This thread is peak DCUM. JFC people, be nice.

Mine RF until 2, but she threw up in the car and was in the 90+ percentile for size. It made a world of difference in her comfort, so I don't regret doing it, but if I had a smaller or less sensitive kid, I may have done it longer. One big thing is being able to reach around and unsnap the harness. Mine has been getting herself in and out of the car since she was 2.5.

My son is 10 and my first child. We RF until the second child came along and had to move his car seat from the middle of the car to behind the driver’s seat. So, he was 3 years and a few months old. He never had any problems RF either.

My 15-year-old rear face until 3 1/2. That was to the limit of the Britax seat that we had at the time. His younger sister rear faced until 2 1/2. Same brand Britax seat, but she was a much bigger child. She also rear face to the limits of the seat at the time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Goodness, how times change. When my 10 year old was 13 months old, he flipped to a FF, because that’s what the pediatricians said was OK. i guess cars and car seats have changed a lot since then...

“OK” might be good enough for you and your family, but some of us want the best option.

What's with the sanctimony? It was ten years ago.

You're well aware that you were being obnoxious, making fun of people who do the best thing for their kids and RF as long as possible.

I don’t see any snark in the pp’s comments. My kid is 18 and my pediatrician said as long as the baby is 20 lbs and 12 mos, it was safe to turn them around. I imagine that a lot has changed with regard to carseat and vehicle safety in the ensuing almost 20 years.

ditto. I thought the original PP talking about times having changed typed exactly what was in my mind. We waited all the way until DD and DS were almost 18 months old (they're now 11 and 14) and that was longer than our pediatrician at the time had recommended. Times have changed. I had no idea people RF until age 4. It's amazing how these recommendations change. There's not judgement in my comment or the original PPs. Just an observation. Times changed. Wow.

Our younger DD vomits in the car. The ped. actually said she’d write a note to FF before age two (the law in my state) because the frequency and volume of vomit was concerning and it wasn’t a choice to never take her in the car.

We chose to wait it out, but did FF at age two. We did FF with out older daughter at age 2 also. The guidance to try to go past age two came out after she was born, I think. She’s 7 now and in a booster but a lot of her friends are still in harnesses and at least one friend’s family doesn’t use a booster for their child anymore.

My sister has a 10 yr old and the guidance to rear face to at least age two came out shortly after she’d let her start FF (before age two) so she chose to keep her forward.

Anonymous wrote:If you want the safest possible, don’t even get on the road. Keep them locked in your home at all times.

I get you’re being sarcastic but RF is practical and easy and your “solution” is not for most people. I’m well aware not driving is safer than driving. I’m also well aware that if you do drive, RF is much safer than FF and it’s something I can easily do to ensure when we are driving, we are as safe as we can possibly be while in the car.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So glad my kid is 18! Flipped him right at 1. SO MUCH BETTER!!!

In what way exactly? My kid is 3 and rear facing and I literally don’t think about it until I see these threads. She’s happy. I’m happy. I don’t see what we’ll possibly gain when we turn her (which may be awhile since she’s 28 lbs and our seat rear faces until 40lbs.)

We do extended rear facing too so obviously I think RF for as long as possible is best and most kids are perfectly fine/happy with it. For some kids, though, FF reduces motion sickness and they can see more of their surroundings/out the window when they’re FF. Otherwise, I don’t think there’s much difference really. I thought my sons legs were getting cramped RF at almost 4 but he never complained once and when we did finally flip him, he actually didn’t like FF at first because he said his legs were just hanging there and he had no where to put them. So (for us at least) there really wasn’t any reason to flip them til they reached the height/weight limits. They were totally fine with RF.

Anonymous wrote:

So glad my kid is 18! Flipped him right at 1. SO MUCH BETTER!!!

In what way exactly? My kid is 3 and rear facing and I literally don’t think about it until I see these threads. She’s happy. I’m happy. I don’t see what we’ll possibly gain when we turn her (which may be awhile since she’s 28 lbs and our seat rear faces until 40lbs.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Goodness, how times change. When my 10 year old was 13 months old, he flipped to a FF, because that’s what the pediatricians said was OK. i guess cars and car seats have changed a lot since then...

“OK” might be good enough for you and your family, but some of us want the best option.

What's with the sanctimony? It was ten years ago.

You're well aware that you were being obnoxious, making fun of people who do the best thing for their kids and RF as long as possible.

I don’t see any snark in the pp’s comments. My kid is 18 and my pediatrician said as long as the baby is 20 lbs and 12 mos, it was safe to turn them around. I imagine that a lot has changed with regard to carseat and vehicle safety in the ensuing almost 20 years.

We had to flip around them. Dd started looking more at books during car rides at this age and was getting more and more car sickness.

We can read face to 45lbs I think.