Clicky Poll: Carseats

Suzi-G- · February 2012

Just because I'm curious what the norm is...
[Poll]

ayersfam20 · February 2012

I'm special, I'm hoping to keep him rear facing until he's 2 since that's going to be the new law. Since he doesn't care and he's fine that way for now I see no reason to rush it. (He's 16 months).

Abbie I turned around at 1, but that was 6 years ago.

OSUx2 · February 2012

We just turned DD a few weeks ago when she reached the RF weight limit. I was so sad b/c that meant she was growing up. We will do the same for #2.

RaeAnt · February 2012

We would have kept him rear facing, but had to curl up his legs and feet basically into his seat. he was starting to prop his feet up on the top of the back seat. He was simply to tall to remain rear facing, unfortunately.

SigmundsGirl · February 2012

We turned the carseat in my car when DS was 1 year and 9 months, but he is still rear facing in DH's car. We'll probably turn him around there too pretty soon. He has such a hard time getting in the seat and is pretty uncomfortable because of the pitch of DH's seats. He'll also be 2 in a few weeks.

LisaK2b · February 2012

We turned both girls around 18 months. That's the longest we could go without them whining. Because their legs would curl up touching the hot leather in the summer time and the AC couldn't get to them fast enough.

rayskit10 · February 2012

With DS#1, it was about 14 months. This had a lot to do with the ventilation in my car and it was pretty standard at the time. DS #2 was about 20 months. We went on vacation and DH/I had a lot of trouble getting the car seat in the rental. It just wouldn't latch tightly rear facing so we turned him around to get a better fit for the seat. Once they go front, they'll never go back. LOL.

odear · February 2012

We haven't turned her, but she also just turned 1 and weighs in at a whopping 19lbs. I plan to wait until at least 2. We bought the convertible seats, we just haven't put them in yet. It is getting to be a pain to lug around the infant seat though, so I can see us going to the convertibles soon. Still RF though.

BabyLoveTX · February 2012

In my car I changed DD at 23 months and I just changed her seat in DH's car last week at 26 months. I guess that averages at about 2 years.

charlotteL · February 2012

Joshua was 1

Gabriel was 14 months

Elijah will be closer to 18 months.

abs05 · February 2012

We are taking it day by day at this point. M weighs 30 pounds at 15 months and is super tall as well. She is not even remotely comfortable at this point RF. I'm trying to make it until 18 months, but we may not. We'll see.

savannah11 · February 2012

O was 18 months. C is 33 months and still rear facing. I'm not sure when I'll turn her.

TexasPaige · February 2012

#1 was two and a half when I turned him. The rear-facing limit was 35 lbs, and he was hovering in the 33-34 lb range forever. We were going on a road trip to Ft. Worth, and I didn't want to keep weighing him thinking about if he was about to hit the limit, so we did it. My mother-in-law had him forward facing for at least six months before that (drove me crazy that she did it without my permission, but whatever). He never minded rear-facing in our cars even after riding with her like that every week.

We are a long way from switching #2. He is 15 months now. Unless he starts freaking out about it, he will be at least two. I will get him as close to the weight limit as I can. I remember reading something to the effect of, every move "up" in car seats is a move down in safety - from infant seat to rear-facing to forward-facing to a booster. That made it easy for me to decide to keep them rear-facing much longer than the legal requirement. It helps that neither one of them has ever minded a bit!

rach1082 · February 2012

DS is 15 months and only weighs 19 pounds and still has a little bit of room before his feet start touching the seat. We will keep him that way for as long as we can. So probably closer to 2.

kreeper611 · February 2012

I didn't know the law was changing...I hadn't heard that.

For DS, we turned him at about 15 mo. I wanted to go to about 18, but he was a BEAST on long car trips - I think about that point we went to the ILs and I couldn't handle the screaming for 5 hours. After that, we just switched it.

My plan for 2 is to wait longer, but if the law changes I guess it won't really matter what the plan is. :-)

Jena503 · February 2012

DD was super tall and made it to 3.5 RFing. I think most kids sit in crazy scrunched up ways when they're just sitting on the couch, so sitting with your knees out in a carseat shouldn't be a big deal. It is also absolutely not a safety hazard to have their feet touch the seatback or sit with their legs bent or propped up.

DS is also big for his age (29mo) and still RFing. I don't know that he'll make it as long as DD did just because he sees her sitting the other way and wants whatever she has. He does ride FFing in my dad's truck 1 day a week and has since 18mo.

However, DD would be happy to RF again if there was a seat big enough for her to do it!

missjake · February 2012

We turned both girls right at 1 year; does that make me a bad mom?

melrrr · February 2012

RaeAnt:
We would have kept him rear facing, but had to curl up his legs and feet basically into his seat. he was starting to prop his feet up on the top of the back seat. He was simply to tall to remain rear facing, unfortunately.

Well you're understandably not going to turn him back around at this point, but what you're describing does not mean he was too tall to rear face. It's all about seated height, not leg length.

I think Tracey would still be happy RF. She turned 3 this month and we turned her maybe 6 weeks ago. She has been riding FF in rrr's jeep for a little while though because I wasn't comfortable with the seat's fit in there the other way. She was happy to prop her feet all the way up the seat back. Sometimes they hung over the sides, sometimes she crossed them.

I only turned her around because we had to remove her seat from my wagon to bring a dresser home. I knew we'd have to make the adjustment in may when kid 2 comes, so I went ahead and did it now. She was still a few pounds from the 35 lb weight limit and had not outgrown the britax by seated height.

Kimmer123 · February 2012

missjake:
We turned both girls right at 1 year; does that make me a bad mom?

Nope. I'm in the same camp. Well, obviously B hasn't turned yet, but he'll be around 1.

melrrr · February 2012

missjake:
We turned both girls right at 1 year; does that make me a bad mom?

not a bad mom, but it still surprises me that--baring vomit and/or a kid who wont stop screaming--some people who know about the recommendation still choose to turn at 1. I have to be careful though, as there have been some pretty nasty posts on this topic in the past. Like many issues, there are strong opinions on both sides.

Quizzle · February 2012

I'm keeping DD rear-facing as long as we can. I'm worried we're going to have to turn her before I'm ready because she's so big -- she's already 29 pounds and tall, so I think we might make it to two years, but not much past.

DD sits with her legs crossed with no problems at all. She's totally comfy.

I wish high-limit rear-facing seats were more available here.

TexasPaige · February 2012

melrrr:
missjake:
We turned both girls right at 1 year; does that make me a bad mom?
not a bad mom, but it still surprises me that--baring vomit and/or a kid who wont stop screaming--some people who know about the recommendation still choose to turn at 1. I have to be careful though, as there have been some pretty nasty posts on this topic in the past. Like many issues, there are strong opinions on both sides.

I am with you on all of that.

melissa0312 · February 2012

We turned dd at 17 months. She was pushing on the backseat so hard that she was tilting the seat. The screaming and fussing were just not worth it and she was within the height/weight requirements of the seat when ff.