Goal for ERF?

allisonrose

New member
I apologize if this has been asked/discussed before. I tried searching but no luck.

I found info about ERF when I was pregnant with my first son and was quickly convinced that it was the way to go. He is now 2.5 y/o and riding RFing in a True Fit. My husband isn't as pro-ERF as I am and sometimes asks me when we're going to flip him. I've told him to the extent of the seat but I know that age also goes along with the consideration if a child is more or less safe FFing due to bone hardening.

What age is a good goal for extended rearfacing?

I ask because I had a second son recently. I am considering what convertible seat to purchase for him and realized that this gives me an opportunity to purchase a seat with a higher RFing weight limit which may allow for my older son to remain RFing for longer. (When I purchased our TF, there were only 35 lb RFing seats on the market.)
 
ADS

Mae

Well-known member
Well, we know that their bones begin to ossify around age 3, and are not completely finished ossifying until age 6-7. Of course, each child is different. There really is no set age, which is why we aim for "as long as possible". :)

A lot of people around here tend to aim for age 4 as a minimum, while some go for 3, etc. It's really parental decision, but we all try to go by the facts and data.

Sweden also regularly rear faces to age 4 or 5.
 

BabyKaykes

New member
Again, to the limits. I was hoping DS would make it to 5yo, but with our finances at the time, and the seats we had, he had totally outgrown RF around 4.5yo.

That said, 3/30 is my absolute minimum.
 

urchin_grey

New member
Well, my son is still RF at nearly 6, but has a growth hormone deficiency. He has a bone age of 24-30 months old. We'll be following his progress through bone age x-rays over the course of his childhood and adolescence, so I intend to RF him until his scans show a bone age of at least 4. Maybe longer.

So the short answer - if I had a typically developing child, I would RF until at least 4 years old. :)
 

AnnaC

New member
Funny- you're in the same situation I was in! I had my daughter in a Boulevard(35lb RF limit), but then when my son outgrew his bucket seat, I bought a Radian XTSL(45lb RF limit), and put my DD in the Radian and my DS in the BLVD. I just wish the BLVD wasn't pink! :whistle:

But to answer your question- my personal goal for my kids is 4 years old. If they still fit in the seats and the seats still fit well in the car, and they're still happy RF, I'll probably go longer! But I'd consider turning at 4 years old if I needed to for some reason.


My husband was a little resistant to it too, but I think he's on board now. I've said things here and there about how much safer it is, etc. I don't think he's watched any of the crash test videos, but I've explained them to him. I think what's helped the most though was getting the Radian(and I'm not saying that to say that Radians are the best and you have to have one- there are lots of good seats out there.) As DD got taller, it was getting harder and harder to get her into the Boulevard. She was comfy after she was all buckled in, but just something about the way her legs folded up made it hard to get the harness buckled tight, and it really frustrated DH(and me- I just didn't say anything:p). But in the Radian she has miles more leg room, and it's a lot easier to buckle her in. She seems more comfy too. DH hasn't mentioned turning her again since we got the Radian. :D


So I'd just keep gently educating your DH, and if he starts to balk remind him that you're the one that has done the research, and that he's welcome to either trust your judgement or do the research himself. :p And tell him that you'd never be able to forgive yourself if something happened to one of the boys in a wreck and you hadn't done everything you could to make them as safe as possible.

And yeah, look for a convertible with a higher weight limit and more leg room- it really does make a difference in ease of use, at least for us. :)

HTH!
 

icnee

New member
My age goal is to at least 5 (i would prefer 6 but am ok with five),

I also want to go the limits of the seats I have and with one og the being a MT I think I have a pretty good shot at getting to 5 or 6.

that said when my DD2 turned five sh was not comfy RFing in the MT ( she very comfy in the CA though and still wanted to RF in it but she hit 41lbs when she turned 5) so she went FFing in the CA and she did not like it she was aloways trying to put her feet up on something and didn like the fellinf of when I had to stop hard so she wanted to go bach RFing even though she had to sit in the MT , I adjuste the install and changed the spot it was in in the car and now she is alot more comfy and I am pretty sure she will make it past six in it, maybe not far past, but past.

If she wasnt over the weight limit of the CA she would still have plenty of room in it.
 

mumof2

New member
my origianl goal was 2 years. when DD outgrew her first carseat by weight at 19 months I did not want to turn her....I managed to convince my husband that we needed another carseat we got the cosco then she got to 2 years and still fitted the carseat..so I saw no reason to turn her.

then at the beginning of last years I heard that NZ was going to be bringing in the radians..one thing that sparked my interest in this seat was that it ff ina 5 point harness to 36kgs!!!! (80lbs) most carseats in NZ only harness to 18kgs (40lbs) I managed to convince my husband that we needed to get this seat.

now just at the radian arrived she had outgrown the cosco by height she still had another 4lbs of weight to go now because she had been rearfacing for my 2 year minimum goal I could have turned her (she was 2 years 7 months) but because she was still within the limits of the radian for both height and weight I decided to keep her rearfacing. at 3 years and 4 months and almost 37lbs and approx 39.5" she is still rearfacing in the radian.

my goal now is 4 years but if I have to turn her befor then I will be ok with that not happy but am pleased I have been able to RF her for as long as I have
 

MonkeysMom615

New member
At first my goal was 3 b/c I thought DS would outgrow his TF by then RFing. Then I bought a Radian and my goal became "To the limits of the seat or 4y/o". So basically to the limit of the seat or 4 but preferably 5. :)
 

armywife12

New member
We rf to the limits of the car seat but won't turn ff even part time until at least 2 yrs old or 35lbs. For full time ff, they have to be at least 3 yrs old or 45lbs. I would love to rf to 4 yrs old but my son is too big for us seats so I'd have to import and that's not in the budget. He is 3.7 months old and almost 45 lbs. He turned ff about two months ago. I'm hoping this next baby is smaller so we can rf longer. We kept buying convertibles for my son each time he outgrew one until we ended up with the xtsl.
 

Ninetales

New member
I plan to RF Elsa to the limits of her CA65. Then I will evaluate based on her size and age at that time. If she is under 4 and fits the limits I would buy another seat to RF her. If not I would be ok with turning her if she is close to 4, 3 is my minimum and only if she is outside the limits of US RFing seats.
 

leighi123

Active member
I'm going for at least 5, hopefully 6. My little guy is super tiny though so we just might reach that goal.



In general, I try and get people to RF to at least 3 though, its hard enough to convince a lot of people to RF past 1 at all
 

allisonrose

New member
Thanks for all the responses. I think I'll just keep up the "to the limits of the seat" line with my hubby and hope he doesn't start bringing up age (in the sense of "he's three he should be ffing").

I'm off to start a thread about Radians. ;)
 

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