I've been 'accued' on another parent forum because I still keep my dd rear-facing in her car seat. she is 3 yrs now. the car seat technician that originally helped us install the seat showed us photos of her 4 yrs old rear facing and advised it's best to keep them RF as long as the seat meets the requirements for RF and the size of the child is in sync. now 'they' tell me that kids should only sit with their legs in a 'natural' position, not raised or lifted up on the back seat. moreover, they say driving 'backwards' can cause issues withs speech, balance, and visualisation. any thoughts on this?
No.
And for their info, the child is NOT the one driving.
Driving forwards while riding backwards could certainly cause some problems! Luckily, 3 yr olds don't have driver's licenses.
My child has been in PT/ST/OT etc since he was 6 mos old. His issues certainly didn't come from riding rearfacing until he was 3.5! And the ways kids sit in a rearfacing carseat ARE the "natural position". Kids sit crosslegged, frog legged, legs propped up, etc. ALL the time! Have you ever seen a kid sit straight up in a wooden ladder backed chair and say it's comfy, esp if their feet can't reach the floor (forward facing car seat!)? People ride in boats facing backwards all the time--been doing it since I was a kid. Definitely hasn't hurt my balance, speech, or visualisation at all. In order for proper vision development (aha! my kids also see a developmental optometrist!), children need to be exposed to a range of physical AND visual stimulation.
You're commenter hasn't a clue what he/she is speaking of and needs a better education on how balance, vision, and speech actually develop. Whether you kid sits rearfacing in the car has nothing to do with it. If it did, an entire country (Sweden) would have every kid in speech, physical, and occupational therapy!
henrietta