Anonymous wrote:4 and 5 months and second child is still RF at 3 and 7 months. Question for the car seat tech: Jow many people do you see who really RF past 4? I haven't seen anyone else, and that includes lots of people in the line at school kiss and ride, people who had 2 year olds in unharnessed boosters, etc. I got comments from teachers, my mom, friends, and even a nurse asking if the car seat had been turned FF as if it were a milestone to meet.

*How, not jow

4 and 5 months and second child is still RF at 3 and 7 months. Question for the car seat tech: Jow many people do you see who really RF past 4? I haven't seen anyone else, and that includes lots of people in the line at school kiss and ride, people who had 2 year olds in unharnessed boosters, etc. I got comments from teachers, my mom, friends, and even a nurse asking if the car seat had been turned FF as if it were a milestone to meet.

My DD is 3.5 and still rear facing.

I would like to keep it that way until 4 if we can. DH is ready to switch now, but it’s not really based on anything. He says he “feels bad” that her feet hang over the sides of the seat, but she doesn’t complain and as our pediatrician has said, it’s a lot easier to fix broken legs than broken skulls. I think he would also just like to interact with her more when we are all in the car for longer periods. But I’d rather deal with the inconvenience a bit longer and gave the peace of mind. I find a lot of modern parenting overzealous, but this seems like an easy step to take. A little inconvenience for a lot of benefit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First one 4.5 (now 6 and still in a 5 point forward facing)

Second and third (twins) are now 4.5 and still rear facing

Fourth - 3 is rear facing

Fifth 2 is rear facing

Wow. Dying to know what car you drive.

I'm trying to imagine how they get the kids in those rear-facing seats. I assume two of them are in the third row of a minivan.

Or, perhaps, they're rear-facing strapped to the roof?

Anonymous wrote:First one 4.5 (now 6 and still in a 5 point forward facing)

Second and third (twins) are now 4.5 and still rear facing

Fourth - 3 is rear facing

Fifth 2 is rear facing

Wow. Dying to know what car you drive.

First one 4.5 (now 6 and still in a 5 point forward facing)

Second and third (twins) are now 4.5 and still rear facing

Fourth - 3 is rear facing

Fifth 2 is rear facing

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 4.5yo is 48"and still comfortably rear facing. We rarely drive (1x/month?) and also aren't around others driving much, so there's no peer pressure component. It's safer and she doesn't mind it so who knows how long we'll keep her there. Hey carseat is rated RF to 65lbs. She's probably 45lbs now.

What is the height limit for your car seat for rear facing? Our daughter’s car seat has a high weight limit too but the height limit for RF is 49 inches. Our 4 year old is still RF but I imagine she’ll outgrow her seat RF by height fairly soon. If we only went by the weight limit she could be in it til probably like age 8!

I just looked this up because I have the same car seat as pp (they posted later it’s the graco extend2fit) and I was curious - it just says “until child’s head is one inch below the head adjuster when fully extended). But for forward facing it says 49 inches so it can’t be more than that I would think?

Op my child is just over 3 and rear facing because he is very comfortable in his extend2fit (it extends so the feet have more room too), doesn’t get car sick and doesn’t seem to have an issue so I figure why not. But I agree it’s completely fine to move if there are issues and many at my sons daycare have. I’ve heard kids kick the passenger or drivers seat when forward facing and it’s really annoying so that actually makes rear facing more of a positive to me especially if your daughter is already kicking the back of the seat! Would rather that than my seat

Thank you for posting! I'm the pp. We'll have to measure my dd before our next drive. (And to edit my previous post here, the rf weight limit is 50 not 65lbs).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 4.5yo is 48"and still comfortably rear facing. We rarely drive (1x/month?) and also aren't around others driving much, so there's no peer pressure component. It's safer and she doesn't mind it so who knows how long we'll keep her there. Hey carseat is rated RF to 65lbs. She's probably 45lbs now.

What is the height limit for your car seat for rear facing? Our daughter’s car seat has a high weight limit too but the height limit for RF is 49 inches. Our 4 year old is still RF but I imagine she’ll outgrow her seat RF by height fairly soon. If we only went by the weight limit she could be in it til probably like age 8!

I just looked this up because I have the same car seat as pp (they posted later it’s the graco extend2fit) and I was curious - it just says “until child’s head is one inch below the head adjuster when fully extended). But for forward facing it says 49 inches so it can’t be more than that I would think?

Op my child is just over 3 and rear facing because he is very comfortable in his extend2fit (it extends so the feet have more room too), doesn’t get car sick and doesn’t seem to have an issue so I figure why not. But I agree it’s completely fine to move if there are issues and many at my sons daycare have. I’ve heard kids kick the passenger or drivers seat when forward facing and it’s really annoying so that actually makes rear facing more of a positive to me especially if your daughter is already kicking the back of the seat! Would rather that than my seat

Anonymous wrote:My 4.5yo is 48"and still comfortably rear facing. We rarely drive (1x/month?) and also aren't around others driving much, so there's no peer pressure component. It's safer and she doesn't mind it so who knows how long we'll keep her there. Hey carseat is rated RF to 65lbs. She's probably 45lbs now.

What is the height limit for your car seat for rear facing? Our daughter’s car seat has a high weight limit too but the height limit for RF is 49 inches. Our 4 year old is still RF but I imagine she’ll outgrow her seat RF by height fairly soon. If we only went by the weight limit she could be in it til probably like age 8!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Age does matter. It has to do with the maturity of the muscles and bones of the neck.

Legs being scrunched up really isn't a problem, unless the kid is uncomfortable. Think about it, you don't fully extend your own legs when riding in a car.

https://thecarseatlady.com/when-should-your-child-turn-forward-facing/

I mean...that's a pretty big problem. I imagine most people turn their kids around because their kids are uncomfortable. I know we did. What kid is comfortable sitting like that?

I think most are feel fine. They don’t know any different and they are super flexible. My four year old never said a word.

DP. You clearly don't have a child that HATES the car. Many children that scream nonstop in a rear facing car seat are much more comfortable forward facing, and you can tell by the fact that they stop screaming.

I was fine with screaming. Kid was telling me they were alive.

DP. At least in my case, I'm pretty sure the risk of a car accident goes *way* up with a screaming kid.

We turned ours around the day they turned 2. It made the next road trip so much more tolerable.

+1 this

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I turned my oldest at just over 2 because we had her little brother and we couldn't fit both seats backwards and still have enough room for my DH to drive. In hindsight, I should have maybe bought a different seat, but we'd already spent $250 and 2 seats and I just couldn't fathom spending even more.

It was fine. Of course all these car seat questions almost always result in "no issues" comments because they only people who maybe regret their decisions are people who got into big car accidents. We didn't drive that much, so it felt "safer" which I realize is relative.

We turned my younger one around 2.5. Again, it was fine. They are 5 and 7 now and we've never been in a car accident with them.

I mean the whole "it was fine" thing isn't really that convincing. My MIL said that about driving around with my husband riding in a laundry basket and no car seat.

Just follow the law and the experts. They all say please keep them rear facing until 2 and then after that as long as your kid is comfortable and within the limits of the car seat. That shouldn't be controversial. Of course pediatricians and experts are going to push caution because they see the bad stuff (my Dad's a pediatrician himself and he has a lot of things people wouldn't think about but he's very firm (like he hates sparklers, for instance) on because he's been the doc at the ER for those injuries).

(NP)
But see, this is the subjective part. Lots of parents are saying their children aren't comfortable, so they flipped them, and posters are chiming in that they are fine! they can have their legs scrunched, etc. it's unsafe and bad parenting, etc.

Anonymous wrote:I turned my oldest at just over 2 because we had her little brother and we couldn't fit both seats backwards and still have enough room for my DH to drive. In hindsight, I should have maybe bought a different seat, but we'd already spent $250 and 2 seats and I just couldn't fathom spending even more.

It was fine. Of course all these car seat questions almost always result in "no issues" comments because they only people who maybe regret their decisions are people who got into big car accidents. We didn't drive that much, so it felt "safer" which I realize is relative.

We turned my younger one around 2.5. Again, it was fine. They are 5 and 7 now and we've never been in a car accident with them.

I mean the whole "it was fine" thing isn't really that convincing. My MIL said that about driving around with my husband riding in a laundry basket and no car seat.

Just follow the law and the experts. They all say please keep them rear facing until 2 and then after that as long as your kid is comfortable and within the limits of the car seat. That shouldn't be controversial. Of course pediatricians and experts are going to push caution because they see the bad stuff (my Dad's a pediatrician himself and he has a lot of things people wouldn't think about but he's very firm (like he hates sparklers, for instance) on because he's been the doc at the ER for those injuries).

Neither of my kids made it to two rear facing.

I turned my oldest at just over 2 because we had her little brother and we couldn't fit both seats backwards and still have enough room for my DH to drive. In hindsight, I should have maybe bought a different seat, but we'd already spent $250 and 2 seats and I just couldn't fathom spending even more.

It was fine. Of course all these car seat questions almost always result in "no issues" comments because they only people who maybe regret their decisions are people who got into big car accidents. We didn't drive that much, so it felt "safer" which I realize is relative.

We turned my younger one around 2.5. Again, it was fine. They are 5 and 7 now and we've never been in a car accident with them.

Anonymous wrote:1st 3.5, second 3. Both very tall for the ages. My second I turned earlier because she would drop things and get upset, it was easier for me to manage ff.

OP in most states you need to rear face until 2. Her legs are fine. It’s shocking that you would consider turning her now based upon the evidence we have.

Based on the evidence? The evidence for for rear-facing car seats for kids is far more limited than people realize. The safety numbers you hear are usually relative to *unrestrained* children, not forward-facing car seats properly used. When they do compare them against each other, it is usually only in kids younger than 2. And in those cases, the data is almost always based on parent surveys after car accidents. And we already know the data from those parent surveys doesn't track with more objective and quantitative data sources.

Front-facing is almost certainly not *safer* than rear-facing, but there's simply not great evidence that rear-facing is significantly safer either, particularly in >2yo. It would be rational to prioritize rear-facing out an abundance of caution, but there's a limit to that. And likely, total risk likely is increased with a screaming rear-facing 2 year old, compared to a calm front-facing 2yo.