When would you turn FF?

thatlingirl

New member
My 3.5yo is RFing in a Radian. She's about 38", 33ish lbs.. obviously tons of room yet.

I'm not in any rush but just kind of wondering when people would turn their own children. 4? Max limits? She could be 4.5, even 5 before turning at a guess...
 
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EmmaGrace'sMom

New member
Mine probably won't be the popular opinion, but I will most likely turn DD2 at 3yo...maybe a month before when it gets hot again. The AC in my car isn't great, I have too much guilt to turn her now or I would. For now I just cover her seat when we get out and make sure the vents are pointed up.
 

hope41more

New member
Wow- great job rear facing so long! I'm sure you know this, but she's technically *safe* to turn from here on out. With that said, I personnally plan to rear face until either 1) my son outgrows his seat at 45 pounds or 46 inches, or 2) his first day of kindergarten at 2 months shy of 6. Some would consider me on the "extreme" end of extended rear facing, though, so that's probably not the norm around here.
 

CrunchyMaineMama

Senior Community Member
I thought I'd be okay with DD turning at 3, then she turned 3 and I couldn't stomach the thought of her FFing at her age/size. So I planned to go to 4. When she was 3 years 9 months I got an awesome deal on a FR85 and planned to save it for when she turned FFing. She of course loved the new seat and wanted to ride in it ASAP. I let her, but was still uneasy with the idea of her FFing. Then she requested to go back to RFing after 2 months! Now that she's 4.5 I leave it up to her since we have RFing and FFing seats installed in our vehicle.

So I guess that is the long way of saying apparently 4.5 is my personal comfort zone for FFing full time. She has been FFing in DH's car and my mother's car since just before 4.
 

Baylor

New member
At this point, its really up to you. There is lots of of reasons and studies that say rear facing to the max of the seat is best. You are lucky my 3.5 yr old was 42 lbs!!

You have the seat so its really easy to keep her rfing. You could wait til she asks about ff and then decide. But I'd be fine ff my 3.5 yr old.
 

atw

New member
My personal goal is in the 4 year old range. After that, it's up to her. If she's happy rf, then rf shell stay. If she wants to ff, then that's good with me then. I think. Probably. :)

3.5 is awesome!

Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org
 

lovemybabybug

New member
My goal was 3 but I doubt I will turn her then (coming November). Whatever I can get past 3 I will be happy. She has never ever complained about it and I don't think she knows any better. She has ff a couple times when we went overseas and once kn the states when we had to go to the ER and her seat was being cleaned so she used the ff seat that was insyalled already. She said it was fun but went right back to rf without a peep. I am sure it will take a long time for her to reach the limit on any of her seats (she is 26lbs, 35 Ish inches).
 

jacqui276

New member
I will likely keep DS RFing until he outgrows his seat RFing. If he keeps up his growth, he likely won't make it to 4, but there is a chance he could slow down. Somewhere between the 2 and 4yr old age range is my goal. :)

If he hits school aged and still fits RFing, I would give him the choice.
My 3.5yr old nephew is slightly smaller than your daughter and I am comfortable having him FF in my car (he has been FFing in his car since roughly 20 months old) but if my seat is already installed RFing, I am fine putting him in like that too. My 5 year old niece is approx the same size as your daughter and I also have her do both, depending upon convenience for me for what is already set up or how I have to puzzle seats.

DD I flipped at 10 months since she outgrew her seat and I was unaware back then that it wasn't safe. She was also in a booster at age 4 since she outgrew her convertible and I was a student so couldn't afford to spend multi hundreds on a seat with higher limits.
 

rachelandtyke

Well-known member
Personally, my goal is to rf to the limits of my seats. So DD rfed until she hit 35 lbs at 4y4m. She cried when I turned her, lol. DS may make it to closer to 5 as he is smaller than she was. I know they are safe ffing way before then, but I figure I might as well rf them as long as I can with the seats we have.

But interestingly enough, I didn't keep DD harnessed to the limits of her seat before letting her start to booster train and then booster full time.
 

KaysKidz

Senior Community Member
My 3.5yo is RFing in a Radian. She's about 38", 33ish lbs.. obviously tons of room yet.

I'm not in any rush but just kind of wondering when people would turn their own children. 4? Max limits? She could be 4.5, even 5 before turning at a guess...

One of my 5yr olds is 2" taller and the same weight and has been FF since 2.5. He could still fit rf'ing, but I can't imagine trying to have him rf'ing. Heck, his 3yr old sister also went FF'ing a few months ago. We've gone back and forth a few times with rf'ing, but at this point, FF works for us and at 3 (in 2 weeks), I'm not worried about her being FF.
 

thatlingirl

New member
Thanks for the thoughts.

Yes, I know I could turn her, but it feels like I've kept her RF for a reason. At this point we spend a lot of time in the car, too, so that tends to make me feel more strongly about keeping her RF.

She is asking about FF but is pretty easy going and not really fighting it.
 

MaKoski

New member
My tall 26 month old will be RF untill she out grows all US seats, then I'll decide about importing a Sweedish one. So at least till 4-5 yrs. My small 5 yr 5 month old out grew her Rf seat by weight 2 months ago so I'm going to look at a radian rxt tomorrow because she would rather be Rf. She starts kindergarden in 1 month, I'll keep her Rf untill she out grows the new seat or she wants to be ff again. (I'd say I'm on the extreme end also.)
 

Baylor

New member
Just to give you up to date stats. He is now 4.5 and 56 lbs and 44 ins tall.
I'm jealous of all your little ones. More seats to play with!

auto correct hates me
 

BananaBoat

Well-known member
DD1 just turned 4 & she'll RF until the limits of her seat or if she starts to pitch a fit about RF. Thus far she's asked about it twice, so I think we're good for a while ;) It's all she's known & it works for our family & is the safest way she can ride. We do get some funny looks from preschool drop-off, but I look at it as an opportunity for people to ask so I can educate them :D

Good on you for getting this far! :thumbsup:
 

carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants
I would try to rear-face to the limits of the seat I owned. If that limit was reached before the child's third birthday, I would buy a new (legal) seat to continue RFing, if possible. If the child still fit RFing at age 4, I would take her wishes into consideration.
 

hrice

New member
I turned Colton FF in secondary vehicles at 3y9m and turned him in my car at 4. He is now 4y1m and is RF again in 2 out of 3 vehicles. He is fine with it so I'll keep it this way until it doesn't work anymore.
 

linneabw

New member
At first I thought 2, then 3. Then he got close to three and I decided 4. He is 41-42 lbs so lucky we have the xtsl. He's almost3.5 so I really hope we make it 4.
 
My dd has much the same stats (32 lbs, 39" tall), also in a radian, and our goal was 4, and I even thought about leaving her to the limits of the seat. At 3 yrs, 10 months (like a month ago!), I turned her FF b/c we had a foster infant, and it was more convenient to FF one of the kids in my van. My initial plan was to re-RF her after the baby left (2 1/2 weeks FF), but she asked to remain FF.

FWIW, when she turned 3, she was so tiny, I imagined she'd be RF until 5! But she's grown a lot this past year and gained 3 lbs, and had been asking to FF for a while. I do not have a problem with FF 3 year olds in general, but I did feel a little guilty for not using the seat to its RF limits!
She's been noticing that she drops a lot more stuff FF, so it would not surprise me if she asked to turn back around, but I'm ok with FF or RF for her.
 

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