Turning a child RF again..

[maddysmomma]

My son will be 3 in November. Before I knew more about the world of carseats, I turned him around at 13 months in his Britax MA. He's been riding that way ever since and seems happy with it. Not the point, right?

I've been contemplating with the idea of turning him around again, Hubby is absolutely not for it.. I told him I plan to keep our 3mo. old RFing as long as possible.. His idea is that our son has been fine, Maddy will too..but I tell him when you know better you do better. So it would be a hard stretch to flip my son RFing again.

Anyway, sorry for babbling..my son is about 36 inches & 35lbs.. it's time for a new seat anyway(Maddy will be moved into the MA in a while)..but I'm considering the Radian XTSL and turning him RF, or buying a Britax Frontier and keeping him FFing.

Has anyone turned a child around this late in the game? How do they do with it?

What would you do?

 

[firemomof3]

I would absolutely turn him around rf again in the Radian XTSL :thumbsup: Children are just so much safer rf and like you said "when you know better you do better".
I would let you son pick out which cover he likes on the Radians and just let him know that he will rf just like his baby sister because that is what is safest. I wouldn't give him the choice, your the parent and you know what is safest for him

 

[momto3girls]

It can be done. DD2 was turned ff at 20 months when she finally hit 20lbs. Then a year later she was turned back rf. She loves it! I say go for it!

 

[Jocey'sMommy]

I turned my DD FFing at a yr and then read the AAP article that suggested RFing to two about the same time DD was two, I then researched it and immediatly turned her RF (literally at 3am after being online all night) She is almost 4 and still has plenty of rm RFing and the longer the better Even at almost 4 I still struggle with whether to get a Radian( her MA goes to 33lbs and RA50 to 35lbs RFing) She has TONs of height left in her seats (short torso kid lol)

I would def RF him, and he will prob like it, Jocelynn has to ride FFing every now and then and complains and begs for her other seats.

 

[Mommy2Marcus]

I have turned my DS back RF several times. Once when he was 16 months old, once when he was 2 1/2, once again at 3 1/2 for a ride. He has never complained nor had any problem with it. In fact when I turned him back at 2 1/2 he said he liked it better.

Also as for your DH. Mine was against it when I turned my son back at 16 months. He said he would not tollerate it. I decided just to do it, then tell him. Once I had turned him & he had done fine with being RF again then he was okay with it. I also showed him the RF video & made him sit down & watch it after I had turned him back. He then became ok with it & understood why I had turned him back.

Good Luck with whatever you decide.

 

[mayamac]

I turned dd FF when she was 2.5 and then back to RF at a little over 3. She loved it. Then older sister was jealous and wanted to be Rfing, too, so now I have a 5.5 yo (38 pounds)and a 3.5 yo (33 pounds) rearfacing. MyRide behind driver because it doesn't take up as much space and the Radian behind passenger.

 

[ketchupqueen]

My daughter went forward when she hit the at-the-time limit on weight to RF at 2 years old. When one of our seats was retroactively rated to 40 rear-facing, she re-rear-faced at 3 years 4 months and stayed that way for another 6 months until she outgrew it again. She never said a word against it and in fact her legs were more comfortable, and she liked having a bigger view out the window!

 

[hrice]

My son FF for 3 mos from 15m-18m before I learned about the safety of ERF. He is still RF at 26 mos and happy as a clam. I would totally re-RF a 3 year old! I will keep my kiddos RF as long as I possibly can!:thumbsup:

As for your DH...your ODS has been fine but you haven't been involved in a serious collision I am assuming?

 

[swtgi1982]

my DD was turned around at 18mon before I knew better, then turned again at two. Then outgrew her seat RF a few months after turning three. She was not quite three and a half when she needed a new seat (outgrew her seat FF) when I talked to her about seats she like one that was RF to 40lbs and she begged to ride like her brother so I did it. She was turned RF again at almost 3.5yr old. She still rides that way today at a little over 4.5yr old.

 

[lpperry]

I have daycare kids who are close to two. They ride forward facing in their parents car (have since 12 months). They ride rearfacing in my car. I have never had a problem with them switching back and forth.

I really doubt your 3 year old will have a problem with it. Just tell him that in his new seat, he gets to ride backwards. That should be fun! I don't think kids really care about which way they face. They don't think "rearfacing is for babies." I doubt he's going to care either way if you don't make a big deal about it.

People (in general, not car-seat.org people) never worry about turning their 1 year old forward facing, wondering if they will oppose or like it-- they just do it.

 

[all together ooky]

My 6 year-old just told me that she wishes she could ride backwards because it's fun and safer. Since your child is smaller than my 2 year-old (height) I wouldn't hesitate to turn him around. Kids don't care-just make it something fun for him. Now, if your DH is around when you do it and your kid can tell he doesn't like it it may make it harder. Show DH the videos.

 

[firemomof3]

I have daycare kids who are close to two. They ride forward facing in their parents car (have since 12 months). They ride rearfacing in my car. I have never had a problem with them switching back and forth.

Same here One of my daycare kiddos turned 2 in June and his parents turned him ff but he's still rf when he's with me. He has never argued or even cared.

 

[mommy-medic]

My youngest is 3.5 and RF's in my car (Radian xtsl) but FF's in the nanny's car (Nautilus). We have no problems- she just climbs into whichever seat she needs to for the ride. (Though in my car last week, completely unprovoked, she announced "I LIKE riding backwards!")