Rear facing question

[drako]

This may be a silly question but this is my first child so we don't have much experience with car seats! I know it is recommended to keep DC rear facing as long as possible and some of the seats can rear face to 35 - 45 pounds. My question is, how does a child that big sit comfortably rear facing? They would need to dangle their legs and the back of the seat wouldn't allow that, right? My nephew is 4 years old and 40 pounds and I just can't see him rear facing...where would he put his legs?

Thanks, just wondering how important high rear facing weights are if a child can't rear face because they are too tall for it.

[HIU8]

DS RF until age 3 yrs 4 months. He either propped his feet on the seatback or dangled his legs or sat with legs crossed. He never complained once about being uncomfortable. DD is currently RF at 28 months. She now props her feet up or lets her knees go to the side. She doesn't not complain either.

[KrisM]

Kids are really flexible. Way more so than an adult. My kids sat cross-legged, with them up on the seat, or just where ever. Never complained. When they move to FF, they complained more and still ended up crossing them or somehow propping them up so that they don't dangle. Having nothing to put feet on can be uncomfortable.

[tnrnchick74]

Funny, I just had this conversation with a preggo friend of mine. She was asking me about convertable carseats, which one to add to her registry, etc.

I told her about Britax & Radian rear tethering and the higher limits, extended RF, etc. She told he she thought it was CRUEL to keep a kid RF that long because they would be uncomfortable.

I then showed her pics of my BIG 16 month old RF...and she saw how comfy he was...even with his legs crossed over. He was passed out cold.

THEN we looked at the youtube videos of crash tests...she doesn't think its that cruel anymore.

[arivecchi]

It is safest for your kid to rear face as long as possible. Head over to carseat.org for tons of information on rear facing. The techs and posters there have their kids rear facing until they are 4 and even 5. The kids can cross their legs or prop them up in the back seat like PPs said. I am turning my super tall (40 inches tall) almost 3 year old back to rear face (ordered the new Radian XT SL) and have no concerns about his legs. Kids actually injure their legs more often in forward facing seats and in any event, I'd rather deal with an injured leg than an injured neck.

http://www.car-seat.org/

http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html

[doberbrat]

dd rf until she turned 3 and was 33 lbs (the limit of her seat at the time) when we turned her FF she complained bitterly about how she had nowhere to put her legs.

rf she'd just cross her legs or prop them up on the seatback or hang them off the side.

[Joolsplus2]

Yup, lots more comfy RF than FF. Think of it like a La-Z-boy chair. When they are RF it's like it's reclined, they just prop their feet up or cross them and are way comfy. When they go FF, usually the legs just dangle. Some kids even get their legs falling asleep, or back pain (and the risk of leg injury is actually much, much higher when they are FF, because the legs are dangling and fly forward to hit the ankles on the front seatbacks or against the door in a side crash).
I found it easier to RF my kids up to much older ages (wearing size 4 and 5 pants, so pretty long legs) in our minivan, while it does get kind of hard to fold them up in a smaller sedan or SUV that doesn't have reclining seatbacks (toddler origami, if you will, lol). My older dd made it to 4.5 in our minivan, but only to about 3.5 in our old subcompact car due to the annoying buckling process. I think there's a link in my siggy showing my younger dd at 3 RF and how comfy she looks :)
The next safest thing to rearfacing is to make sure you have your forward facing seat top tethered. That does a great deal to prevent head and neck injuries that are so much more likely in frontal crashes.

Edit, Oh, that link is her at 2, she looks the same at 3, but her legs are just a bit longer, lol.

[codex57]

Like tnrnchick74 (http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/member.php?u=12143) said, the easiest way to feel comfortable about it is to hop on youtube and watch the crash videos. Or, look up "internal decapitation."

As a new parent, your only point of reference is really what your own adult body is like. Kids are TOTALLY different. If you see enough candid kid photos of them asleep, they fall get comfortable and fall asleep in the most bizarre positions. Positions that would put a regular adult in traction at the hospital.

[drako]

Thank you everyone! DD will stay rear facing as long as possible. The youtube videos confirmed keeping them rear facing as long as possible.

[mom2binsd]

Also, over at www.car-seat.org there are lots of pictures in the signatures of the members with many rearfacing kiddo's if you want real life pictures not just crash dummies....thanks to Julie (joolsplus3) for getting me hooked on another site, but it's a good one!!!

[arivecchi]

Thank you everyone! DD will stay rear facing as long as possible. The youtube videos confirmed keeping them rear facing as long as possible.:cheerleader1:

[AJP]

I found it easier to RF my kids up to much older ages (wearing size 4 and 5 pants, so pretty long legs) in our minivan, while it does get kind of hard to fold them up in a smaller sedan or SUV that doesn't have reclining seatbacks (toddler origami, if you will, lol).
Sorry to hi-jack the thread but I have a ?
Jools, is it ok then to recline the car's seat-back where the seat is installed? I have mine upright b/c it allowed me to reach the LATCH easier & my girls still have LOTS of leg room at 14 months. It's good to know that the seat-back can be reclined to offer a little more room down the road. Off to read my manual again. I don't recall seeing anything about this.

[AnnieW625]

I was one of those too who never thought Rfing wouldn't be comfy either, but honestly once we moved DD FFing in her Marathon at 12 mos. she fought us every time she was in it for 18 mos. or so! Because our seat is only rated to 33lbs we would've only been able to rear face just past 2/1/2 (and then she didn't gain a lb until after she was 3), but it would've saved me a whole lot of grief for that year she was 1. She never complained in her Triumph 5 though, which was more padded in the thigh than the Marathon was.

[Joolsplus2]

Yeah, you can recline the vehicle seatback a couple notches, AS LONG AS the seat is still installed properly (less than one inch of movement side to side or front to back at the belt or LATCH path).

:)