Rear Facing vs Forward Facing carseat - Page 4

[SeattleRain]

If my kid was screaming in the car, I'd look into another seat before I'd flip my kid before 3 years old. Just like one sofa can feel comfortable to one person and torturous to another, I think it's possible that carseats can feel that way to different kids. To the person who was looking for a seat that sits up high, you're going to be looking for a seat that has a base, as opposed to the True Fit which doesn't have a base. So Britax seats, Evenflo Momentum/Triumph, Graco My Ride all have bases. I have a Subaru and my parents have a Britax Roundabout 55 and it fits great and I think you can find one around $150 right now with all the sales going on.

There are a lot of things in life that babies can assert control over. I will allow my son to make choices about his food or his clothes or the toys he wants to play with but I won't let him have a choice about his safety. I'm the mom, I'm in charge of whether or not he's as safe as possible. Once I accepted that crying was a normal, developmentally appropriate response to a toddler being restrained, I felt a lot better about the crying. It's okay for him to want to escape and not be in his seat, but that doesn't meant that I'm going to let him crawl around the back seat which is what he probably WANTS to do. I also made the parental decision to get a mirror that attaches to the headrest so I can see my son while he's RF. I know some people aren't comfortable with them because they might detach during a crash, I zip-tied it down so I feel pretty confident that it won't be a problem. If he's crying, I can keep an eye on him at red lights and peek back.

One thing I also like about RF is that it's easy to load up Daniel's lap with driving goodies like his snack trap full of cheerios and his sippy. Everything stays balanced, whereas if he was FF it wouldn't stay as well.

[nia82]

DS is rearfaced, a tall boy and he comfortably crosses his legs in the car. He sees plenty out of all the windows in the minivan. The only reason I see why I would prematurely turn my child forwardfacing (and with prematurely I mean before he/she hits the rearfacing weight limit) is true motion sickness. However, we are only ever in the car for 10-20 minutes in city traffic. Maybe once a month we travel for 1 hour or longer at a time. Even if my kid is was a screamer, and DS had a screaming in the car seat phase, it's only for like 10-20 minutes, and I tolerate that much better than the chance of internal decapitation in case of an accident. The screaming is horrible for me, but I focus on traffic and take comfort in knowing he is much, much safer this way. It was just a protest phase, and has nothing to do with rearfacing, but with being buckled in. Now if my infant starts crying I pull over, but we drive such short distances that it doesn't really come to that very often.

[TerrahMother]

Originally Posted by TerrahMother 

Rear facing is the SAFEST way to travel... Pass it on...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2DVfqFhseo&feature=related

The youtube video link above, "The Importance of Rear-facing", highlights some important information that made me commit to rear-facing for as long as possible. I even wish us grown-ups had car seats that had the option to lock into rear-facing position!

Also, this video is advocating a FF 5-point harness from Britax (Regent model). I'd say this is the next safest option if you MUST turn the child around to face the front. IMHO, worth strong consideration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ

[chickabiddy]

There is absolutely no reason to believe that the Britax Regent is safer than any other forward-facing harnessed carseat out there.  It's also no longer manufactured, and buying a used carseat is generally considered unsafe (unless you trust the seller with your child's life).

[TerrahMother]

Originally Posted by chickabiddy 

There is absolutely no reason to believe that the Britax Regent is safer than any other forward-facing harnessed carseat out there.  It's also no longer manufactured, and buying a used carseat is generally considered unsafe (unless you trust the seller with your child's life).

chickabiddy is right.

Just to clarify my post: Although the Britax Regent was mentioned as a specific example, I saw the point of the video being to look into a 5-point harness seat for front facing riders.