POLL: When to turn carseat forward - Page 2

[AmyG]

I'm keeping mine turned backwards as long as I can. He'll probably outgrow it as far as height is concerned before I want him to. He's 6 months old right now, and the outfit I have him in today is a 3T. He's just a hair under 25 pounds, but he's very tall.

[Pam_and_Abigail]

I didn't vote, because we still haven't decided. We have the Alpha Omega/ Eddie Bauer ( same seat), and dd is 21 lbs. & 30 " at 10 months. We have a smallish car (Hyundai Accent 4 -dr).
We were planning to turn her forward facing at a year, certain she would reach the weight requiremnet (at the safety clinic we were told 22 lbs min.), but also at the clinic, we were advised to keep her rear facing as long as possible, despite conerns of her legs being bent. My biggest problem is that it is extremely difficult to adjust the car seat straps in this position, so I wonder if it really is safer...

[pjlioness]

We had turned ds around, but....

I saw a thread here similar to this one several months ago that included a link that convinced me to face him rear as long as possible, i.e. as long as he doesn't exceed the weight/height limits for the Britax Roundabout we have.

Ds is now over 2y8mo and still facing rear, at just over 22lbs 33". His legs cross in front of him, which for kids is no biggie - they're much more flexible than we are. We have a mirror set up on the back of the car's seat so that he can see the driver and, when there are two adults in the car, one of us usually sits with him in the middle seat (we have a minivan).

Now, w/ baby #2 due any second, we had to figure out where to put the seats and where I should sit. If ds were facing forward, we'd put him in the back seat, w/ baby and I in the middle. However, ds is still facing rear, so he's still in the middle seat. The baby's seat is in the middle of the back seat w/ a mirror, and I've been sitting there when dh drives. I don't like the idea of baby#2 being so far away from me when I drive alone, but I'll plan my trips more efficiently/wait for dh when I can.

I wouldn't be surprised if the baby is in a convertible seat as well before ds is out of his (ds is tiny), so we may switch ds to forward-facing in the back seat at that time, as the Roundabout does not work in the middle of the back seat where there is only a lap belt. Or, we may buy a different convertible for him that will work rear-facing in the back and give the Roundabout to the baby. We'll see.

I don't know what we'll do if/when we have a third baby, as I don't think you're supposed to put two car seats in the middle seat - it's only seats two, and I can't sit in the middle of the back seat with only a lap belt. Maybe by that time we'll have a different minivan with separate seats in the middle and baby #3 will be in the middle of the back seat, with the other two in their own middle seats and me in the back.

What a book!

[UlrikeDG]

I just wanted to add this link to the list of info on why it is critical to leave your toddler rear facing as long as possible. http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx

I was able to turn my DD back rear facing for a couple of months last winter. I turned her front facing for good when she was 34 months old. I hope by the time DD2 is 2 years old, there are even more options so I can keep her rear facing to age 3!

Edited to add: Oops! I see that Sarah already posted that link. Oh, well. It really is a good one!

[Ravin]

I didn't select an age on the poll because I intend to keep my child rear-facing until too tall/heavy to do so, and I don't know if that'll be at nine months or eighteen, etc.

[Momma Aimee]

12 months AND 20 pounds. that is what health dept says. They run classes about car seats; and they install them and all that areound here.

But I do plan to do more reading.

Aimee

[BabyOsMommy]

As long as possible

Here (Canada) the rules I was given by the Public Health Department are that baby must meet 2 of 3 criteria:

-20lbs
-1year
-Able to pull self to standing at furniture (by themselves, with no help).

He me the standing and 20lbs a month ago (7months), but we won't be moving the seat around until he goes over the 35lb limit on our seat.