You should leave RF until they reach the max height/weight of the convertible seat for RF.
Their legs will be fine, they’re not like us.
Car seat tech

2 on the dot. Kid number one had severe motion sickness issues. Kids 2/3 wanted to flip.

Right at 2

I have a kid almost 5 still rear facing and honestly it's mostly just personality and size (and the fact of no older siblings) that let us last this long. I figured we'd turn much sooner but she never pushed it or complained and I didn't feel pressured to do it for any reason other than her comfort. She's pretty small for her age (around 30 lbs) so she's nowhere near weight limits, which means to me that it really is safest for her to rear face. She never gets car sick and she entertains herself with toys etc in the car. Leg space started to bother her last year and we switched to a Graco Extend2Fit carseat which gave her a little more leg room and haven't had any complaints since. She has just started to ask to face forward after doing it with friends on playdates and we're thinking about it once she's 5 this fall at least for around town trips (vs long distance). My issue is her 2-year old brother will then want to face forward and I'd like to get him to at least 35 lbs first (he's nowhere near as small). But if it happens, it happens.

Anonymous wrote:How were your kids sitting rear facing at 5? Weren’t their legs scrunched up? What kind of car seat did you use that accommodated them rear facing for so long.

Not the PP but her kid is probably just on the smaller size. My son is 5th percentile and still easily fits rear facing in the Chicco Nextfit at almost 4. I could definitely see this working for another year. On the other hand, my mom has some kind of Britax in her car and he already outgrew rear facing in that one and we had to flip him forward facing a couple months ago.

How were your kids sitting rear facing at 5? Weren’t their legs scrunched up? What kind of car seat did you use that accommodated them rear facing for so long.

At 5

Mine faced forward at 2.5. She is large for her age. It was game-changing in terms of making car rides less stressful because she could actually see in front of her so she didn't feel left out or fight the car seat.

People will flame me on this but it worked for us.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My child is 4 and still within the height and weight limits for her rear-facing seat, but should I switch it to face forward?

Not unless you want to. You can stay rear facing until you hit the limit.

2.5, mainly because it’s so much easier for me to get kiddo in and out without straining my back. Honestly it’s really nice for us to interact directly at stop lights and talk more about what we’re both seeing. Our pediatrician shrugged.

OP here. My child is 4 and still within the height and weight limits for her rear-facing seat, but should I switch it to face forward?

2

Anonymous wrote:3.5

+1, it might even have been closer to 4 for us.

The main reasons I know of for switching earlier than that are (1) if the child gets severely car sick, switching to front facing can address this issue even though it's not the ideal position in the car, (2) hit the weight max for rear-facing earlier.

One thing our pediatrician told us is that height on it's own is not a reason to turn them around, unless their upper body is outgrowing the rear-facing seat to the point where their head can't be properly cradled in the seat (if it's over the top of the seat, you lose the main benefit to rear facing). But having longer legs that are up against the back of the seat is not, by itself, a safety risk. The main concern is head injury, not leg injuries, and it's better to keep your kid rear-facing as long as possible to prevent head injuries.

3.5

How old was your child when you switched to a forward-facing car seat?