for those who ERF

[Scout]

For those of you who chose to use an extended rear facing seat, when did you, or when will you, turn your child forward? I know guidelines state to forward face when child reaches maximum weight for safe rear facing, but my child's seat rear faces until 50 lbs. She'll be 4 in May and weights about 35 lbs. Who knows when she'd reach 50 lbs!

I thought about turning her when she's 4, but the only reasons I can come up with seem selfish to me, like easier to get her in and out, can see her in the mirror and talk to her more easily. So then I think about her safety and know I should just leave her put. Idk. Just to add: she's perfectly content as she is. She's never faced forward so doesn't know any difference.

Just looking for opinions from other moms who extended rear faced.

 

[icklemonster]

We rear-faced Charlotte until 6 weeks ago, just before she turned 4, but that was because her brother had grown out of his infant car seat and we needed to upgrade him to her seat. We had just bought a 2nd car too, so needed 2 seats for that (one ERF for DS) and needed to buy my Mum a new seat for Charlotte too, sowe decided to forward face her. I don't think there is such a strong case for rear facing after age 4 once neck muscles are stronger, and it doesn't outweigh additional expense. My goal had always been age 4. If I had a seat that went beyond that (ours are to 18kg), and no other reason I would have left her rear facing for longer though. xx

 

[Rainbow82]

I'll do it till he reaches the limit for the seat, if he continues on same weight line as now he'll be about 4.5 maybe 5 if he didn't reach weight limit by then I guess I'd keep him rear facing till he started complaining or till he was at least 6.

If seeing your LO in the mirror is a problem we have a mirror that goes over the headrest facing LO that we can see him in, is that an option for you?

 

[lau86]

My ds1 has not long turned round, think he was 5ish? He was looking tall for his seat and baby was squashed in hers so he got a new high back booster and the other two moved up

 

[Willow82]

I think Reuben was around 4. His legs were looking a bit squished and he didn't look comfortable. He's much happier being forward facing.

 

[Scout]

Thanks for the opinions. Actually makes me feel better seeing some posts from others who are continuing/continued beyond 4, and those who aren't have very specific reasons and not 'just becasue they want to'.

Dd is the only one in her preschool who is still rear facing, so I suppose I was feeling a bit insecure or maybe weird and overprotective for continuing. Since I don't have any good reason to turn her, I'll probably keep her rear facing until, well, I really don't know. The seat in my mom's car only goes to 40lbs rear facing, so dd may start to object once she's forward in that car. Thanks again for sharing.

 

[JenX]

You aren't alone. We're still rear-facing and my daughter will be 4 in April. She's still comfy and hasn't complained.

Every so often my husband or relatives will ask when we are going to turn her, but I refer back to this info, and keep her RF: "According to the previously noted study, at age three there is still only a 50% probability that the C3 vertebra has finished ossification. The older a child gets, the more time their spinal column has to strengthen and the reality is the longer, the better. Most car seats on the market today will easily rear face even above average height and weight kids until 3-4 years of age. Without a CT scan, there is no way to know what stage of development your child’s spinal column is in, so the safest option is to rear face to the maximum weight or height of a convertible car seat. As time goes on and more older children are rear facing, there will be more scientific data to compare the benefits of a rear facing car seat for preventing spinal injury."

From https://csftl.org/why-rear-facing-the-science-junkies-guide/

 

[SarahBear]

Unfortunately, I was only able to rear face Violet until she was about 2. Our car isn't that big, so it limits the size car seat we can put in there. As for the weight limit, Violet was far from the weight limit, but she reached the height limit. You might want to look at the height limit as I think most car seats have a more restrictive height limit than they do weight limit. Leo is 22 months and still rear facing. He's getting close to the height limit.

 

[LoveCakes]

We erf until almost 2.5 years. She is very tall for her age over 91st centile) and had started shouting 'let me out' in every journey. I had wanted to get longer but she was just so uncomfortable every journey was so stressful and it was distracting for me.

 

[lau86]

I'm the only Mum I know IRL that rear faces past the first baby seat. I think people do think it's a bit weird/ ott but I really don't care

 

[Scout]

Unfortunately, I was only able to rear face Violet until she was about 2. Our car isn't that big, so it limits the size car seat we can put in there. As for the weight limit, Violet was far from the weight limit, but she reached the height limit. You might want to look at the height limit as I think most car seats have a more restrictive height limit than they do weight limit. Leo is 22 months and still rear facing. He's getting close to the height limit.

I had read that most kids reach height limit first. I had to go back and look at my manual. I have the Diono Rainier and the height limit is 44". Last time dd was measured, I think it was about 4 months ago, she was 33". Wonder when they typically reach 44"??

 

[Scout]

I'm the only Mum I know IRL that rear faces past the first baby seat. I think people do think it's a bit weird/ ott but I really don't care

I think not a lot of people are made aware of the safety. I stopped at a safety and car seat check that was being run by the local police department and was told I needed to put dd in a booster bc she was unsafe sitting rear facing. He told me that her legs would be broken in an accident. I almost lost it on him! Even after educating him the best I could with the facts from the research I had done, he wasn't convinced and was a bit outraged that I wasn't listening to him. I finally gave up and just left.

 

[misspriss]

DS will be 4 in March and is 30lbs, at his growth rate he will be 6-7 before he outgrows by weight! I plan to keep him rear facing as long as feasable. In fact, with the new baby on the way, we are buying a bigger car to accomodate rear facing all 3 children. DD is closer to average weight and may outgrow by weight sooner.

I have always had a mirror on the headrest, I can see them and they can see me (trust me, try sneaking a snack...).

 

[misspriss]

Oh and one of my seats is a Britax clicktight, which has one of the highest height limits out there. I plan to buy the same seat or one with a similar height limit for new babe.

 

[lau86]

I'm the only Mum I know IRL that rear faces past the first baby seat. I think people do think it's a bit weird/ ott but I really don't care

I think not a lot of people are made aware of the safety. I stopped at a safety and car seat check that was being run by the local police department and was told I needed to put dd in a booster bc she was unsafe sitting rear facing. He told me that her legs would be broken in an accident. I almost lost it on him! Even after educating him the best I could with the facts from the research I had done, he wasn't convinced and was a bit outraged that I wasn't listening to him. I finally gave up and just left.

That's shocking! There is a lot of ignorance around not just about erf but car seats in general.

 

[LoveCakes]

I'm the only Mum I know IRL that rear faces past the first baby seat. I think people do think it's a bit weird/ ott but I really don't care

Me too, and I'm quite vocal about car seat safety.

Most went straight to ff when their child outgrew the infant seat, mostly due to cost. Hopefully with the new I-size regulations the cost of rf seats will come down and normalise erf

 

[SarahBear]

Unfortunately, I was only able to rear face Violet until she was about 2. Our car isn't that big, so it limits the size car seat we can put in there. As for the weight limit, Violet was far from the weight limit, but she reached the height limit. You might want to look at the height limit as I think most car seats have a more restrictive height limit than they do weight limit. Leo is 22 months and still rear facing. He's getting close to the height limit.

I had read that most kids reach height limit first. I had to go back and look at my manual. I have the Diono Rainier and the height limit is 44". Last time dd was measured, I think it was about 4 months ago, she was 33". Wonder when they typically reach 44"??

I have no idea. The height limit on mine was the top of the head being within an inch of the top of the seat.

 

[misspriss]

I'm the only Mum I know IRL that rear faces past the first baby seat. I think people do think it's a bit weird/ ott but I really don't care

One of my only mom friends I have I met because we were both passionate about ERF, she is a car seat tech

 

[Gym knickers]

We turned dd1 around at about 3 as she'd reached height limit for the seat, dd1's I'd 2 and still rf but will be in it a lot longer as she's much shorter and lighter than her sister. I'm going to keep her rf as long as I can.

 

[JenX]

Unfortunately, I was only able to rear face Violet until she was about 2. Our car isn't that big, so it limits the size car seat we can put in there. As for the weight limit, Violet was far from the weight limit, but she reached the height limit. You might want to look at the height limit as I think most car seats have a more restrictive height limit than they do weight limit. Leo is 22 months and still rear facing. He's getting close to the height limit.

I had read that most kids reach height limit first. I had to go back and look at my manual. I have the Diono Rainier and the height limit is 44". Last time dd was measured, I think it was about 4 months ago, she was 33". Wonder when they typically reach 44"??

We have the Rainier too. It says height limit for read facing is when their head is 1.5" from the top of the shell. Different kids may reach that point at different heights as it is a seated height- some kids have longer torsos, others have longer legs.

My daughter is 3.75 years and is about 39" tall- she's very average height for her age.