out as long as possible. LO is 100%ile for length, but I plan to keep him rf as long as I can. Mil was asking about this on our trip last week and she was really surprised when I said I was hoping to go past 2 yo.

AlsGal01 · June 2014

Rear for now and as close to 2 years as possible. He doesn't mind the car so I'm not going to mess with what isn't broken. He's over 20 lbs and 30+ inches. I think MIL will probably FF if she ever drives him because that's just how her car seat is installed for our 3 year old niece.

HeartLikeMine3 · June 2014

Rear facing till at least 2 and then I will see what LO's pedi suggest.

ColieAnn31 · June 2014

Grayson will be turned around at 1 to see how it goes. Right now car rides are miserable because he can't see us. He's on the bigger side too.

dmlk413 · June 2014

We're going to rear face til 2 and then re-evaluate at that point.

ASmallWonder · June 2014

Just something to seriously consider- their safety (or lack thereof when talking about a forward facing 1 year old) is that it's based in skeletal development not size. Bigger kids are as much at risk for internal decapitation as smaller kids. Google Joel's Journey.

Western Diva · June 2014

EmAzeem said:
I heard it's highly recommended to RF until 2. As the fireman who was installing our seat it's better to have a broken leg than a broken neck. We will RF Until at least two but maybe longer

This.

ColieAnn31 · June 2014

NaChelleBeck said:
@ColieAnn31‌ I would try one of those mirrors you attach to the head rest first.

We've tried one

needanustart · June 2014

Steamboat1679 said:
We are aiming for as long as possible, but we will turn if car rides become a huge PITA to travel RF. I know no one IRL that has RFed past one.

Same. With DS1 I was adamant about making it to 2 rf but he was giving is a harder and harder time and I had a solo road trip with a 5 hour drive at 18 months so I turned him around. I felt guilty but we wouldn't have been able to do road trips at all if we didn't. I will keep Lo rear facing as long as he tolerates it. He's pretty content right now with his brother entertaining him thank goodness. We also usually do a movie on my iPad for G during road trips and I don't know how well that will go over with them facing different directions now...

daffy2k · June 2014

I have convinced DH to let me keep her rearfacing for sure until 2. After that we will re-evaluate the situation. MIL, on the other hand, will be a battle as soon as her first birthday hits.

weddinginthecove · June 2014

I plan to RF until 2 or longer if my Britax allows. I know they aren't really known for the heights.

cafecreme · June 2014

I haven't thought about it. I don't find a need to switch her yet. I think it's actually easier to put her in rear facing in my car. I'm guessing maybe around 18-24 months we'll switch?

musicalsilver · June 2014

Thanks @mcbush! I only watched the second one because I don't think I could deal with the first.

I'm sending that youtube video along to DH - he's undecided about the RF thing, but is going along with it until he has time to "do his own research". The fact that the narrator is speaking german should convince him alone ;-) (he's into German, so I like to think it makes it even more convincing!).

TriciaandSean · June 2014

I don't come on here much anymore but I'm so passionate about car seat safety I wanted to chime in. My 3.5 almost 4 year old is still happily RFing so my little guy will definitely stay RFing for a long time. I don't plan to switch my older son until he outgrows the limits. He still has a few inches of seated height so he should be able to RF until at least 4.

Those that complain of their kid screaming, kids don't like to be strapped down in their car seat, switching them FF may stop it temporarily but they are still going to be pissed about being in the car seat. Plus their safety is much more important.

ilovemarfa · June 2014

TriciaandSean said:
I don't come on here much anymore but I'm so passionate about car seat safety I wanted to chime in. My 3.5 almost 4 year old is still happily RFing so my little guy will definitely stay RFing for a long time. I don't plan to switch my older son until he outgrows the limits. He still has a few inches of seated height so he should be able to RF until at least 4.

Those that complain of their kid screaming, kids don't like to be strapped down in their car seat, switching them FF may stop it temporarily but they are still going to be pissed about being in the car seat. Plus their safety is much more important.

Switching ds1 stopped the screaming all together. He has never screamed in the car since. The pediatrician said he probably was suffering from motion sickness. At the end of the day, a parent is responsible for making decisions for their child. It is recommended kids stay rear facing until at least 2 but it is certainly not against the law to switch them nor does it make a person a negligent parent for doing so.

TheTamedShrew · June 2014

We turned her around for our 7 hour drive last week, because she was miserable, and after reading this thread I will be turning it back around and attaching a mirror. It was fun having her FF, but now the mommy guilt is settling in. I told DH we shouldn't turn it around, but couldn't resist after seeing how much calmer she was for such a long drive. *sigh*

megandchase · June 2014

We will rear face until at least 2 but will try to keep him that way till 4. Turning him before age 2 is out of the question or us

kimberly_ann81 · June 2014

I plan to keep Peanut rear-facing as long as possible. It's safer for them. Sweet Pea went forward-facing at 12 months because he HATED being backwards. Peanut is happy rear-facing so we'll leave him that way.