If you have a low-weight child, when did you/would you turn them FF?

[Aishe]

DH asked me the other day when I plan to turn DS FF. DH is completely on board with extended RF, but I understand why he's asking: DS turns 3 next week and he weighs a whopping 24 lbs. Between 1 and 3 he has gained a total of 5 lbs. I am happy to keep him RF as long as possible, but at his current rate of growth he'll be in middle school before he reaches the RF weight limit on his seat! (Okay, that's an exaggeration, but you get the idea.) I suspect he will not want to go to kindergarten while RF, kwim? So I'm curious at what age people are comfortable turning a child FF, regardless of his/her weight.

[TwoBees]

I'm also curious to see what others say. DD is another one of those kids who will still be RFing in middle school at the rate we are going.

[Nechums]

I was just wondering this myself. DS is about 30 pounds at 3.25 yrs and on the short side. His seat goes to 40 pounds rear facing. I guess as long as he's happy, there's no reason to switch him, right?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[Multimama]

The reasons to keep a child rear-facing have to do with skeletal structure and not weight. The spine is fully fused like an adult's spine sometime between age 4-6 (varies). So I would feel comfortable turning a child FF after age 4 no matter how much they weighed, but would probably keep them rear-facing as long as they didn't request to be turned around. (Because rear-facing is safer for everyone!) To my mind the ideal from a safety standard would be to keep them rear-facing until they had the maturity to sit properly in a booster. For most kids that's between the age of 5 and 6. But obviously real life factors can sometimes interfere with safety goals.

[wencit]

I have another relatively low weight kid (26lbs at age 2 1/2), and to be honest, it makes me a little happy that I can keep him RFing that much longer. Of course things can always change, but I don't plan to turn him around until he reaches the limits of his seat (33lbs on our older style MA). In fact, I think the seat might expire before he outgrows it (it was a hand-me-down from DS1). DS1 was a much bigger kid and outgrew the MA when he was just under 3yo, and to me, it seemed like he was still on the young side to be turning him. Of course, back then I was a nervous-nelly first-time mom, so my perspective might have been different than it is now! ;) I remember thinking that age 4 would have seemed like the perfect minimum cut-off for FFing and wishing that we had made it that long with DS1.

I agree with a PP who said that as long as the child isn't complaining, then there's probably no point in rocking the boat.

[TwinFoxes]

They were 3.5. They were getting close to/at the height limit, but nowhere near the weight limit.

[arivecchi]

The reasons to keep a child rear-facing have to do with skeletal structure and not weight. The spine is fully fused like an adult's spine sometime between age 4-6 (varies). Niccig posted some awesome information about this a while back:

http://windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=180970&highlight=head+fused+spine

I am personally comfortable turning FF at or close to 3 regardless of weight.

[jjordan]

My personal rules of thumb are as follows:
1. I will buy a new seat to keep a child RF if he/she outgrows his/her RF seat before age 3
2. If a child of mine still fits RF at age 4, he/she can turn to FF if he/she requests it.

[HIU8]

DS finally reached 33 lbs (the RF weight limit of our Marathon) at 3 1/2 yrs old. That is when he got turned.

[goldenpig]

My 4.5 year old daughter is 30 lb and is requesting to be turned FF so we are finally doing it. Our Advocate goes to 35 lb and she's still short enough but DS is growing out of the Diplomat so we need it for him anyways. I have a First Years True Fit that I will FF and Graco Nautilus (FF 5 pt booster) for her. I bought the Nautilus last year but we have mainly been using it for travel up until now.

I think getting to age 4 is enough for rear-facing. Really whatever you can do past two is great!

[AnnieW625]

We have no rules now as we have never rear faced this long (20 months). We turned DD1 at 12 months because we didn't know any better; she was 22lbs. Right now DD2 is 26lbs and rear facing in both of our cars. DH is kind of pressuring me to turn her around when she turns 2 in April, but I just sent him the spine pictures, and Jools' link. It would be nice if we could make it to 3 or 3/1/2 when DD2 starts preschool as my DCP will most likely be taking her and since she doesn't transport the infants I don't expect her to have a rear facing car seat in her car 2 or 3 days a week.

I did pick up one of those $100 RA55 seats from Wayfair because her older Evenflo seat was set to expire in September and at less than 2/1/2 I wasn't comfortable moving her to a Frontier full time, and for $100 that was a good deal on the seat.

[Multimama]

Just to clarify since you asked for what people personally do, I did FF DS on a recent trip because he has outgrown our travel seat RF. He's over 3 and I really didn't have a problem with it. Just made sure to attach the tether whenever possible! He still rides RF on local trips though.

[Aishe]

Thanks for the feedback. To be clear, I understand why it's important to RF. I kept dd RF until she reached the weight limit of her seat, and I fully intended to do the same with ds. But I didn't expect him to be so scrawny! I have to think he will be agitating to FF at some point, but I certainly won't turn him before then (and maybe not even then, depending on how old he is). I was just curious about people's thresholds for turning FF.

[TwoBees]

Thanks for the feedback. To be clear, I understand why it's important to RF. I kept dd RF until she reached the weight limit of her seat, and I fully intended to do the same with ds. But I didn't expect him to be so scrawny! I have to think he will be agitating to FF at some point, but I certainly won't turn him before then (and maybe not even then, depending on how old he is). I was just curious about people's thresholds for turning FF.

I completely understand where you are coming from. I, personally, have no intention of turning DD any time soon, but I do wonder at least once a week how old she will be before I feel comfortable turning her. She's 2 years 3 months, and only 19 or 20 lbs. It just feels like we will NEVER reach the RF limit of the seat, KWIM?

[TwinFoxes]

Totally o/t, but do you ever see 3 year olds IRL RF? I never have. If I ever do I'll assume the mom's a BBBer. :)

[twowhat?]

Ours are 3 years 4 months, 28.5 pounds, and still RF in our primary car (Odyssey) and we just in the past several weeks turned them FF in our secondary car (Forester)...for those who know the older-model Foresters the front-to-back space is AWFUL. I am impressed we kept them RF past 3 in that car, but DH and I were tired of being really cramped up front.

I don't know when we'll turn them in the minivan. Honestly, I have no desire to uninstall, wash, vacuum and then re-install those Radians:) And they have not complained once so RF they stay for now. We have the 45 lb RF limit Radians and I am CERTAIN we will turn them before they hit that weight:)

The only other 3yo I've seen RF is my friend and co-worker (not a BBBer...as far as I know anyway) who kept her child RF in a Roundabout 55 until just a few weeks ago (same age as our girls but only 26 pounds).

I usually see 3yos in boosters here. Yikes.

[abh5e8]

just turned dd...she will be 5 next week. :) (both ds's still RF)

[MSWR0319]

Totally o/t, but do you ever see 3 year olds IRL RF? I never have. If I ever do I'll assume the mom's a BBBer. :)

I'm the only person with a child over 3 ( probably over 2, more likely 1) that I know still has a child RF. the moms at story time think I'm wierd but they can get over it. I stay out of carseat discussions because I don't agree with their take on the matter.

[Simon]

Your Dc sounds similar in size to ours.

We turned Ds1 FF around age 3.5 (maybe 28lbs?) when he had a total meltdown about riding RF one day when he was really sick (didn't realize it at the time, thought he was exaggerating :bag:) and we were taking him out to run errands. After that, it depended. We did turn him back to RF for highway driving and long trips until closer to 4/4.5.

Ds2 is just barely 2yo and not yet 24lbs and we'll keep him RF until at least 3yo I'd say, unless he outgrows our RF-ing seats by height.

[Joolsplus2]

Totally o/t, but do you ever see 3 year olds IRL RF? I never have. If I ever do I'll assume the mom's a BBBer. :)

My dh and I saw what looked to be a very old preschooler RF, he noticed the age, and I noticed the over-reclined seat :tongue5: (then the next day, I saw some well installed Radians, I don't know how old the kids were in that, but I was crazy happy to see it).

[mjs64]

My dh and I saw what looked to be a very old preschooler RF, he noticed the age, and I noticed the over-reclined seat :tongue5: (then the next day, I saw some well installed Radians, I don't know how old the kids were in that, but I was crazy happy to see it).

Was it overreclined because of the age of the child or just beyond 45 degrees? I can't tell with my current install whether it's overrelined or not. I added a pool noodle cause I thought it wasn't reclined enough. Sorry for the hijack.

[wellyes]

DD was about 33-34lbs and 3.5 years when we turned her. Her seat went to 35, and I didn't want to risk going rear beyond that.

I don't see many rf 3 year olds. Or 2 year olds. I see a lot of babies buckled in wearing thick winter coats. I see 3 year olds in backless boosters. This is one area where I feel zero peer pressure to conform.

[emschwar]

My younger son is 4.25 now, and a whopping 32 lbs on a heavy day. He's still rear-facing, and hasn't complained about it once. I have no idea when I'll turn him. At the rate he's growing, he'll be 6 before he hits the 40 lb rf weight limit on the seat. I figure if he starts complaining, I'll turn him. If he never does, I don't know. I may turn him before he starts kindergarten - it seems kind of silly to go to kindergarten (and he'll be the oldest in his class, thanks to his just past the cut off date birthdate) while still rearfacing!

[123LuckyMom]

DS is 3 yrs 3 months and 30lbs and is still rear facing. I feel lucky he gets to be in that safer position for as long as possible. He's still comfortable and hasn't requested to be turned. I get lots of funny looks from other parents, but I don't care. If he makes it RF to age 4 and wants to turn, I'll be fine with that, but for now, I see this extra time as a blessing. I've educated my best friend, too, so her daughter, who is three weeks older and taller than DS, is also still RF. My friend has two car seats in her car, so the kids have ridden together in her car often. They're both happy as clams-- and safer!

[MissyAg94]

We turned DD at 4yo.