Almost 5 yr old WANTS to RF!

[tjham]

My granddaughter is almost 5. Her mom turned her at 1 yr old, 18 lbs. despite my arguments *sigh*. I turned her in my car when she hit 20 lbs. I don't remember the age. I didn't know anything then about extended rear facing. I also have a 12 month old grandson. I have her old FPSE now for him. She just barely outgrew it. In fact, she still fits in the Scenera in my car. I bought her a MA for mom's car. So, the FPSE is RF next to her Scenera FF and she wants to use it (or the Scenera) RF! I'm almost sure her head is too high for it (Scenera). She's 33 lbs so would still fit by weight. That would just freak her mom out if I showed up with her RF! heeheehee

[Kat_Mom2D_J_andRuthie]

in the scenera, she can rf until her head is 1" below the top of the shell.

I would try her in it.

rearfacing is safer... I would let her.

In fact, urge her to pressure her mom, too.

And extended rearfacing wasn't commonplace 5-6yrs ago... it was barely in it's conception.... seats with 30lb rf limits had just been made the standard.

so pat yourself on the back for insisting on going by the 1yr AND 20lb rule and for knowing that was when she should be turned back then.

I am sorry your daughter/dil wouldn't listen to your wise advice.

[jeanum]

The 1" rule for RF isn't the case for the Scenera because the Scenera manual specifies it's not outgrown by height until the midpoint of the child's head is at the top of the seat's shell. The manual makes no distinction for RF vs. FF with this height limitation. I was pleasantly surprised to see this while perusing the manual. And of course it would be outgrown by height FF if the shoulders are above the top harness slots if this occurs first before the midpoint of the head is above the top of the shell, but it does potentially buy extra time to RF in the Scenera.

[Kat_Mom2D_J_andRuthie]

I'm going by Cosco's faq... I looked it up when Ruthie was using her Scenera....

Q. How long should my child remain rear facing?
A. Infants should remain rear facing until they are both 1 year old and weigh 22 pounds. However, it is important to remember that all children grow at different rates. Your child may outgrow his infant seat before he is 1 year old. <U>You must stop using the seat when the top of your child’s head comes within one inch of the top of the car seat.</U> If this happens, you can move your child to a convertible seat that rear faces to 35 pounds or he may need to ride forward facing if he is over 1 year old.

http://www.coscojuvenile.com/faq-1.asp?categoryID=2

[jeanum]

The 1" inch quote from the FAQ appears to be the general rule of thumb for the infant seat. It specifically says midpoint of the child's head in the Scenera's manual on the top of page 4, in the Warning section of the manual: "Do not use this child restraint if the midpoint of the child's head is above the top of the child restraint."

Again, it's potentially extra time to RF for taller/long torsoed, thinner kids and I'm all for it since it's safer than FF. :)

[Joolsplus2]

Evenflo 'invented' the 'one inch rule' for all it's seats, but in general, yeah, it's one inch for infant seats and I like the AAP recommendation of 'head EVEN with top of seat'.....it's good to know the Scenera is copying Britaxes with the 'tops of ears at top of seatback' rule (seriously, rearfacing is just so incredibly safe...the thing is, if you are in a crash bad enough for the head to injuriously strike the interior of the car in a rearfacing seat, can you imagine how bad off the same kid would be forward facing in the same crash???? ouch).

:)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 3 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[Joolsplus2]

woo hoo! smart girl!
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 3 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[babybunny]

My husband just sent me this link regarding when to turn around the car seat for my 18 month old son ---

http://www.buckleupamerica.org/partnership/2004/cps/Materials/CPSpostcard.pdf

He was happy to find this because he really wants to turn him around.

so I sent him this link back....
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx

and I send an email message to the Buckle Up America folks asking them if they have any information on their web site about the virtues of leaving the toddlers rearfacing AS LONG AS POSSIBLE!!!!

What are the limits on a Britax Marathon for rearfacing?

[Joolsplus2]

33 pounds and about 50 inches tall for RF on the Marathon (lol, crazy, huh? a REALLY tall kid! see the link in my sig).

this is a good article http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9916868/
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 3 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[tjham]

I just got out my Scenera book and on page 10, it says RF, 5-35 lbs. and 19-36 inches. It also says FF 22-40 lbs and 34-43". (Interesting it has a FF minimum height!) She is already 43"!
BUT she has a short torso. I may try it and she may go for it for the novelty of it but I won't make her stay that way if she changes her mind. I don't think the Scenera will fit her for long either way!

I have a Chase and am thinking about a Platinum Cargo cause I really want something that reclines a bit more.

[Joolsplus2]

Yeah, they say 36 inches because they are legally required to give a top height limit, not because that's really the tallest height that's safe to fit in the seat. Top of head even with top of seat (or if scenera really says top of ears even with top of seat for RF....) is really fine :)

Julie CPS Tech and mom to 3 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[babybunny]

Thanks for the MSNBC article. I had read that in November, and passed it onto my husband (my son turned 1 in November so the issue came up). How quickly they forget!

[Kat_Mom2D_J_andRuthie]

It was all I could ever find on rf... so I was playing it safe... but when I see you and a tech saying head even with shell, hey, I'm happy to have been wrong.

Because, with the head being able to go even, for thinner kids, you could really be using it like a rearfacing only seat, and it would make it last longer then.