Why don't more people know about the RF weights?

MomofOlivia407

New member
I have been reading the forums for a few weeks now. I feel filled with new knowledge, and I thank you so much for that. My question is: why doesn't ANYONE (except on this site of course! ;) ) know about keeping a child RF until the upper limit of the seat? I have polled all of my friends with kids, and ALL of them, without exception, FF their kids at 1 year old OR 20 pounds!!!!! So, I have been telling them all, to the point of preaching, how much safer it is to RF until the limits. They aren't listening to me because they think, like everyone else, that their legs are scrunched or that they just SHOULD be FF at one year old. WHY don't the car seat manufacturers advocate RF until the limit? Why don't salespeople do the same? When I am passionate about something, I tell the world, and I think every single parent out there needs to know about this! Thanks for responses!

Mom of Olivia
11 months, 15 pounds, 27"
Rf in Graco Snugride
 
ADS

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Very few mainstream articles are out there :(...this is a good one, and when the study came out a couple months ago (finally), a few local newspapers carried it, but it's just not 'out there' and pediatricians can't be bothered to read the AAP statement and spread the word. We're trying, though...things are slowly getting better and better than they used to be :( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9916868
 

mcomommy

New member
I did not know either till I cam here. I though the higher weights were just for heavy babies under one.
 

MomofOlivia407

New member
Thanks for that great MSN article-I will post that on my blog, too! I thought, like everyone else, that it was 1 year old or 20 lbs...because that's just what you hear. So I am a huge advocate of this website, too! :p
 

Mommy2Five

New member
I may be one of a lucky few, but my Ped. has been preaching the benefits of ERFing and EHing for years now (at least since my 3 y/o was born).

I absolutely :love: her!!!
 

MomofOlivia407

New member
I love my pediatrician too (even though she gets to go to France in April :D)but she has never mentioned anything about a car seat-maybe because she sees us carrying DD in the snugride? I'll be sure to ask her about it, though! thanks for that!
 

bombedier

Senior Community Member
Because the Pediatrician told them it was OK to turn them around at 1 year and 20lbs and didn't bother to mention anything about it being safer to RF for as long as possible. Seriously - this is the main reason I hear.
 

cpsaddict

New member
I think it's also a problem of people not reading the manuals. Most, if not all, manufacturers state to leave them rearfacing up to such and such pounds. They say you CAN turn them, but you can also leave them. For combo seats, they all say at least one and 20lbs. Now I know this is not the only reason, but if more people would read the manual, they might be curious why you can continue rf. Most people get the car seat and never bother looking at the manual.
 

fyrfightermomma

New member
I was all about the leg thing too and like a PP thought higher weight RF limits were for chunky babies under 1. My ped. even advised me I could turn my DD1 FF when she was 11 months and 18 pounds because she was "close enough." and I did it :eek: Several months later someone told me I should turn her back RFing. I totally dismissed her and gave her the whole leg speech. She honestly gave me the best advice of all. She said "all I ask you to do is google "extended rearfacing" and spend just 15 minutes reading about it. When you have found something on legs breaking rear facing please let me know and I'll be more than happy to turn my son forward facing." (she obviously knew I wouldnt find anything, but I didnt know that then) So of course since I was challenged I was determined to find evidence of leg trauma. Needless to say after the 15 min. was up I was out flipping my daughters seat back to rear facing at 26 months. I have tried this approach the last few times and out of the 4 people I told, 3 have listened :)
 

libranbutterfly

New member
I was all about the leg thing too and like a PP thought higher weight RF limits were for chunky babies under 1. My ped. even advised me I could turn my DD1 FF when she was 11 months and 18 pounds because she was "close enough." and I did it :eek: Several months later someone told me I should turn her back RFing. I totally dismissed her and gave her the whole leg speech. She honestly gave me the best advice of all. She said "all I ask you to do is google "extended rearfacing" and spend just 15 minutes reading about it. When you have found something on legs breaking rear facing please let me know and I'll be more than happy to turn my son forward facing." (she obviously knew I wouldnt find anything, but I didnt know that then) So of course since I was challenged I was determined to find evidence of leg trauma. Needless to say after the 15 min. was up I was out flipping my daughters seat back to rear facing at 26 months. I have tried this approach the last few times and out of the 4 people I told, 3 have listened :)

That sounds like a great method :) I wish my SIL's would listen. I will be buying Trinity a Scenera for her bday, and Maddie will be getting a Nauti for her 2nd bday, since they turned her @ 9 monthes (I did get them to turn her back until 1), and Maddie's little bro will be getting a SS1 with the hope that they will use it until he outgrows it. I will be buying all of these, saving up around $25 from each of my checks. I also need to buy a new seat for Trinity's half bro, currently 3 and 23 lbs, FF in a display model OHS scenera. ( He is so tiny!!) And of course, I have to replace my car seats from the wreck. At least I get to buy seats :)
 

Ice Princess

New member
I was all about the leg thing too and like a PP thought higher weight RF limits were for chunky babies under 1. My ped. even advised me I could turn my DD1 FF when she was 11 months and 18 pounds because she was "close enough." and I did it :eek: Several months later someone told me I should turn her back RFing. I totally dismissed her and gave her the whole leg speech. She honestly gave me the best advice of all. She said "all I ask you to do is google "extended rearfacing" and spend just 15 minutes reading about it. When you have found something on legs breaking rear facing please let me know and I'll be more than happy to turn my son forward facing." (she obviously knew I wouldnt find anything, but I didnt know that then) So of course since I was challenged I was determined to find evidence of leg trauma. Needless to say after the 15 min. was up I was out flipping my daughters seat back to rear facing at 26 months. I have tried this approach the last few times and out of the 4 people I told, 3 have listened :)

Love that idea. I think this is what I will tell parents when they question why my 36mos ds is rf too.
 

fyrfightermomma

New member
I honestly think that method works because its not *you* telling them what to do. I am very very stubborn and if someone tells me to do something thats reason enough to fight it lol :) With this method, no one is telling you what to do, no one is pointing out what you are doing wrong (that was my big beef). Its just neutral sources telling you what is best and you can research it on your own and there is no one sitting there telling you what to do. It just seems to work good on parents. Once they see its not just one person telling them they seem to get it. Once I could not find ONE source that said not to rear face I was convinced. And the other lady never knew she "won". ;)

She told me to google it in a very non threatening way. She may it seem like she was geniunely interested in what I had to say and would have loved to learn more about it (she was a great actress!) so that made it seem more like *I* was right. Then I had to follow through and when I couldnt, she wasnt there to see :)
 
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minismom

Well-known member
I love the idea of telling people to google it. I think people turn kids at 1 (and either 20lbs or not) for 2 main reasons:

* everyone tells them to, including friends, the "how to" baby books (that may or may not include "at least" before the "rule" but don't bother emphasizing that RF longer would be safe) and most importantly, their pediatrician. I mean if your doctor says they're ok to FF you'd believe it if you didnt know better

* the carseat manual: even if the limits are heigher, they don't really say that RF longer is best. And after all, if the seat is rated to be used FF from 1y and 20lbs then it must be safe for a 20lb 12mo to FF. Same reason people put 2 and 3yo in a booster just because it says it's rated from 30lbs. The seats just shouldn't be rated to be used like that, end of story. The convertible should say 2yo and 20lb and have a huge warning that RF longer is better.The booster could say 30lbs and 4yo or something, so that the lower weight limit is only used by older skinny kids. Otherwise it;s very hard to convince people it's not safe if it's allowed.

Just my :twocents:
 

MomofOlivia407

New member
I love the idea of telling people to google it. I think people turn kids at 1 (and either 20lbs or not) for 2 main reasons:

* everyone tells them to, including friends, the "how to" baby books (that may or may not include "at least" before the "rule" but don't bother emphasizing that RF longer would be safe) and most importantly, their pediatrician. I mean if your doctor says they're ok to FF you'd believe it if you didnt know better

* the carseat manual: even if the limits are heigher, they don't really say that RF longer is best. And after all, if the seat is rated to be used FF from 1y and 20lbs then it must be safe for a 20lb 12mo to FF. Same reason people put 2 and 3yo in a booster just because it says it's rated from 30lbs. The seats just shouldn't be rated to be used like that, end of story. The convertible should say 2yo and 20lb and have a huge warning that RF longer is better.The booster could say 30lbs and 4yo or something, so that the lower weight limit is only used by older skinny kids. Otherwise it;s very hard to convince people it's not safe if it's allowed.

Just my :twocents:


I :love: all of that! Great advice! I just wish there was some better way to get the word out...but, like me, one at a time is better than none! :) My DD is so tiny that I think she will be RF for a VERY long time-between 3 & 4 at the earliest!

I think the part "And after all, if the seat is rated to be used FF from 1y and 20lbs then it must be safe for a 20lb 12mo to FF. Same reason people put 2 and 3yo in a booster just because it says it's rated from 30lbs. " says it all-the manufacturers say that it CAN be used by those weight groups, so people automatically think it SHOULD.

The best: I was telling DH about all of this when I got home & you know what he said? "Well, I would think it would be common sense that they stay RF longer because it seems safer!" LOVE him! :D :love:

Thanks for everyone's input!
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
I believe it's because so few of the "official" places make it a priority to ensure that it's made clear that 12/20 is the minimum. They honestly believe that it's "hard enough to get to the minimums, why bother mentioning the maximums?"

IMO they need to go back to math class....:rolleyes:
 

Kris0722

New member
It is so drilled into people's heads about the 1 and 20! I was lucky b/c I stumbled across the Babycenter car seat board (when ds was about 9 months) after a trip to see my SIL and was HORRIFIED (even back then, when I had no clue!) about what I saw! Ds was rfing in my car until after he was 3. My friends think I am nuts and my mother's boyfriend and I even had words over it - he told me I was silly, being extreme, even told me there was no point to it, etc... (ummm, yeah, that conversation and subsequent emails with links did not end well! )

My ped.'s office (who I LOVE) has never said anything about car seats either way. I would rather them say nothing than say turn at 1 year/ 20 lbs though.

I have sent all of my friend info on ERF - I think only one did any extended rfing - and even then, she turned earlier than she "had" to - but whatever she did was better than nothing!
 

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