I know a lot of people think I am nutty because Kate is still rear facing, but the international data shows its just safer. Looks like crash tests are supporting this idea with American seats as well.
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I’m with you, Kristen. Keep ’em rear-facing for as long as possible.
My problem is with my tall kids. Maya just couldn’t comfortably fit rear-facing afer about 18 months. Plus, her head was dangerously close to the top of the seat, and she was nearing 30 pounds.
I need to get my hands on one of those Scandanavian car seats that accomodate children rear-facing up to age three or four! Maybe that will keep my enormous seven-month-old rear-facing for longer than a year.
Yeah, your seven month old is bigger than my sixteen month old, I think! I wish more seats accomodated rear facing for larger toddlers…
I finally turned Livia’s seat around a few weeks ago. I kept her rear-facing due to her weight, but my tall girl’s legs were all smushed up against the backseat. I knew it wasn’t comfortable for her any longer, but I did feel a LOT safer with her facing the back… : /
I have been tempted to switch Jay’s seat around. The truth is, we need to take it to the fire station or something, b/c it’s not in there tightly enough to stay upright anyway. That has its advantages, though- it’s easier to get Jay’s weight off that stupid crotch buckle so I can fish it out from under him, and then use his weight (by tipping up the seat) to slide him down into the bottom of the seat to get the shoulder straps on him. Yeah, we’re bad parents, but car seats are a bear for arthritics to deal with!!
Speaking of car seats, I saw this sign the other day that said “keep them in carseats until they’re taller than 4’9.” And I sort of laughed, because I have a friend who’s in her 20’s and not much taller than that. Heh.
Lenise,
We install and uninstall our seat frequently, and the best way to get it really tight is to tighten the buckle placement significantly without fastening and then you sit in the seat (or at least, put most of your weight in it) while Paul latches it. It gets it WAY tighter than any other method!
We turned my 20 lb. one-year-old forward earlier than intended because he became a car sick baby :( I was so sad for him puking all the time (and tired of cleaning it up) that I switched. And now he doesn’t throw up as often. I’m not too worried about it, though. He sits pretty in his Britax Wizard tightened perfectly with side-impact protection.
Yeah, puking and constant screaming are the only reasons I would try forward facing at at least one year old and 20 lbs.
I think Charlotte likes being rear-facing still… I get a running commentary about what she sees, which is interesting for me to try to figure out since I’m not seeing what she is seeing, lol! It’s also funny when I turn around and “catch” her waving or interacting with somone beside or behind us. We’re getting a new (to us) Pathfinder soon, though, and I remember we had problems installing our seat rear-facing when we drove it before (belongs to my SIL), so I hope we don’t have to turn her… she hasn’t reached height or weight requirements on our Marathon yet.
i recently switched coleman around, much to the consternation of jennifer, but his legs had just gotten way too long…
Hello, Kristen. I came to your blog after you e-mailed me. I’m so with you – I’m thinkin’ we could be “kindred spirits”, “bosom friends” – it’s been years, but I think that what Anne of Green Gables said. We’ve got a lot in common. Anyway, on to my comment: one of my uncles is a pediatrician and he backs this all the way. He used to stress it to me all the time – “children should face backwards as long as they fit that way.” “Don’t buy a carrier style carseat, they can’t stay in them long enough.”
We have three carseats right now:
1. Britax Roundabout for the youngest – facing backwards at 19 months
2. Britax Marathon for the 4 year old – facing forward; she’ll eventually move to the Husky and at some point move to the Traveller Plus (we may move her straight to the Traveller Plus and bypass the Husky all together – she’s hypotonic and is left side hemiplegic.
3. Britax Husky for the 6 year old – facing forward still using the 5 point harness – she does it herself with a check from us.