Turning car seat around (face forward)

[Deleted]

My child is 15 mo old. He is still rear facing in a convertible car seat. I know they say to wait as long as possible and the new guidelines say until 2 yrs old but at what point is your child too big to stay rear facing? Flybaby can't stretch his legs out straight anymore. He's not completely uncomfortable, but should he be turned around now? I feel bad when he has to ride in the car for an hour and can't even stretch his legs-unless its up....

[dcrunnergirl]

It's not uncomfortable for him and most likely doesn't bother him. I have big kids (90%tile for height), and neither have ever been able to stretch their legs out straight in their convertible seats, and they're fine. We're still RFing and hope to do so until at least 2 years old.

[chia]

Our DD is 3 yrs 4 mo, and is still RF. She hasn't complained.

[ryry]

DD is really tall and almost 15 months, and we're still planning to have her RF until at least 2 (or when she doesn't fit the height requirement for the seat anymore). I don't think it bothers her at all...they're so flexible at this age!

[h]

My oldest rear faced until about 2.5, and he is a pretty good-sized kid (about 75% for weight and height). We turned my youngest around at 2 because he was miserable rear facing and screamed constantly in the car.

No way would I turn a 15 month old forward facing unless there were some pretty unusual circumstances at play. They cross their legs or sling them over the sides of the seat. What would be uncomfortable for an adult is not uncomfortable for a toddler.

[matildasun]

My daughter is 2.5 and still rear facing. She is 95% for height and she doesn't seem to mind sitting rear facing. She either folds her legs or puts them on the seat of the car.

She is about to hit the height limit for the rear facing in her seat, though. I am torn between buying a new seat to continue to have here rear facing or to turn her.

[Deleted]

We turned DD right before she was 2 because she wanted to see us and would complain. Screaming toddler = unsafe for mommy to be driving.

However, had it just been her size, we wouldn't have turned her so quickly.

[GailGoldie]

kids don't get uncomfortable in situations we would. they can cross their legs no problem sitting rear facing and are fine.

as long as your child is under the max weight for rear facing for their seat - it's best to keep rear until 2yo or longer.

we turned our twins the weekend after they turned 2. We even bought a new seat that would accomodate biggie Gibby who was beyond the weight of his seat rear facing at 1yo, just so we could keep him rear for another year.

[partiallysunny]

May 14, 2012 12:03:23 GMT -5 @cookiemonster03 said:

I've read this doesn't bother most kids, since most kids sit crosslegged most of the time anyway.

This. They don't know any better.

[DarcyLongfellow]

My DD will be 3 in July and is 90th percentile for height. She's still happily rear-facing in my car (where she is 95% of the time). We had to turn her in DH's car because she was too tall for the Cosco Scenera to be rearfacing any more -- but we just turned her in the past 3 weeks.

Her height is all in her legs, so she really has zero leg room. She has never once complained about it -- and she's extremely verbal and very willing to tell me about any other minor discomfort :-)

As long as the kid fits safely in the seat rearfacing (ie, has at least an inch of hard shell above his head), he's safer rear facing even with no leg room. Most kids put their legs up to stretch them out, or sit crosslegged.

[imojoebunny]

I turned DS at 22 months because he exceeded the height limit on the rear facing seat that fit in our car, where I could actually sit in the passenger seat without having my head in the windshield. I tried a bigger seat, but it was really uncomfortable if you had a passenger in the front. DD was shorter and rear faced until she was 28 months.

[smilelari]

May 14, 2012 13:33:37 GMT -5 @mrswindycity said:

DS is 2, still RF.

They are not too big until they pass the weight requirements or their heads are less than 1" from the top.

This. DS is 2.5 and still happily rear facing

[Wines Not Whines]

My son is 21 months and still RF. He's 75% for height and still fits fine. I plan to turn him around after he's 2.

[whereintheworld]

Just echoing all the PPs that have said it may look uncomfortable but it's not bad for the kid, besides when it's all they've ever known then they're not antsy to be forward-facing.

The info I've read on extended rear-facing has said it's better to have 2 broken legs than a broken neck from being forward-facing in a collision.

[drloretta]

The thinking is to keep them RF as long as possible, as long as they're relatively comfortable. We turned DD a little after 2. She was fine RF, even if she had to bend her knees. I might have done it sooner if she was miserable, but it wasn't a problem for her to RF

[csquared]

We turned DD at 3 years 7 months. She outgrew her seat for height, but still had a few pounds to go weight wise. She was about 40" and 32 lbs when we turned her. She'd just sit with her legs crossed or over the sides of her seat - she didn't know any better and never complained. She actually didn't like it when we turned her, lol.

[jena]

I turned DD at 3.5yo because she was within 2lb of the weight limit and growing. She was 95% for height, and very very verbal and more than capable of complaining about every.single.thing that bothered her. In detail. And at length. But she never complained about RFing. DS is 2.5yo, still RFing, 35lb and 39" with no problem.

FFing was a rough adjustment actually, she kept dropping stuff. She was used to having this big area to hold her toy or drink and everything was corralled between her legs and the seat back. And now she complains that she has nothing to put her feet on. RFing rocks.

I will say that some carseats give them more room than others. A Cosco Scenera is a lot more cramped RFing than an Evenflo Triumph. And a RFing Radian has even more space than that.

[pacificrules]

DD turned 2 in February and is still RFing. Her legs are scrunched, but she doesn't know the difference anyway. We'll have to turn her soon because her head is almost 1" from the top of the seat, but we're waiting as long as we possibly can.

[pacificrules]

May 14, 2012 12:10:20 GMT -5 chia said:

Our DD is 3 yrs 4 mo, and is still RF. She hasn't complained.

That's a long time! Awesome.

[chia]

May 15, 2012 17:52:10 GMT -5 pacificrules said:

May 14, 2012 12:10:20 GMT -5 chia said:

Our DD is 3 yrs 4 mo, and is still RF. She hasn't complained.

That's a long time! Awesome.

I do it primarily for safety purposes, but in full disclosure, she has barfed every time we've turned her around. LOL
I hope she grows out of her motion sickness!

[Deleted]

I don't plan on turning E around until he reaches the max weight limit for rear facing or actually asks to be turned around. My husband is determined to make it to at least 2 which would be next April.

[sophie1229]

May 15, 2012 21:57:29 GMT -5 chia said:

May 15, 2012 17:52:10 GMT -5 pacificrules said:

That's a long time! Awesome.

I do it primarily for safety purposes, but in full disclosure, she has barfed every time we've turned her around. LOL
I hope she grows out of her motion sickness!

We had to turn our daughter at 18 months because she kept throwing up when she was REAR facing. One time, she gagged on her breakfast and was choking. I could barely stop in time to get her out. Since she has gone FF, she has not had motion sickness at all.

I had planned to keep her RF until age 2 but couldn't take the trauma of the vomiting/near choking.

[satama]

They don't need to be able to stretch their legs. Just check the height and weight limits for your seat and go by those. DS is in the 98th percentile and could have still rear faced until 3 I am sure. We had to turn him around at 27 months though because we had to add an infant seat for DS2 and it would not fit with the other seat rear facing.

[pinkdutchtulips]

i have a tall dd (39" and she's not yet 3) and she was rf until just past her 2nd bday. we went by the rf weight requirement (35#) before turning her and there was no way she could stretch her l o n g legs straight. she was more than happy to sit crosslegged (we had a 90 min commute each way - 30-45m to dc alone).

[statlerwaldorf]

I heard the legs are fine. I turned DD around when she was a little over a year. My car has really bad air flow and she was overheating and getting sick rearfacing in the convertible car seat.