Rear Facing Carseat Installation Past 12 months of age.

Jodi - posted on 02/09/2011

Thats ok :D

Lady Heather - posted on 02/09/2011

Oh, I did not know you are Australian. That's too bad!

Jodi - posted on 02/09/2011

Thanks for clarifying that Kate. In Australia, in the past, the rear-facing seats have pretty much been for up to 8kg (about 17-18 lb). I think MAYBE we can now get them for up to 12kg (about 26lb). But we it is actually ILLEGAL here to have a seat not approved by Australian Standards. So what seats are available in other countries are actually irrelevant to us.

Stifler's - posted on 02/09/2011

I turned my kid at 6 months. He grew out of his capsule thing and we bought a new carseat and installed it forward facing. I never knew about any of this stuff then. He weighed like 10kg already and the car seat said forward facing from 8kg.

Sarah - posted on 02/09/2011

My son is 16 months & still rear facing. His car seat sits rear facing up to 35lbs and I intend to keep him RF up until that point.



This subject recently came up in the "September 2009 Babies" group & a few people said that it was 'pointless & silly' to keep a toddler rear facing. It really irks me that people ignore obvious research & facts showing that rear facing is so much safer. I know people are entitled to their opinion, but this is just one of those subjects that really gets to me.

Joy - posted on 02/09/2011

Jodi, he said it was dangerous because it's a distraction to the driver. The only reason you're supposed to be looking in the mirror is to check traffic, etc. He also said not to use any of the attachments they sell for carseats. The strap pads that keep the straps from cutting into the baby's neck, the wrap around neck pillows, any of the cute dangly toys. In fact, when your infant is in a carrier in the car, the handle is supposed to be in the down position so that if you're in a crash there aren't shards of hard plastic flying around your baby. I know they sell this stuff in stores but according to the class we took, none of it is safe. Car seats are safe the way they are and shouldn't be enhanced in any way, even for comfort. Other than FF earlier than I should have, the only time I broke that rule was to use the strap covers because my son started getting raw spots on his neck from the straps and I didn't see how the strap cover was going to affect safety.

Kate CP - posted on 02/09/2011

Heather: What's available in the US and Canada is actually not available in Australia which is why so many Australian moms are having issues with the car seat safety guidelines. :/

Julianne - posted on 02/09/2011

Gabby is still rear facing at 14months. She will be as long as possible.i had to fight with my MIL to keep it that way too

Lady Heather - posted on 02/09/2011

@Jodi - my seat (Sunshine Kids Radian 65) rear faces to 40 lbs. There aren't many that go past 35, but there are some available. I don't know if any go past 40 or not.

Lady Heather - posted on 02/09/2011

My daughter is 20 months old and still rear facing. I don't know when I'll turn her. Maybe at 3 years old? I don't really think about it too much. It just seems like as long as she is happy to sit backwards and fits in the seat, why bother changing it?

Kate CP - posted on 02/09/2011

I did turn my daughter around at 12 months because at the time that was the recommendation. My son won't be FF until he's at least 2.

Sal - posted on 02/09/2011

i had never really heard the debate for keping them rear facing for an extended period before but no both my girls were forward facing pre 12 months, probably when they were the right weight and had good neck stability, both were in a capsual until they were too long then in the rear facing seat for a bit longer, but they were much happier travellers front facing and seen as we done a lot of long trips (over an hour just for the school run somedays -i mean over 100km) having a cranky baby for all that distance was trauma, maybe if i had another baby i would look further into this and make a different decision but i have had no problems with ff, at the moment they are both in booster seats with a regular seat belt (my oldest is the right age but my youngest is a little young but too tall), i tried the harnesses but they would constantly take them off and made a judgement call that a properly fitted regular seatbelt with a underleg strap was better than the harness not worn properly, and nothing i done worked to get them to keep it on, if anyone has any hints i'd love them...

Shauna - posted on 02/09/2011

my child will be 1 yr next month and have no intentions of turning it forward facing.... our car seat also rear faces up to 40 lbs. ill keep him rear facing as long as possible. He has a britax Marathon.

Teresa - posted on 02/09/2011

My sons legs have been 'scrunched' for a long time. Hasn't ever bothered him once. :)

Jodi - posted on 02/09/2011

I turned my son at 6 months and my daughter at 10 months. This was simply because at the time, car seats that rear-face for infants for any longer period of time simply weren't available. The law also says 6 months (I kept my daughter in for longer, though, because she still fit in the seat and I knew it was safer). I think we CAN now get seats rear-facing for longer, but I don't know - I have no need to look into it, so I haven't. I certainly hope they have.

Medic - posted on 02/09/2011

Broken legs cast it, broken neck casket. My son rear faced till the weight limit on his seat 35lbs he was 40 inches tall and over 3. He just crossed his legs now he is front facing and still askes to go rear facing so he can just sleep in the car. His one year old sister is 24 pounds and 30 inches and her feet hardly touch so I wonder what kind of seats others have. She will stay rear facing till the max on her seat and if I feel she is too young I will buy another seat the rearfaces past 35 pounds. My son has always had the Alpha Omega Elite and my daughter the Britax Marathon.

Jodi - posted on 02/09/2011

check out this link Perta
http://www.thecarseatlady.com/car_seats/...
Also I guess the fact of the matter is that no one has died of a broken leg, but there are multiple deaths from a broken neck.

Petra - posted on 02/09/2011

I've actually been wanting this to come up, I'd like some input too. We turned my boy ff a few weeks ago, he is 14 months old, 25 pounds and 34 in he's tall. The main reason we turned his seat is because his legs were so crunched up. I did some research beforhand and couldn't find definitive guidelines. In alberta, the gov't website recommends turning ff at 12 months or 25 pounds... Your input, ladies?

Jodi - posted on 02/09/2011

My daughter just turned 21 months and she's past the weight limit of the seat so I've turned her forward and I hate the idea of it. But will admit that it's easier with snowsuits and boots to be putting her forward facing. I still wonder though why I can't find a car seat that goes rear facing past 35 lbs?

Jodi - posted on 02/09/2011

Joy, just curious, why did he say the mirror was dangerous? I don't see the reasoning behind that?

Teresa - posted on 02/09/2011

My girls were turned forward about a week before turning one. No excuses. I was wrong, but I just didn't think about it like I do now.

My son is almost 3 and is still rearfacing. He still fits properly in his seat that way (under the height and weight limit for his seat) and it's safer, so that's how he stays. I know he'll have to forward face coming up pretty soon and I don't really like that thought.

Joy - posted on 02/09/2011

I turned my son FF when he was 14 months. At the time, keeping them RF as long as possible was more of a suggestion, not an official "recommendation". The day I turned him FF, the fire chief at our fire department was actually the one who helped me install the seat correctly, so at the time, I had no worries about it. Since then, I've learned otherwise, and the suggestion has become a strong recommendation and if I ever have any other children, I will RF much longer.

And Jennifer Laur, for me, the excitement of turning him FF was so that I could see his face. I know they make mirrors you can install to see them when they are RF, but the childseat safety course instructor had told us that it's dangerous to use them. He said, "If you wanna look at your baby while they are RF, pull the car over and look at your baby. But don't use a mirror." LOL So for me, aside from the fact that at the time I thought it was ok to turn him FF, there was also the cute factor of being able to glance in the rear view and see his smiling face.

Jennifer - posted on 02/09/2011

my son is nearly 15 months old (22pounds) and we have no intention of turning him around anytime soon. the seat we have now rear faces to 30 pounds but as soon as we get our tax return i am buying him a new seat that rear faces to 40 pounds.



i've never understood the excitement surrounding turning a child forward.

April - posted on 02/09/2011

No, I did not. He was JUST 20 pounds barely and I still didn't feel like he was ready to be turned around. It just didn't feel right to me and still doesn't...even though he is 2 and 25 pounds. My husband turned the seat around at 14 months...it's been so long that my son gets upset if he is RF. I guess he likes to see our faces.

I forget which country it is...Finland, Norway or Sweden...somewhere along those lines...their kids are stil RF at 4 years old! They also have the lowest injury rate in the world, as far as auto accidents. I believe in RF for AT LEAST the first 3 years.

Krista - posted on 02/09/2011

My child is 17 months, and still RF. Our carseat can RF up to 40lbs, and I have no intentions of turning him around until he reaches that limit. I've seen grown men get bad spinal cord or soft-tissue injuries from front or rear-end collisions. You think I'm risking that on my toddler's tiny little neck?

I always find it odd that mothers who FF early say, "Oh, but the baby hated being rear-facing and likes front-facing so much better!" Well, if you hadn't turned your baby around, then she wouldn't have known any differently, would she?

Becky - posted on 02/09/2011

No, neither of mine were turned ff at 12 months. For one, neither of them met the 20 lb. requirement yet at 12 months. But even if they had, I would not have turned them because I had already learned that they are safer rear-facing. We turned Cole at 18 months, when we had to take his carseat out of the truck anyways. Zach is 17 months and still rf, and if I have my way, will be until at least 2. (If he doesn't hurry up and gain some weight, he'll have to be anyways, he's still not 20 lbs!) My husband argues it with me a lot, but in the end, since I'm insistant and it's a pain to take the carseat out and turn it around anyway, I win.