Spin off: How long will/did you rf?

SnoGurl

New member

• Nov 19, 2012

• #61

S. is 18 months and rearfacing still (either in a Scenera or a Via35). As she's 24" and 19.5lbs I hope to rearface her a looong while yet. I'm taking it one day at a time though-- my goal is four, but I'm not going to be upset if we don't quite make it there. As I see in this thread, there's all sorts of things that could influence the decision.

 

Chila88

New member

• Nov 19, 2012

• #62

DD1 ERF until 20months (after ignoring the 32" limit on her seat for about 8 months) at which point I flipped her in the fall, after all of our summer traveling was complete. Then shortly after her 3rd birthday I got a great deal on a MR...so she flipped back and forth between that and her FR until she outgrew the MR RF by height.

DD2 ERF until 31 months. She was getting close to outgrowing the MR by height so I got her a FR. I had intended to kind of go back and forth until it was totally outgrown, but we basically just use the FR these days. (in fact DD1 rides ff in the MR in our 2nd vehicle now)

I RF my kids light-years longer than 90% of the people I know, but on this thread it sure doesn't seem like long!

 

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catzwoman28

New member

• Nov 19, 2012

• #63

DD1 rf until about 14 mos then went ff, didn't know better then , she was about 21 lbs , and would have been over the height limit of 32 " on her alpha omega ( which she outgrew totally at 2 years old )

DD2 rf until 20 mos all the time, but rf until around 3 for longer trips , then went back rf between 3 year 9 mos and around 4 years. has been ff permanently since , she is too tall for the radian now at 4 years 7 mos but still under the weight limit and wears a cast that would have been difficult ot get her into the seat now as well .

DD3 is still rf at 2 years 5 mos , not sure when I will turn her , currently rides in a truefit or radian , but my daycare child is nearly too big for the truefit so she will be just in that until she hits 35 lbs ( currently 30 lbs )

 

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LittlePeanut

New member

• Nov 20, 2012

• #64

My first was FF at 25 months old because he had reached the weight limit of his Marathon. At the time, the highest RF limit was 30 lbs and he was 29 lbs naked. My 2nd child was 37 months when he went FF because he outgrew his MyRide by height (1" rule).

 

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betholio

New member

• Nov 20, 2012

• #65

My oldest (who is now 4.5) rear-faced until he was almost 4. He had outgrown his Radian in height so we turned him around to forward-facing. My second (2) will rear-face about that long. I suspect he might hit the 45lbs weight limit before he gets too tall, but you never know.

 

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sparkyd

Active member

• Nov 21, 2012

• #66

Both my kids outgrew the RF limit on the True Fit by weight a couple of months after their 3rd birthdays, so they went FF in the vehicle with that seat when that happened. Both were in Radians RF in our other vehicle and I kept them that way until I could no longer deal with my husbands bi***ing to turn them around. To his credit he kept his mouth shut until they turned 3.

 

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Alison's Mom

New member

• Nov 21, 2012

• #67

sparkyd said:

Both my kids outgrew the RF limit on the True Fit by weight a couple of months after their 3rd birthdays, so they went FF in the vehicle with that seat when that happened. Both were in Radians RF in our other vehicle and I kept them that way until I could no longer deal with my husbands bi***ing to turn them around. To his credit he kept his mouth shut until they turned 3.

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My DH was the same. He kept complaining that I was treating them like babies by rear facing them, so I held out until between 3 and 3.5yrs for both and then turned them. I decided it wasn't worth a divorce as they were over 3. Dd was in an EB3 in 1 and DS was in a RN, and with him, there was also the issue that the front passenger seat had to moved further forward than was ideal especially if I was driving and Dh was in the passenger seat. There was no angle adjuster then. . . Because of needing to drive another child to a weekly event a couple months ago, I bought an AA for the RN and put DS in it RF in order to fit three across in my CRV. DS is tiny, like 37 pounds, and our RN rear faces to 40. It was a stretch getting him and his legs to fit in there and be comfortable, though. If DH didn't care, I probably would have RFed both longer, probably to age 4.

 

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Mommy090804

New member

• Nov 22, 2012

• #68

DD approached 33lbs a few months after her third birthday, which was the maximum RFing weight limit on Marathons at the time.

DS RFed in our primary vehicle until just after the age of four. I believe we were able to rearface him in the 33lb Marathon, but had to turn him in our secondary vehicle since our Radian had a 30lb RFing weight limit.

Essentially, they were RFed until the maximum RFing weight limit of the seat. I have to admit that if we had the seats that are available now that have higher RFing weight limits, I am not sure to what age they would have been RFing. DS is almost 6.5 and just barely 40lbs. I couldn't imagine him RFing. Most of his friends are in no back boosters. I probably would have turned them after the age of four. The constant need for explanation was tiring even when they were ERFing at the ages of two and three.

 

Keeks64

New member

• Nov 23, 2012

• #69

DS was FF at 1y in an AOE - didn't know any better at the time

I moved him back RF at 2y3m in a MA65...he stayed RF until 3y9m in his MA65 & sometimes goes back RF if he asks too

 

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PeachyPie

New member

• Nov 26, 2012

• #70

We turned DD around at 2 years 8 months. My DS was born a month later and we'd planned not to switch her till right before he came. But on a road trip, she was being awful, and I felt like she was just TOO tall (we had the first generation Complete Air, and she probably had outgrown it in height). I turned her around and she fell right to sleep, so I think it was the right time.

With DS I was hoping to get the Foonf and keep him RF to 45 lbs/46" but I just learned that in Canada they're changing the limits to only 40 lbs. Totally sucks, my DS is a BIG boy, and I wouldn't be surprised if he outgrows his CA in height by 2 y/o. I plan not really to pay attention to that rule though, and go by the 1" rule instead. So he'll RF as long as possible up to 40 lbs and 1" to the top of the shell.

ETA- Before I knew better, I did turn DD around to FF a few days shy of 12 months old. When I learned more about ERF, I turned her back around at 15 months.

 

Pixelated

Moderator - CPST Instructor

• Nov 26, 2012

• #71

PeachyPie said:

With DS I was hoping to get the Foonf and keep him RF to 45 lbs/46" but I just learned that in Canada they're changing the limits to only 40 lbs. Totally sucks, my DS is a BIG boy, and I wouldn't be surprised if he outgrows his CA in height by 2 y/o. I plan not really to pay attention to that rule though, and go by the 1" rule instead. So he'll RF as long as possible up to 40 lbs and 1" to the top of the shell.

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The reason the height limit was reduced on the Foonf to 43" is because of head movement on rebound in the taller dummy - it didn't pass. So I would suggest following that height limit very carefully. There is no 1" rule on a Complete Air, nor any other Dorel seat, and we don't know why they have a 36" height limit on it. There have been suggestions in the past that many do choose to disregard it, with part of the argument being that 'well in the US it's 40". Our test standards are different and the seat is not structurally identical. I wouldn't presume to second guess the manufacturer in light of how the testing is done and recent revelations in that department. This thread has lots of info and discussion about it: http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=234717

 

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Daniella

New member

• Dec 1, 2012

• #72

So far our daughter just turned 5 and is been 40-42 pounds. She's still rearfacing, and assuming she doesn't outgrow the seat she might turn forward facing when our twins come in May, due to the ease of getting everyone in and out of our small car.

 

StillThankful

New member

• Dec 1, 2012

• #73

Neat poll!

DD1: turned FF 2y2m b/c outgrew orig MA by weight. ReRf'd at 3y1m in MR65 and RNXTSl until 3y11. She then FFd permanently for family reasons.

DD2: remained Rfing until 3y9m b/c she outgrew the seat by weight. Was trying to make it to FEb (when she turned 4) but it didn't happen. She was perfectly happy Rfing but she was getting incredibly heavy trying to get her in and out the seat so I'm elated that she can get herself into the car seat by herself.