[yamilee21]

I've read about keeping the baby rear-facing for as long as possible, although most people I know in real life turned their babies around at one year. The carseats I have can be used rear-facing to 30 lbs, which will probably take my son another 6-12 months to reach, but he is tall enough (32 inches) that we are wondering what to do about his legs. We have been having him sit crossed-leg, but his knees rub against the back seat and he seems very uncomfortable. How tall were your children when you turned them forward-facing? Or is the height irrelevant?

 

[veganbaby]

Good question! I would like to know myself. DD will certainally reach the height limit before she does the weight.

 

[alegna]

Cross legged is fine

Watch your kids when they sit on the floor, they probably don't stretch their legs out naturally anyway. We have a boulevard and at 2 yrs old dd is a ways from out growing it rear-facing, though it will clearly be weight first, because it has lots of room in height.

-Angela

 

[TurboClaudia]

see here for more info about keeping your child rearfacing longer than is required/recommended (at the very bottom of the page is a photo album of kids older than 1 year of age who are still rearfacing, as well as some crash test footage of forward facing infant-sized dummies vs. rear facing infant-sized dummies): http://www.cpsafety.org/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx

as for height limits, refer to your own carseat's specific manual for the limits for that particular seat for its manufacture year.

~claudia

 

[Joannarachel]

Cross-legged is fine. If his knees are rubbing the seats, though, you might want to recline the seat slight more.

 

[thepeach80]

AJ was 37" when he went ffing, but he was 34# and too tall torso wise to use the Cosco seats anymore. Here's the direct link to the older rfing album, you can see AJ there. lol http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFalbum.aspx The seat that he's in in the main pic has a VERY big recline (45 degrees, so as much as you would use for a nb) and that gives him more leg room.

 

[Rivka5]

My daughter's 33 1/2 inches and seems very comfortable sitting rear-facing. But she's got an Evenflo Triumph, which is a really big seat with plenty of room.

 

[Destinye]

DD is 38 inches and about 31 lbs and still happily rear-facing in her Marathon, not for much longer though - have to turn her at 33 lbs. She is 2.5.

 

[Kaitnbugsmom]

DD is still rear facing, just barely past a year. MIL actually had the gall to tell me I was wrong to leave her that way because she 'can't see what's going on in front of her'

Blech. Oh well, I take it with a quart of salt knowing this is the same person who let her 5 y/o ride w/o a carseat OR booster and often unrestrained PERIOD....

 

[SomedayMom]

We JUST turned our son in one seat. He's 33-34 inches but has a long torso and his head is at the top of the Britax Roundabout. The other seats we have are bigger so he still has some height left in those (Wizard and Boulevard). The legs are not a problem, they can be bent (obviously though, my son has shorty legs anyway so I don't know what he'd do if they were longer). He never complained about being RF.

 

[Fiestabeth]

I am loving MDC more and more. It is so refreshing to know so many others parent the way I do!! My dd is still rear facing and everyone I know IRL thinks I'm nuts. I'm not crazy! Woo-hoo!

 

[adoremybabe]

I am begining to think that there are more rear facing babies than I thought. My DH and I looked forward to the day that DS turned 1 year so that we could turn him forward. He hated riding rear facing and does much better forward facing. Our drives were really 'crappy' (understatement) at times while he was rear facing. I can totally see where rear facing is safer for babies. I wonder how many parents keep their babies rear facing as long as possible. Has there been a pole on this topic recently? I would like to keep my babe as safe as possible but I am sure that DH would think that I was looney for wanting to put our DS back into the rear position.

 

[thepeach80]

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx

It says it's not available right now though, so maybe she's updating things.

We turned AJ back rfing at 26 mos and he loved it! He ws able to stay that way another 7-8 mos before he had to turn back around. He still asks to ride in Evan's seat now.

 

[brookerenee]

I was bad and turned my DD before she was even 20 pounds (though she was nearly two years old).

I thought she was over 20 pounds (due to a faulty scale - I later found she was 18 pounds and 32 inches tall), and turned her to see if it would stop the incessant screaming in the car. It stopped her screaming, and we were all so much happier. I have a long commute to work (DD comes with me) and it was hard hearing her cry for 45 minutes straight. I think she was getting motion sickness from riding backwards (as I used to get in those rearfacing seats that were in station wagons).

My friend turned her little girl when she was around 33 inches tall because her DD kept complaining that her legs hurt. I think it really depends on the kind of seat you have and the kind of car you have though.

 

[Shelsi]

Jake's still rfing as well. He is 35" tall, 26 lbs, and 27 mos old. He's never known any other way so he doesn't complain. He just folds his legs up. Besides I always hear that ffing kids complain about their legs going numb from dangling.

 

[Faerieshadow]

My ds just turned 2 and is 34 inches tall and 29 lbs. I wanted to keep him rear facing much longer than this, but he's getting to the point where the straps are going to have to go to the top rung, and the seat cannot be rf with the straps in that position. He's never known any other way of sitting in the car and does just fine, no complaints. That's not to say he doesn't get cranky in the car sometimes, but he doesn't complain about the way he's sitting anyway!

 

[alegna]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faerieshadow My ds just turned 2 and is 34 inches tall and 29 lbs. I wanted to keep him rear facing much longer than this, but he's getting to the point where the straps are going to have to go to the top rung, and the seat cannot be rf with the straps in that position.

This is interesting. My dd is 34 in. and still has TONS of room height wise. Another reason that the bigger britax seats rock

-Angela

 

[TurboClaudia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thepeach80 http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx It says it's not available right now though, so maybe she's updating things. We turned AJ back rfing at 26 mos and he loved it! He ws able to stay that way another 7-8 mos before he had to turn back around. He still asks to ride in Evan's seat now.

actually, it looks like they might have let their ip registration lapse or something... not cool... hope i'm wrong, though, and that it might be back tomorrow...

~claudia

 

[BookGoddess]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaitnbugsmom DD is still rear facing, just barely past a year. MIL actually had the gall to tell me I was wrong to leave her that way because she 'can't see what's going on in front of her' Blech. Oh well, I take it with a quart of salt knowing this is the same person who let her 5 y/o ride w/o a carseat OR booster and often unrestrained PERIOD....

This is exactly what my MIL told me! She said DD can't see anything interesting therefore her seat should be facing forward.

Why didn't I think of that? Oh wait...I know..because it's bad advice.

 

[snowbird25ca]

We turned dd at 18months because she hit the height limit on her seat. With the new baby we're buying a marathon and he'll be r-facing much longer.

I've told lots of people about leaving their kids r-facing as long as possible, but invariably they say the kid is happier f-facing and in some cases turn them sooner than 1 yr. It just makes me sad...

:

My dd had no problem with her legs when r-facing, she just bent them at the knees and then rested her legs slightly crossed at the ankles.. kind of hard to describe.

If we'd had a seat with a taller height limit she'd still be r-facing now. Unfortnately the taller seats are very pricey in Canada.