how old is your toddler & are they FF or RF in their car seat? - Page 5

[treeoflife3]

I think a kiddo who is seriously not happy RFing after trying everything should be turned FFing.  Driving with a screaming kid is pure torture and its hard to concentrate on the road and everything around you.  If the only think that keeps the car peaceful is FFing.. then by golly FFing should probably be done.

My kiddo is about 22 months old and RFing.  I think she is 26ish pounds?  She will be RF for awhile probably.  We'll turn her around once we have another kiddo if we can't make two RF in our car work or can't get a new vehicle.  We'll see when she gets turned around if we can keep her RF til the limits of her seat.  Based on her current growth rate, she might get turned around before the 45 pounds but we'll see.

[Carhootel]

DS is 23mo and still RF, will be until we reach the limits of his seat which will be at least another year I would guess

[Aufilia]

14.5 months, RF.  We plan to keep him RF until at least 2.

DD was RF until 15 months.

[redvlagrl]

We turned DD at 22 months. Much earlier than I had thought I would, but it works for our family. It changed all car trips from hideous screaming to placid talking about what she could see. I used to think the "she can see more" thing was a furphy, but for us it is totally the case. Happier kid=safer driver for us. At 22 mths I felt it was a good balance though i did soul search.

DS (8 mth) is obvioulsy still RFing and i will keep him RFing until at least 2ish depending on his temperament, but I wouldn't FF him before I did with DD.

[mama2soren]

31 months and still happily rear-facing.

I hear all about the "big busses" and "trucks" he sees out the window.  He's quite happy and comfortable!  

[JudiAU]

My 17m is rf Radian and will be until she hits the h/w limits or at least until 2 ish. We had to switch DS earlier because he was so tall and heavy.

[Megan73]

Originally Posted by mama2soren 

31 months and still happily rear-facing.

I hear all about the "big busses" and "trucks" he sees out the window.  He's quite happy and comfortable!  

Ditto. I hear people say they turned their kids so they can see but DS (29 months) appears to see plenty RF. We just bought a Radian XTSL so he'll be RF to 45 pounds and the new baby will get his True Fit.

[Engineering_Mama]

DD is 27 months and still RFing. She'll stay RF until she reaches 35 lbs. I don't know anyone IRL who RF their kids after 20 lbs. But they all know mine needs to be RFing.

[Swandira]

I have my 24-month-old (25 months tomorrow!) in a rearfacing TrueFit. He has no issues with it, and in fact his legs don't even touch the seat in front of him, so I see no compelling reason to flip him yet. He doesn't seem to mind rearfacing, unlike his older brother, who was FF before he was 2 because I was sick of the screaming when he couldn't see me. I think my almost-5-year-old was over 3 before we turned her FF. She has really long legs and was often uncomfortable, and also was right at the weight limit. My little one, though, has the biggest head ever, and I worry about the strain on his neck muscles if he was FF in an accident.

Nealy

[strmis]

BOTH. dd is 30 mos old.  her car seat doesnt RF in DH's car or Nana's car but she does in mine. She doesnt seem to mind switching back and forth either =)

[WindyCityMom]

My daughter is 3 years and 1 month old and is rear-facing in her Radian XTSL.  She is 38" tall and 35lbs. She will continue to rear face until she outgrows the seat rear facing (she has 3" of shell height left, and 10lbs left.  Whichever comes first!).

My other daughter is 13 months old and obviously rear facing also :)

[Friday13th]

Mine is also 3 years (and one month!) and still RF.  And will be for the foreseeable future, he's tiny.  Although I do think we've reached the age where if he suddenly outgrew his seat RF I wouldn't buy a bigger seat to continue RF.

[sunnygir1]

Ds is 16 mos and rf...don't plan to turn him any time soon.

Dd was maybe 2.5?  I waited until she was on the brink of outgrowing our convertibles rf, which might be 30#?

[lilgavbenstine]

DS is 23 months stil rf. I want to FF before the new one arrives in Aug. Just because it would be easier to see what he is doing to his sibling but knowing what I know prevents me from doing that. If he'd die in an accident and he might have lived if he was rf I could not live with my self. Plus I think rf gives my older dd more shoulder room since I will be squeezing her in the back with the two  babies. We're shooting for 3 yrs old.

[ASusan]

DS is 39 months, and we just switched him to FF this week. What a trip! We now have a little back-seat driver who points out all the stop signs and big hills.

He is nearing the top of his TruFit(!) and it was getting very difficult to do the buckles with his legs curled up and in the way. His legs to dangle, now, and he often puts them on the seatback to rest. urg.

[thehighernest]

DS is 22 months and still RF in a Complete Air 65.

All my friends' kids were turned to FF as soon as they turned 1. At daycare, I don't peek into everyone's cars, obviously, but out of all the other kids in the class that I do happen to see being dropped off/picked up, our son is the only one still RF.

I saw in the thread that a lot of people here have their 3 year olds and older still RF. I think that's great! We'll have to see for how long we can manage it. I already went out around 18 months to replace my car seat because he had outgrown it height-wise. I have an incredibly tall toddler (measured 36.5" at 18 months!); the Complete Air 65 is supposed to accommodate RF until 40", but based on his height curve so far, I'm not sure that will keep him there for another year and half! Then again, I've seen on other forums people saying that the shell of that car seat will allow for taller than that, even though that's what Safety 1st lists as the limit.

I can't say I haven't thought about changing him at this point sometimes. He's having some light sensitivity issues from the sun that shines through the back window, and I'm not comfortable driving with a shade on it. It's probably silly - I'm not sure why I think FF will help with this: there is a big windshield letting sun in from the front, lol! Maybe I'm thinking the seat in front will help provide more shade? (We don't have the seat in the middle because it doesn't have LATCH there). Also, on our VW Golf, having the seat RF means that we've had to push the passenger seat too close to the air bag for any adult to ride in that seat safely. Which means every time we go out as a family, either my husband or I have to sit in the back. It would be nice to ride up front one of these days again...

[Super~Single~Mama]

Originally Posted by thehighernest 

DS is 22 months and still RF in a Complete Air 65.

All my friends' kids were turned to FF as soon as they turned 1. At daycare, I don't peek into everyone's cars, obviously, but out of all the other kids in the class that I do happen to see being dropped off/picked up, our son is the only one still RF.

I saw in the thread that a lot of people here have their 3 year olds and older still RF. I think that's great! We'll have to see for how long we can manage it. I already went out around 18 months to replace my car seat because he had outgrown it height-wise. I have an incredibly tall toddler (measured 36.5" at 18 months!); the Complete Air 65 is supposed to accommodate RF until 40", but based on his height curve so far, I'm not sure that will keep him there for another year and half! Then again, I've seen on other forums people saying that the shell of that car seat will allow for taller than that, even though that's what Safety 1st lists as the limit.

I can't say I haven't thought about changing him at this point sometimes. He's having some light sensitivity issues from the sun that shines through the back window, and I'm not comfortable driving with a shade on it. It's probably silly - I'm not sure why I think FF will help with this: there is a big windshield letting sun in from the front, lol! Maybe I'm thinking the seat in front will help provide more shade? (We don't have the seat in the middle because it doesn't have LATCH there). Also, on our VW Golf, having the seat RF means that we've had to push the passenger seat too close to the air bag for any adult to ride in that seat safely. Which means every time we go out as a family, either my husband or I have to sit in the back. It would be nice to ride up front one of these days again...

Would he wear Sunglasses?  My ds is FF with his dad (he's 2 and too heavy to RF in his carseat and his dad doesn't want to buy a new seat), and he wears sunglasses in the car when its sunny.  He loves them b/c they're "Cool"  LOL!

[bezark]

DS is 22 months and still RF. He's only FF once when we took a trip with a friend and her two kiddos recently. He had a blast that day, but I'm 99% sure it had more to do with being in the car with his friends than the direction he was facing. He doesn't seem to mind RF at all.

We'll wait to switch him until he reaches the limits of his seat. He's only 24lb, so we've got a while.

[~Amy~]

My 33 month old is RFing.  I'm hoping he will make it to 4 in his Radian (45lb RF limit).

[Nicole730]

We made the switch at 21 months.  I might go longer with DD, but probably not much past 2 years.