The AAP is now recommending keeping your toddler rear facing in the car for at least two years.
I’ve tooted my horn about this before. I’ve heard many parents say this looks uncomfortable to them, but kids get used to sitting with their feet curled up against the seat, they rarely sit “normally” in a seat at age one anyway.
We didn’t make it the full two years, but most of the second one with Adelaide – and I didn’t really notice much. In fact, with her door broken (electric motor is dead and it just won’t open; not structurally damaged) it was actually easier to get her in backwards than it is now.
Yay! Oh, and I agree with Moriah: it was easier getting Jacob in rear-facing into our little Civic than it is now (and I knew it was safer). We kept him that way until just a few months ago, so we almost made it two years. But his legs are short for his age, so we never even really had a problem with the seat. If we hadn’t had to take the car seat out because of car issues that needed a trip to the shop, we might’ve gone longer rear-facing. I’m gonna see how long we can go with Ethan now!
This is good to know, esp. as we’re in the registry phase of prepping for our coming little one. Any recommendations on good car seats? We’ve got an infant carrier seat loaned from a friend, but need a convertible seat for later.
Sunshine Kids, Britax and Recaro are brands that lead the way with safety innovation, but easy to install seats with proper weight limits can be found in every price range.
The folks on this website are the experts I’d consult with questions.
http://www.car-seat.org/index.php
We made it to 19 months with Coleman before we turned him. Shane accused me of being overly cautious, but when it was just as easy to keep him RF what did it matter? We will definitely go the full 2 when/if we have another.
Now to fight the fight to keep him in this 5point harness for a few more years. Shane thinks it is outrageous, but since we spend hundreds of dollars on the Britax high weight limit seat I think he will agree for a while longer.
We always kept ours rear-facing as long as we could, but since they’re all pretty tall for their ages they had to be turned around by 1 1/2. It really is safer — I just hope they don’t make it into yet another law without regard for individual differences!
I hadn’t heard about this. Daniel’s still rear-facing, which is fine, though I wonder if it isn’t more boring for those long trips. We’ll probably be heading to OH at the end of May, possibly just me & the boys, and I don’t know what I’ll do at the “I’m so bored all I can think of to do is cry” phase!
I was thinking we might leave Bug’s seat rear facing because its so much easier for her to see Wog. Now that I know its safer, I’ll definitely see how long we can do it. We had to turn Wog around the minute he turned 1. He was a HORRID car passenger and turning him around so he could see forward made an amazing difference!