When to put car seat forward facing?

[Riley's mama]

DD is almost 13 months old and is in a convertible seat facing backwards. She has a Britax Marathon, which says you can face backwards up to 35 pounds. She is nowhere near that, but I am just wondering when others have switched (a friend of mine put her DD facing forward because her daughter's legs couldn't be straight while facing backward).

Just wondering if there is any reason to face her forward before the weight limit? TIA!

[KrisM]

I would wait until the limit of the seat is reached. Rear facing is 5 times safer than forward facing. Legs being bent is not a problem. Kids are very bendy :).

I would consider turning if the child was carsick backwards and not forward (but usually backwards is better), or some other reason. Personally, DS1 reached the weight limit at 26 months. DD was within 2 lbs of the limit at 26 months, but she and DS1 were poking each other in the face, so I turned to save eyes (3 in a row, so they were next to each other). DS2 is 1 and he should make it past age 2.

The current recommendation from AAP is a minimum of 2 years.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Ds2 is 19m and will be rf'ing till he hits the weight limit on his Marathon.

Broken legs or broken spine is the thing I always think of when people are concerned about legs in rf'ing. I don't think I have heard of broken legs from rf'ing either.

Keep her rf'ing. It's safer.

Beth

[lorinick]

I would keep her rf at least until age two the new recommandation. Don't worry about her legs. It's not anything to worry about. My goal was age two, and my son turns two on Sunday. I'm keeping him rf, but not sure I'll do it to the weight limit of the seat. But I'm not ready to turn him yet. I do know it 5x safer. So hoping I won't get alot of neg. out cry that it may not be to the weight 35lb limit of my seats. I'm still very happy and pround we have made it this far and still going.

I think 13 months is to soon to turn so I would recommend to wait until at least two or the weight limit of your MA.

[niccig]

DS rear-faced until 3 years old. He was very happy and content, and would put his legs over the side of the seat. RF is 5 times safer, so it's the safest way for your little one to ride in the car.

As for the "their legs will break". That has never happened. In fact, Jools posted a study that shows that kids that forward face have more leg injuries, as their legs fly out in front of them and hit the seat in front/door/car that t-boned you.

Look here for photos of why your 13 month's old spine is not up to withstanding crash forces as well as an older child...

http://windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=180970

[AnnieW625]

I turned my daughter around FFIng at 12 months in both of our cars. We have never been in an accident. I have one friend whose son is still RFing at 22 mos., and that's because he has hydrocephylus, otherwise all of the other kids I know were turned around near their first birthday. I think I am about the only person here who started FFing at 12 mos. I'd like to make it to 2 when we have the next child.

[srhs]

About the legs, I perused some of the sites stickied here at the brilliant BBB awhile back and remember reading the car seat lady's site saying:

"Simply put, there are ZERO documented cases of rear-facing children breaking their legs, hips, feet, etc., due to their feet touching the back of the vehicle seat. However, since it looks plausible, this rumor persists."

http://www.thecarseatlady.com/car_seats/rear-facing_seats_6.html

[DebbieJ]

Another vote to keep RF til the limits of the seat.

My DS was RF-ing until he was 3 ish.

[mommyp]

DD is 18m and still RF. We will go to the limits of the seat, which will probably take us to sometime next year. For us the limit will be reached by height I'm sure since she is currently 33 in and only 22.5 lb.

[urquie]

we turned dd1 ff when she was 3+. early on, i felt like her legs might be uncomfortable or squished... i was so wrong! she had a fit when we turned her around because she couldn't get her legs comfortable. also, her random toys fell down much more often.

[codex57]

Almost 22 months and 25 lbs/34". Still RF and have no plans on changing that.

[Joolsplus2]

My girls made it to 4 and 3 rearfacing. In a small sedan, it got super hard to RF at about age 3, but in our minivan they'd comfortably make it to a full 40 pounds at age 5 now in a Sunshine Kids Radian or Safety 1st Complete Air.
Here's the AAP commentary on RF to 2... http://aapnews.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/30/4/12-a and click the link in my siggy (the 'front facing too soon' header on the left is what you want to click on after you see my kiddo) :)

[wendibird22]

My DD is 2 and 25lbs and RF. She doesn't seem to mind and it's actually easier for me to reach her hand and hand her toys and stuff from the front seat of my Ody. We may have to turn her FF in DHs 2-dr Civic when DC2 arrives because it'll be too hard to get her in the seat around an infant seat.

[vludmilla]

We are RF DD who will be 3 in August. She has no problems at all with her legs and she seems to like RF. It is getting tougher for me to get her in the seat but it feels worth it to keep her safer.

[khalloc]

I turned DD around at 18 months and will turn DS around at 18 months also - I would really do longer, but having the seat backwards prevents my husband from sitting in the seat in front of it. Its a real PITA. So I dont mind putting up with it for 18 months, but after that I am anxious to get back space in my car.

[brittone2]

DS is built on the smaller/lighter side and RFd until he was 3.5 with no complaints. DD is 2.5 and still RF, no complaints.

Neither kid liked the carseat at all in infancy, but as they got older (18 months to two years) became better travelers. Neither ever had any issue w/ extended RFing.