We just turned our daughter. She's 20 months and just hit 20 pounds. But her legs were getting scrunched up too, which was the real reason for the switch.

To answer OP's question, we're still RFing at 22 months and will continue until DC outgrows the seat. I was persuaded by the data and also know a toddler who was in a coma following a car accident. There were lots of factors in that accident, but the experience added an emotional and personal weight to our choice that might have been absent otherwise. Now that DC is tall enough to see out the windows there's no fussing. If DC developed motion sickness we might reconsider; as it is, I SAH so there is no mandatory commute each day that would make motion sickness difficult to work around.

Anonymous wrote:You gotta have some faith and confidence people! Of course RF is limiting them. Who faces backward in a seat normally? They can see out the window but they can't see you. There's no interaction. We FF at 12M. He was so much happier. I cannot imagine keeping a child RF until 4 yrs old sorry. What happens if you get rear ended?

If you get rear-ended, you are most likely either stopped or traveling at low speed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Compare the two in this video. There is no airbag in the front passenger seat. Pay close attention to the squished legs in the rear facing seat and the neck and legs in the forward facing seat. You just can't change physics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKIeExpDLDA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I can't believe anyone would FF after watching this!

I can't believe you're so passionate!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your child likes being RF, leave them. But a child who cries, yells, vomits etc.. is very distracting for the driver and increases the risk of being in an accident.

That's the minority of kids, though, not the rule.

Statistics? Data studies? Please, provide them. If you're going to make generalizations based on your own experience, then don't state them as facts. If you can provide facts, then please do so.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He's 2.5, 36" and still RF. We were planning to turn him around for an upcoming trip, but sadly,our neighbor was recently in a terrible car accident and lost her older son (whom I assume was in a booster), the younger child survived. I know this type of accident is rare, but having it happen to a family we know was made me re-evaluate my plan to turn him around. Our neighbor, like us, drives smaller car, so that also influences our decision.

But see the only two kids I know who were severely injured in car accidents were both rear facing. One died and the other has a permanent brain injury and requires 24 hour care. In both cases no one else in the car had any injuries beyond bumps and bruises.

Well then it must be safer to FF! Oh wait, the plural of anecdotes isn't data. And the data is pretty overwhelming that RF is safer.

Oh aren't you so witty. I wasn't saying FF was safer or basing my decision on anecdotes - not sure where you read that. The first poster was saying because a child who was RF wasn't hurt that convinced her to RF. She was basing her decision on anecdotes and I was just saying that the opposite can happen as well. RF isn't safer if you are hit at high speeds from behind - that happens less often but as I said I know of two cases so it isn't rare. I would hope that no one would base their decision on positive or negative stories.

You gotta have some faith and confidence people! Of course RF is limiting them. Who faces backward in a seat normally? They can see out the window but they can't see you. There's no interaction. We FF at 12M. He was so much happier. I cannot imagine keeping a child RF until 4 yrs old sorry. What happens if you get rear ended?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Compare the two in this video. There is no airbag in the front passenger seat. Pay close attention to the squished legs in the rear facing seat and the neck and legs in the forward facing seat. You just can't change physics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKIeExpDLDA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I can't believe anyone would FF after watching this!

Oh, but my angel can see so much better when FF!

Anonymous wrote:Compare the two in this video. There is no airbag in the front passenger seat. Pay close attention to the squished legs in the rear facing seat and the neck and legs in the forward facing seat. You just can't change physics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKIeExpDLDA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I can't believe anyone would FF after watching this!

18 months. They're happier and we can pass things to them easier.

Compare the two in this video. There is no airbag in the front passenger seat. Pay close attention to the squished legs in the rear facing seat and the neck and legs in the forward facing seat. You just can't change physics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKIeExpDLDA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I'm struggling with this right now. We moved DD# to FF at 1 year because we didn't know any better. I'd like to keep DD#2 at RF until age 2 yrs. I'm not sure how long we can keep her RF. She throws a constant tantrum and stiffens her legs so that I can't get her in the seat. The carseat is so bulky that it's hard to get her in RF even when she's calm and with the fighting it just makes it worse. It took 20 minutes to get her in the car yesterday.

She can see DD#1 more easily when she's RF. Since the carseat blocks her side view she won't be able to see her sister FF. DH has moved her to FF in his car so this may be where the resistence is coming from. I'm not one of those naive people who think 'it can never happen to me' so I'm trying to tough it out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He's 2.5, 36" and still RF. We were planning to turn him around for an upcoming trip, but sadly,our neighbor was recently in a terrible car accident and lost her older son (whom I assume was in a booster), the younger child survived. I know this type of accident is rare, but having it happen to a family we know was made me re-evaluate my plan to turn him around. Our neighbor, like us, drives smaller car, so that also influences our decision.

But see the only two kids I know who were severely injured in car accidents were both rear facing. One died and the other has a permanent brain injury and requires 24 hour care. In both cases no one else in the car had any injuries beyond bumps and bruises.

Well then it must be safer to FF! Oh wait, the plural of anecdotes isn't data. And the data is pretty overwhelming that RF is safer.

22 months. We had to take it out to clean after a major vomit in the car and re-installed FF.

ff at 1yr.