[MamaRuga]

I'm a bit confused. I've read here that it is best to leave a car seat rear facing for as long as possible. But I just noticed that our seat (britax diplomat) says that it should not be rear facing if child is over 20 pounds. We have the seat in the middle back seat of our 97 suburu outback. There are no latches or tethering options, so it is just the lap belt holding it in. DD is 25 pounds and 15 months old. Is it ok to leave it as is even though the seat says it should be forward facing now?

 

[lj2blessed]

I don't have the answer for ya, but I know you can find it at car-seat.org. You don't have to join to ask a question...but more than likely someone has already asked your same question so search for it first!

Wish you the best

 

[LiLStar]

http://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/diplomat/ it says on the britax site that the diplomat rear faces from 5-35 lbs and forward faces 20-40 lbs.

 

[lj2blessed]

Grrr...won't let me edit my last post

:

But I just did a search on there, most of the folks on the forums agree that kids "outgrow" the Diplomat far too soon before they should actually be FF, so they don't recommend it. Here's a thread that talks about it Would you recommend the Diplomat for a petite baby?

 

[jillmamma]

I would leave it rear facing as long as your child is under 33 or 35 lb (depending on how old your seat is...the newer ones RF to 35 lb) and has at least 1" of shell above their head. From the manual:

Quote:

Infants should remain in a rear-facing child restraint for as long a possible. The American Academy of Pediatrics and Britax recommends rear facing until at least 1 year of age and 20 pounds. Use only with children who weigh between 5 and 40 pounds (2.3 and 18 kg.) and whose height is 40 inches (102 cm.) or less. Use rear facing for children 5-35 pounds (2.3-15.9 kg.) and forward facing to a maximum of 40 pounds (18 kg.).

I have the Britax Decathlon for my DD. She is 3.5, 35" and 26 lb, and still rear facing. Her seat goes to 33 lb rear facing and she still has plenty of shell above her head.

 

[MamaRuga]

Thanks for the information. I'll leave her rear facing for now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lj2blessed But I just did a search on there, most of the folks on the forums agree that kids "outgrow" the Diplomat far too soon before they should actually be FF, so they don't recommend it. Here's a thread that talks about it Would you recommend the Diplomat for a petite baby?

Thank you for bringing this up. My daughter is on the high end for weight and height, so if this seat is not working for long with the little ones, it certainly won't work much longer for her. Too bad I spent so much money on the seat.

Luckily my parents have the Boulevard in their car and we will switch them out so dd is in the bigger seat most of the time. Perhaps I'll pass along the Diplomat to my brother and sister in law who are expecting this fall and get a different seat for the grandparents car.

Rear facing just seems so much safer. Glad to know we can keep up with it.

 

[Labyrinth]

This is why statements blanket statements like "britax is best" can be less than helpful, as they have two seats which are outgrown incredibly early rear facing. These seats are often the only two that are in the budget of many people, and without a lot of research the everyday consumer has no way of knowing these seats may cost them more money in the long run

OP, when your DD outgrows the seat changing out for the boulevard would be great. It also might be an idea to sell this seat and purchase a cheaper seat with a taller shell

.

 

[Mommybree]

I know which statement you are thinking of regarding the 20 pounds thing. It's in most (all?) convertible manuals. It says something like "use only rear-facing with infants under 20 pounds" or something. It just means that if your child is under 20 pounds, you HAVE to use it rear-facing, that is, you can't use it forward-facing. It's awkwardly worded, though, so when you first read it, it seems to say that you have to stop rear-facing at 20 pounds, but that's not what it means. The PP are right about the 35 pound limit (and that is it usually outgrown by height very early). It's just bad wording.

 

[prothyraia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MamaRuga But I just noticed that our seat (britax diplomat) says that it should not be rear facing if child is over 20 pounds.

I'm guessing what it says is "rear facing only to 20 pounds".

That doesn't mean you have to forward face them when they're over 20 pounds.
It means that you can NOT forward face them if they're under 20 pounds.

It's worded confusingly.