Over One Year, Under 20 Lbs - Rear Facing?

[Anonymous]

Everything I have read says 20 lbs and one year before car seat goes forward facing. My DD is 18 lbs (lost weight when started walking) and 13 mths...would you stay rear facing? What about when their feet touch the back of the seat at rear facing...is this safe?

[Anonymous]

Wait until both 1 year and 20 lbs...and beyond that it's safer to stay rear-facing. No worries about the feet touching.

[Anonymous]

My DD hit 20 pounds at 15 or 16 months. We just crossed her legs before that and kept her rear-facing. She is actually so small that we recently traveled with her SafeSeat (lighter than the Britax) and put her rear-facing again at almost 2 (but she is still within the height and weight limits.)

[Anonymous]

Check the rear facing height and weight limits for your specific car seat. They should be on a sticker on the seat itself or in the owner's manual -- no need to turn front facing until your child exceeds those limits. Rear facing is safer, even with crossed legs.

[jenuag]

recent studies have shown that is safest to keep using them rear facing until the max or 33lbs at least thats a britax limit, it may very seat to seat.

[Anonymous]

OP here - Thanks everyone. One more question - we have the Britax seat in the middle...it creates a little bit of a blind spot for the driver...and we can't see my DD. Any suggestions?

[Anonymous]

could you get a mirror? Maybe that will help with the problem of not being able to see your child.

as for the blind spot, I would probably switch the seat to a different seating position. My car doesn't even HAVE a middle seat in the back, so my daughter has always been behind the passenger. I wonder what a CPS tech would recommend - it can't be good to have a seat creating a blind spot!

But, I definitely would keep your child rear-facing until 20 lbs - in many places, that is the law. A lot of people are doing extended rear-facing these days, but FWIW, I turned my daughter around at 13 months in my car and 15ish months in my husband's car. She is a tiny thing, but also a complete terror in the car - I was glad that she hit 20 lbs right around a year!

[Anonymous]

Since we are talking about - what is safest ....
it is also safest NOT to have a mirror or roller sunscreens (as wll as anything else in the back seat - like an umbrella on the floor)

In case of an accident these can fly around the car and hit passengers.

[Anonymous]

In an accident, it's safer to have the baby seat in the middle. But if you have a blind spot because of the seat, then your odds of getting in a collision go up quite a bit! So it sounds like you should move the seat.

[Anonymous]

I believe teh recommendation is center sit, drivers, then passengers...


I heard that instinctivly you will protect your "side" of the car in an accident if possible? so it would be safer to be on the drivers side if tha tmakes sense

on a differnt note I have an almost 16lb 1 year old and they will stay refacing for a couple more years (I have also have a 3 year old still rearfacing in the britax since hes not to tall and doesnt weigh to much yet)

oh and the 3 year old knows no differnt so hes never cared hes rearfacing its normal to him
he sits with his legs crosslegged (other then when hes kicking his older brother who is trapped in the middle of the mayhem

[Anonymous]

I didn't know the 2nd best spot was behind the driver for a carseat (our second row has only seperate seats - not a bench - so there's not "middle seat" to put DD's carseat in). We've put her behind the passenger figuring it's safer for removing her from the car since that's the sidewalk side (vs. the "traffic" side of the driver when parked on the road).

[Anonymous]

the answer is, YES, rear facing.

20lbs and 1 year is only the MINIMUM for turning it around. It's better to keep them rear facing as long as possible because they are far safter that way.