Talked to a CPS Tech today.

kiloyd · Aug 20, 2016

He was telling me it would be fine to FF my 3.5 yr old, 32# son. That the "safe best practices" says RF for 2 yrs. I told him that the AAP says to RF for a minimum of 2 yrs but 4 yrs is better.

DS is doing fine RF I am just getting the itch to FF him because my longest RFer was 2.5 yrs. I have decided that I will turn him either when he turns 4 in January or when I have to move the headrest/harness up another notch as it will block my blind spot view more.

ETA: He was also telling me it was okay to let my 11 yr old in the front seat since it is okay to put a car seat in the front seat (if needed) but put the seat all the way back. Um, no! I like talking to this guy but he doesn't seem current on all his information. Like telling me to make sure when I said the RF weight limit of ds' seat is 40#, he asked if I was sure it wasn't for FF.

When my ds is older I really should become a CPS Tech!

wendytthomas · Aug 20, 2016

It'd be great if you were a tech.

Being a tech is like any other field. You have some who are great, some who are passionate, some who are great and passionate, and some who are good at what they do, but not up to date. And some who are lousy.

I'm very sorry you had a disappointing experience.

The AAP doesn't say to rear face to four, btw. They say kids should rear face to two. NHTSA says up to the fourth birthday.

Wendy

jjordan · Aug 21, 2016

The AAP's recommendation is as I understand it) based on the study that showed an increased safety for kids up to their 2nd birthday. No studies have been done comparing RF vs FF for kids older than that, so they don't officially recommend RF past that age. The physics of it tells us RF is safer for older kids, byt we don't know how much safer. Many well-informed people are fine with the safety of FF for a 3.5 year old.

Seat knowledge is really hit and miss for techs. The curriculum doesn't teach about specific seats per se - which is good because they change so much anyway! I would hope that most techs are at least current on trends (e.g. the current trend of 40-50 pound RF weight limits), but that is not always the case.