That is my response to the above question regarding my 19-month old son remaining rear-facing in his car seat.
For those of you who have never heard of extended rear-facing, and for those who choose to forward face as soon as the law allows (or perhaps even before) please take a few moments to watch these videos.
And a shorter video for those of you who do not want to take the 3 minutes to watch the first one.
I know that many of my blog readers are passionate about this subject. To you, I am preaching to the choir. But to others perhaps choose not to extended rear-face based on lack of knowledge and an eagerness to reach a new milestone in your child's life I feel that this is important information that needs to be shared. After all, as parents we spend so much time researching the safety of vaccinations, the benefits of breastfeeding and other wildly heated topics...it is perfectly reasonable to take the time to make sure our children are as safe as possible in one of the most dangerous places they will spend much of their life: the car.
Still wondering why I don't forward face my 30 pound 19-month old? I mean, after all, he can't possibly be comfortable, can he?
15 Lovin's:
I guess, to be honest, I was not as knowledgeable then as I am now. And that was only 1.5 years ago. I mean, I read the guidelines and assumed that my son really didn't "need" to be rear-faceing as soon as he reached a certain age and weight. When my son was old enough that he no longer "had" to be rear-facing, he was not at that weight. So we waited until he was, and not a moment sooner. But, I wish I had seen these videos back then. It would have made me think twice about getting him into a forward-facing seat as soon as we did. Truthfully, when we switched seats, my son still fit comfortably in his other seat. We just didn't know. And now, when we go to buy seats for the next baby, we will take longer to choose the right one (based on safety...not looks). And I will be sharing the videos with my fiancee later. Thanks!
Thank you thank you THANK YOU for posting this!!! People seriously think we're crazy for not wanting to turn David around as soon as he hits 1 (in TWO weeks ack!!). THANKFULLY our pediatrician strongly supports us and says that she wants him to stay rear facing until he is at least 24 months. (I love her :-D)
Great post Madison... I took B to his well child visit the other day & he finally topped 20 pounds (by 2 ounces) & our pediatrician was saying how we could switch him now & all that... I thought 'wow, I wish she'd re-educate herself!' He will not be turning around anytime soon, which you already knew :) But it's because of doctors like ours, that we as mothers (and fathers) have to educate ourselves, constantly...
I agree Rebecca - wish I had known then (or took more seriously) what I know now. We forward-faced our son as soon as we could, I wanted him to "see" stuff. I kick myself now for it, thankfully we were never in an accident. Our daughter will be rear-facing until she is 2, I am not in any hurry for her to "see" anything and she and our son can talk to each other and see each other! Thanks for posting Madison.
Thanks Madison for posting this. I too get my ask many times why Garren is still RF at 19 months...my respons is because I his safety is more important then "milestones"...He's perfectly content looking in his mirror to see me and talking to me if he needs something. Our seat is so big that he won't be turned around before 2 most likely.
E's 16 months now, and only 18lbs 4oz and I have no plans to turn her forward facing any time soon - not even when she finally hits 20lbs... she's going to stay rear-facing as long as possible! I was amazed that my husband (who is a police officer) didn't understand how rear-facing could be safer than forward facing, and I wasn't very good at explaining it... now I have your post with videos to show him! Thanks so much for the post M!!!
We didn't turn our son around until he was two! Not a complaint from him! We plan to do the same with #2.
Such an important post!
Thanks!
I love seeing others discuss this. I don't have kids myself but I first heard about the idea of keeping kids in whatever carseat system they can fit in as long as possible, like rearfacing as *long as possible, then in a 5 point harness as long as possible, and in a booster as long as possible.
It amazes me how people are DYING to get their kids into the next carseat system as soon as possible. I have a nephew who wasn't even 3 and was in a regular booster with just a seatbelt because he hit 30 lbs and they threw the toddler seat away. I couldn't believe that. Even without seeing the videos and such, it just seems so obvious to me that having the harness across the chest which keeps them so much closer to the back of the seat and so much tighter in there than a seat belt does, makes it obvious enough that toddler seats are safer. So even in a 'regular' toddler carseat that just goes to 40 or 50 lbs, WHY shove them into a booster at 30lbs? I don't get it.
I know when I have kids I'll definitely be keeping them rearfacing as long as possible and then will be investing in a 5 point harness carseat that goes up to at least 60lbs.
Plus, I keep a 5 point harness booster seat in my car, that can be used with a regular seatbelt too for bigger kids. and its weightlimit for the harness is 50 lbs. My little sister is six, but really petite for her age and weighs in at 41lbs, and even though shes used to being in a regular booster in my moms car, she often ASKS if I'll strap her in the harness anyway. Which I of course do because she fits in it fine. But it just shows that kids really don't care that much anyway.
I had no idea. Feels silly when I think about it, but I had no idea!
Our pediatrician didn't even mention this...
We turned our kids around as soon as they reached the 20lb/1 yr limit. For my boys, we turned them around at age 1 since they had well reached the weight limit by then. My daughter was almost 18 months when we turned her around... She was tiny.
I will remember this when our new little guy is born.
Thanks for posting this!
Thank you everyone for sharing! For those of you who didn't know about the benefits of extended rear-facing, YOU are the reason I posted this! There are some people who do know the benefits of extended rear-facing and still choose to forward-face as soon as legally possible, and to them my post probably will not change their minds. But for those who do not know, I think it is part of our responsibility as parents to share important safety information as much as we possibly can. If I can impact just one family with this post it is totally worth it! After all, we can't all possibly fully educate ourselves on every little aspect of parenting.
Thanks for reading and sharing!
Thanks for writing this. I had no idea this was an issue to consider. I thought of it as "you're a big boy now" happy time. My aunt just sent me money for my 5 month old. We bought him a forward facing carseat for in the future when he'd be ready for it. I'm glad the new seat can be used as rear and forward facing. It will stay rear facing longer than we planned.
I never understood why people thought it was so weird to keep rear facing! My son is 14 months and I haven't even thought about turning him forward facing. Not because of the safety reasons but just because I haven't thought about it! Like what's the rush!
I didn't know the importance of rear facing until a while ago and now I will definitely keep him the way hes at for much longer!
What type of carseat did you buy to allow for rear-facing longer? I have a Britax Blvd now and my daughter's legs are quickly getting cramped at 17 months old. If there's a better option, then I'm for it! :)
Great post. My daughter outgrew her seat r/f on her fourth birthday and her brother was turned forward-facing right before his fourth birthday.
Aw he looks so sweet. No matter which way they face they still get the awkward head lean that looks much more uncomfortable than it really is (can't be too bad they sleep through it). I think a traffic accident belted in unsafely would be a much more uncomfortable feeling! Glad you posted this!
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