at what age

mumof2 · Oct 31, 2010

would you turn your child forward facing assuming they met the minimum for age and weight for their carseat.

I have read on other forums for eg someones 18 month old (who was over 20lbs) screamed while RF'ing so the parents decided to turn them FF because they didnt want to put up with the screaming and thought it would be safer as the screaming would distract them while driving.

when my daughter went into her cosco at 19 months she cried dont recall how long it went on for but it was short lived.

one thing that is non negotiable with my children is carseats up until the age of 4 they rearface (unless they happen to outgrow their seat RF before then) if at 4 she decides she wants to foward face (although would prefer to keep her RF'ing) I will be fine with that.

but I always figure a screaming child is better than a dead one.

so my question is at what age do you decide the screaming/crying is not worth the hassle and just turn them FF

Genevieve · Oct 31, 2010

My minimum age is 3 for full time FF. I turned my middle son FF at 3y10m even though he was well within the RF limits of his XT. I loathed the harness adjuster and didn't have the funds to get a seat that was more user friendly. Between 2-3 I wouldn't freak out if my child needed to be FF for some occasional reason (emergency, unexpected swap of cars, etc.) but I would do what I could to try and keep them RF. Under age 2? RF always.

Evolily · Oct 31, 2010

If I had a child who was at least 12 months and 20 lbs and whatever other limits my seat imposed who screamed to the point that it made me an unsafe distracted driver (and I had already tried every trick in the book to make them stop) and turning the seat stopped it I would turn them. That 500% increase in safety won't mean much if I'm not a safe driver. (as an aside- it is in part this exact scenario that makes me wish all vehicles had a manual shut off for the airbag as usually babies won't scream as much if they can see mom/dad/grandpa/babysitter)

Assuming that was not the case, I would be happy with the 3rd birthday assuming the seat I owned accommodated the child. If the child outgrew the seat before 3 but after 2 (approximately) I wouldn't put myself in debt to buy a new one, but I would buy a new one if I could feasibly afford it. If the child was under 2 I'd put myself in debt to buy it. I wouldn't buy a new rear facing seat for a 3 year old child unless I was very financially secure (or the seat was super cheap) but at the same time I would rear face them if they fit and weren't super uncomfortable.

After the 4th birthday I'm pretty wishy washy about rear facing. If the kid fit comfortably I'd leave them. If they were moderately uncomfortable I'd turn them.

So I guess it all depends on the situation

.

ketchupqueen · Oct 31, 2010

If they still fit, and the seat installed properly rear-facing in the vehicle I needed to use, I rear-face my kids to 4. At 4, if they ask to FF and really mean it, they go FF, their choice. If the child is close to outgrowing, but there's a seat out there that will accomodate my kid, I can reasonably afford it (without missing rent or food, you know what I mean) and the child is not VERY close to 4, like, within 2 months or so of it, I would buy the seat to rear-face the child longer.

If there is a need to transport the kid in a vehicle where it doesn't install properly RF, like an emergency type situation, I'm okay with very occasional FF at 2 if the child meets the minimums. I prefer RF at that age, but say the car breaks down, and someone comes to pick us up, and I have to put the Radian in their car, and the Radian does not safely fit RF but can be installed FF, and there's no other seat in the car that can RF her because she's over 35 lbs. and all my other seats with me are 35 lbs. RF? Yeah, I'd FF for the ride home.

I have found that whether RF or FF, kids go through scream-in-the-seat phases at certain ages. And I've also found it's way easier to wrestle them in RF than FF! The switch in orientation might distract them long enough for them to grow out of it but in most cases it would have stopped in a month or two anyway. (There are exceptions-- kids with sensory issues who have a problem moving backward, etc.) Some might even just start screaming FF too in a few weeks. But I think it's always worth trying something else first before FFing them under 4, at least in our family.

karlatta · Oct 31, 2010

My minimum is 3 for full time FF. At 2 I'm okay with the occasional ride in a FF seat, like in a childcare situation or a unexpected ride in Grandma's car (who only has a FF seat installed and can't be trusted to safely reinstall the seat).

All of my kids are able to RF by stats, but I FF the 3 and 4 year olds. Four RF seats do not easily fit in my vehicle, and I would have a really hard time in preschool carpool line if they were all RF.

mommy-medic · Oct 31, 2010

Sydney is 3 years 9 months and I am toying with FFing her. She prefers to RF, and I have a Radian XTSL that she fits well in, so she is staying RFing for now. I also have a Nauti (and she rides full time FFing in the nanny's car in a nauti) so I am contemplating selling the radian and making the nauti her full time seat in my car.

I'm torn with the "what if" factor though. I see enough at work to convince me to RF her as long as she fits, (and heck, she prefers it) so I really can't figure out WHY I'm wanting to FF her, but I know at some point in time she will outgrow RFing. Guess I'm just getting the "car seat itch"....wanting to play with different seats/arrangements/positions/covers etc.

DiaSmall · Oct 31, 2010

For my DS1, I flipped him at 3 (could have made it a tad longer). My ds2 outgrew RF just shy of 3yo.

leighi123 · Oct 31, 2010

I plan on waiting until ds is old enough for a booster and at least 40lbs. At his size, he can probably RF to 6. He loves his carseat now, hopefully that wont change (with his easy-going personality he will probably be fine)

Unless he has a crazy growth spurt (unlikey b/c of his medical issues), thats my plan.

andre149 · Oct 31, 2010

At 2y4m P was dangerously close to the 40lb limit on her MR (weighed in at 38.5 at the peds, 38 at home) and it was feasible at the time so I bought her a XTSL... if she had been closer to three I would have turned her, or if it had not been an option to buy the XTSL I would have turned her. Ideally, I would like to see her make it to 3, but if she outgrows before then I will know I did the best I could and make sure to get a great ff install lol.

aeormsby · Oct 31, 2010

My RF goal is 3. My DD had a growth spurt right after she turned 3 and was within a couple lb of the RF limit on her seat. I didn't want to stress about getting right up to the limit since she was over 3 and I just turned her. I think DS will be about the same, he'll be 3 in a month and is the same weight DD was when she turned 3 so he's probably one growth spurt away from turning.

But if a child was over 20lb & about 18 months and was freaking out so much in the car that they were causing themselves to get sick or me to be an unsafe driver I would FF. And probably try to RF again after 1-2 months.

Sarah62008 · Oct 31, 2010

My minimum for full time RF is 4yrs depending on the child's weight, car seat and comfortableness.

I'm OK with a child over 2yrs FF(not my child but someone else's).

Twinklefae · Oct 31, 2010

Well, I come at this from a slightly different perspective - while I'd have loved to buy a new seat for my DS to rear face in at 2y9m and 35lbs, the money just wasn't there. It would have severly impacted the rest of our lives. So FF he went. I bought the seat with the highest rf'ing limit on the market at the time of purchase. Sadly, I wasn't able to do anything more.

pepsicola · Oct 31, 2010

CelticLabyrinth said:
If I had a child who was at least 12 months and 20 lbs and whatever other limits my seat imposed who screamed to the point that it made me an unsafe distracted driver (and I had already tried every trick in the book to make them stop) and turning the seat stopped it I would turn them. That 500% increase in safety won't mean much if I'm not a safe driver. (as an aside- it is in part this exact scenario that makes me wish all vehicles had a manual shut off for the airbag as usually babies won't scream as much if they can see mom/dad/grandpa/babysitter)

+1!

If I had a 1 year old that just *hated* rear facing to the point that *I* was distracted, I would also turn them forwards. (But maybe turn them backwards again a little later & see if they would be okay with it then...)

I also have to agree about the front seat situation. In Sweden they regularly let their rear facers ride up front, with the airbag turned off, and still they have amazingly low child injuries and fatalities. I think if we here in the US had that option in all of our cars, our extended rear facing rates would go up.

sunnymw · Oct 31, 2010

Yes, my 2yo rode FFing for awhile because he was hysterical RF, and then went RF again and was fine.

Both my kids ride FF in MIL's car because it's hard for all the kids to navigate around RF seats, plus the GN stays in her car full time. (When they ride with them there's also 2 other grandkids, so it's more practical... lots of climbing...
3rd row: GN, HBB
2nd row: NBB and this seat flips down, EFTA)

in GMIL's car if I put in Radians they go RF since I don't wanna mess with the boot and safestop ETC. BUT I do plan on getting her 2 Maestros in the future when we can afford it. They rarely ride in her car (MAYBE once a month, for 11 miles on ZERO traffic roads).

If either of them kept the kids very frequently I'd put Mikah RF.

cpsaddict · Oct 31, 2010

Two years is my personal minimum, BUT DD is a screamer and makes herself sick. So far, we have handled it by pulling over and distractions. We do not make trips longer than 30-40 minutes, if they can at all be avoided. DD is 18mths and I will feel ok turning her at 2. The screaming in the seat is not a new thing. She has done this since birth and it's just escalated. My inlaws live 5hrs away and I would rather have dental work with no pain killers than make that ride with her rf every again.

AmieRubyJonah · Oct 31, 2010

I'm aiming for 4yrs. Only to annoy my SIL who feels the need to keep commenting about him still being RF. The added safety is a bonus. I'm personally comfortable with 2 or 3. If I had a child like you described, I wouldn't hesitate to turn if he was over 1yo.

An Aurora · Oct 31, 2010

CelticLabyrinth said:
If I had a child who was at least 12 months and 20 lbs and whatever other limits my seat imposed who screamed to the point that it made me an unsafe distracted driver (and I had already tried every trick in the book to make them stop) and turning the seat stopped it I would turn them. That 500% increase in safety won't mean much if I'm not a safe driver.

I don't buy this argument at all. Maybe I'm just a super mean mom but a kid screaming really doesn't distract me that much

and it certainly doesn't change the fact that it's everyone ELSE's driving that I'm worried about. Every single crash I've ever been in has been the other person's fault (and not a single one had a screaming baby to use as an excuse

)

ETA: FTR, my first and third were car seat screamers. M would scream the entire time we were in the car, no matter if it was 5 minutes or 5 hours. It was horrible. She eventually outgrew it. Same with DS--he would scream for every trip as a small infant. He has gradually gotten better, but still screams a ton in the car. He's 15.5 months and I would never consider FF'ing him at this age simply because he cries.

So to answer the OP, the soonest I would turn is 3, regardless of crying (which of course I would try to minimize).

skylinphoto · Oct 31, 2010

I aim for 4 years old.
I guess 2 years old would be my minimum for FFing if I HAD to (puking, screaming nonstop, etc). But I wouldnt be happy KWIM?

If a kid under 4 was outgrowing their seat for RFing but there were other seats out there to continue RFing in, I'd buy it.
I would do whatever it takes to make it to 4 years old for my kids. I have small kids so that's real easy.

karlatta · Oct 31, 2010

An Aurora said:
I don't buy this argument at all. Maybe I'm just a super mean mom but a kid screaming really doesn't distract me that much and it certainly doesn't change the fact that it's everyone ELSE's driving that I'm worried about. Every single crash I've ever been in has been the other person's fault (and not a single one had a screaming baby to use as an excuse )

ETA: FTR, my first and third were car seat screamers. M would scream the entire time we were in the car, no matter if it was 5 minutes or 5 hours. It was horrible. She eventually outgrew it. Same with DS--he would scream for every trip as a small infant. He has gradually gotten better, but still screams a ton in the car. He's 15.5 months and I would never consider FF'ing him at this age simply because he cries.

So to answer the OP, the soonest I would turn is 3, regardless of crying (which of course I would try to minimize).

I agree with this. Screaming and crying in the car doesn't really faze me. If they were getting upset to the point of vomiting, I'd probably be worried, but I'm *really* good (maybe a little TOO good) at ignoring the screams.

pepsicola · Oct 31, 2010

An Aurora said:
I don't buy this argument at all. Maybe I'm just a super mean mom but a kid screaming really doesn't distract me that much ...

Not everyone has this ability, and I don't find it that hard to believe that a screaming child can be really distracting to the driver. I am fortunate that my 2 year old dosen't care which way she faces, so I have not had to make that tough decision.

at what age

New member

CPST Instructor

New member

CPST and ketchup snob

New member

New member

New member

Active member

New member

New member

Senior Community Member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

Senior Community Member

New member

New member

New member

Car-Seat.Org Facebook Group

Sponsors

Forum statistics