How many of you had early forward facers??

fyrfightermomma

New member
I just weighed DD2 tonight and at 11 months she is a whopping 26.5 pounds *eek!* DD1 at 2.5 is barely over 23 pounds. She'll be rear facing until college!! I am worried because I don't even know if DD2 will even get to 18 months. For me, the weight limit of RFing is not so important as the age. Thats just my :twocents: I am more along the lines of rear facing is better longer because as they get older their vertebrae and spinal column fuse and harden (somewhere between 3-6 yrs of age) and that is what avoids the overextending of the neck and the whole internal decaptiation thing. Thats why my older one will rear face until a MINIMUM of age 3 because that to me is when her neck gets stronger. I guess I don't really get the weight thing though. Does a younger child who weighs more have a lesser injury rate than an older child who weighs less?? KWIM??? I just can't believe that my 33 pounds 14 month old is just as safe forward facing as my 33 pounds 5 year old. The 5 year old just naturally will be better protected as her neck is more developed.

Thats why I have a problem with the RFing weight thing. I feel age is more important in determining if forward facing is appropriate. Unfortunately car seat makers dont agree :) I am just so worried about having such a little one forward facing. I truly doubt she'd get past 18 months.

How many of you had bigger kids that forward faced earlier?? How did you feel about it??? Is weight all that is important? or is age more important? Like my example, is a heavy 1 year old just as protected as a lighter 4 year old?? aghhhhhh....this never would have even bothered me a year ago :)
 
ADS

nylle

New member
My DS was 27lb at one year. He made it to 20 months rfing in his Boulevard, then we switched him over to a Scenera for the last two pounds. He had to be switched permenantly ffing just before he turned two when he reached 35 lb.

I think age has much more to do with it than weight. It was important enough to me to go buy a 35lb seat just to get the few extra months to get to his 2nd birthday, and I still hated turning him.
 

Auntie2Avi

New member
Avi was FF when he was 18 months because he was 33 lbs. The only seats out at that time that RF to 35 lbs were Cosco seats and I did not want to spend $50 for a seat that would be only used for the last 2 lbs RF. I was really nervous, but I was reassured by techs telling me that he was perfectly safe FF in a seat that was tethered. I can only hope that if/when he has a younger sibling they will be able to RF for longer than 18 months, maybe there will be seats that RF to 40 lbs in the US at that time.
 

southpawboston

New member
I feel age is more important in determining if forward facing is appropriate. Unfortunately car seat makers dont agree :)

i agree, but i wouldn't say the seat makers disagree. they know more about making seats than we do. probably it is more expensive to design a RF seat that would pass testing requirements for a much higher weight limit than is currently offered, and it would end up having limited market appeal. for example, such a seat may not be able to FF, and few people would buy them. then, as a result of it not selling well, the company would lose money and that would drive the price up of the rest of their products. it's market dynamics. until the official US laws become more aggressive regarding rear-facing minimums, seats will continue to be designed and marketed to conform to current standards and expectations. it's not the carseat makers' faults at all.

the other thing to consider is that there isn't a spike in child injury or death reportings as soon as kids hit the one year mark, as people are led to believe if they turn their little ones forward at that point. the current data suggests that up to 2 yrs of age, RFing provides 4x more safety than FF. after that point, the data just doesn't exist. it may be safer beyond 2 years of age, but to what extent, we really just don't know.

if i had a peanut of a kid who could make it to 3 years before getting too big for her carseat, great, but seeing as my kiddo will barely make 2 years before hitting that mark, i am not sweating it one bit.
 

fyrfightermomma

New member
I guess I worded that wrong. I didnt mean it was their fault they only go to 33 or 35 pounds(most kids aren't chunkers like mine!) I just meant that they max out at 35 pounds and I wish one of them would come up with a higher weight RFseat for those of us with *ahem* "healthy" children hehe :) I know theres not a huge market, but theres still a market out there. Maybe once ERF catches on and they see larger kids cant rear face past 18 mos-2 years someone in the US will come up wiht one with a higher weight limit. At least I can hope :whistle:
 

mominabigtruck

New member
My oldest was 30lbs at 11 months and at the time I think most seats only went to 30lbs rfing and he was in a titan so I turned him. Honestly I never knew about the 1 year 20lb rule until I came here. I just figured that you had an infant carrier and when they outgrew that they went to a rfing convertible and when they outgrew that to a ffng seat and so on.

That's what really blows my mind about people who turn their kids super early or booster them early. It's like why?? I turned Dallas because he was too big and just plain didn't fit anymore. I can kinda understand if your child is too big but why turn a tiny baby?
 

Mama2J

Member
I turned J ff at 13 months. He was only 23 pounds, but I didn't know about ERF then. I thought you were actually *supposed* to turn them around 1 year, and that the higher rf weight limit on the convertible was only for babies under one year who went above 20 pounds.
 

AdventureMom

Senior Community Member
I turned J ff at 13 months. He was only 23 pounds, but I didn't know about ERF then. I thought you were actually *supposed* to turn them around 1 year, and that the higher rf weight limit on the convertible was only for babies under one year who went above 20 pounds.

:yeahthat: Actually I think it was 11 months, maybe 12 months. But definitely around 20 lbs... :rolleyes:
 
has he started walking yet...my dd1 was a huge chuncker weighing almost 27 lbs at 12 months. i turned her around then not knowing any better. but once she was really cruising she dropped down to 22.
 

NatenMaddiesMommy

Senior Community Member
I turned J ff at 13 months. He was only 23 pounds, but I didn't know about ERF then. I thought you were actually *supposed* to turn them around 1 year, and that the higher rf weight limit on the convertible was only for babies under one year who went above 20 pounds.

I thought the same thing and turned my DS FF when he was barely 20lbs on his 1st birthday. I thought it was a right of passage. Once I got educated here, I flipped him back to rear-facing just shy of his 3rd birthday and he never complained once. I even upgraded to a Britax (higher shell) since he was about to outgrow the rear-facing height limit in his Triumph. He's barely 31lbs now and will be 4 in May. I have no plans to flip him around until he hits the weight limit.

Besides once we have #3 later this year, I plan to get him a Radian so that I can get 3 across in the 3rd row of our van AND so he can rear-face those extra 2lbs.

Interestingly DD is not quite 20lbs at 20mos (super peanut) and people keep saying, "Wow that must suck that you can't turn her FF yet." It's a great opportunity to chat about ERF. Although most people's eyes get as wide as saucers when they see me putting DS into a RF car seat when 70% of the 3yr olds in his class are already in boosters.
 

MsFacetious

New member
Ali was 20lbs at 6 months old. I was a nervous wreck that she would never make it to 2 rear facing, etc.

She rear faced until she was 4, when she finally hit 35lbs. Her sister was 3.

So, odds are good the weight gain will slow down as they get more mobile, etc. I know I was freaked out...especially when she hit 30lbs at like 2. lol But then it took 2 more years to gain the other 5lbs.

So, don't freak out just yet... get the Elmocize video!! Let's start working out. :) My kids love that video. lol
 

unityco

Ambassador - CPS Technician
DS was 30lbs (the max RF weight in Canada) at 9.5 months (he actually broke the scale at the Dr.'s office - it also had a 30lb max! :rolleyes: ) Many people assured me he would NEVER reach that weight before he was one! :whistle: His weight gain did slow down significantly around that time, though. It was six months before he gained 2lbs more.

Besides the reduced safety issue, another bad side effect of turning DS so early is some of my friends with bad carseat habits won't listen to my advice. "Well, you turned your son before he was one year," they say, "you obvioulsy don't know anything." :mad: I woulda left him RF if I coulda!
 

lauralou

New member
I think babies are babies.And that weight gain doesnt mean their bones are stronger if their heavier..So they still need that extra support rf.as long as possible.My peanut will rf forever I think.Although at 32 inches he will probably get too tall around 2.He is only 21lbs.at 16 months.Let them be little it is safer and they grow too fast to rush it.:thumbsup:
 

lauralou

New member
we can all pray for one day a 40lb rf seat and man. installed 5 point belts in automobiles instead of 2 point:D
 

fyrfightermomma

New member
I think babies are babies.And that weight gain doesnt mean their bones are stronger if their heavier..So they still need that extra support rf.as long as possible.My peanut will rf forever I think.Although at 32 inches he will probably get too tall around 2.He is only 21lbs.at 16 months.Let them be little it is safer and they grow too fast to rush it.:thumbsup:



Wish I knew exactly how to "let her be little" hehe. I think some posters were under the impression I didn't want to RF her and were trying to convince me to. Thats not the case. My problem is that I DONT want to FF but because she is so big its inevitable. I hope she slims down. I gotta get Elmosize like one poster said!!! My first only gained 3 pounds between her 12 mo. appt and her 24 month appt so maybe our second will be the same and I'll get more RFing time than I thought!
 

Jessie78

New member
I actually turned Xander FF at 10 months & 20# because I didn't know any better, and it was one of those exciting 'milestones', ya know? I'm quite embarrassed now. :eek:
Then I turned him back RF at 16 months because of CRS's website info,:thumbsup: I'm so glad I found out the safety concerns of what I was doing FF him so early!
 

Simplysomething

New member
My oldest DS was ff'ing before he was a year old. But at the time, the only seats available to me topped out at 20 or 22 lbs. He was 27 lbs at one year. He's almost eight though.

Ds2 remained rf'ing until he was 2.5, when I made the choice to turn him forward*. He could technically still be rear-facing. He's not though. (He'll be 3 next week!)



*blah blah blah, disclaimer, blah blah blah?
 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
You never know, you're DD might slow down in weight gain. Mine weighed 23.5 pounds at 11 months, she's 18 months now, and she STILL weighs 23.5 pounds! She's grown in height (and obviously weight as well, else she'd be losing weight), but her weight seems to be going up only to counter the height and not to actually put any poundage on her.
 

cryswilkins

New member
You never know, you're DD might slow down in weight gain. Mine weighed 23.5 pounds at 11 months, she's 18 months now, and she STILL weighs 23.5 pounds! She's grown in height (and obviously weight as well, else she'd be losing weight), but her weight seems to be going up only to counter the height and not to actually put any poundage on her.

I want to second that, my DD hasn't gained anything since her 12 month and she is 15 months now. She was weighed last week. She did grow an inch and a half though...:rolleyes:
 

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
the other thing to consider is that there isn't a spike in child injury or death reportings as soon as kids hit the one year mark, as people are led to believe if they turn their little ones forward at that point. the current data suggests that up to 2 yrs of age, RFing provides 4x more safety than FF. after that point, the data just doesn't exist. it may be safer beyond 2 years of age, but to what extent, we really just don't know.

But vehicle collisions do become the #1 cause of death in children starting at age 1 through until the teen years. I'm guessing it's not coincidence....
 

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