What's your personal minimum for forward facing?

[cryswilkins]

DS just turned in DHs vehicle today. He is 32 lbs and 2y 7 months. It wasn't in my plan but it was the ONLY way three across was fitting in DHs car.

I say when the situation dictates you can't keep them rear facing anymore. Over 2 preferably.

Sent from my iPhone, please excuse my typos.

 

[babyherder]

It depends. I'd rather not consider ff until at least 3, and then only if there's a reason. But I'm willing to consider each individual situation.

As a child care provider there's several reasons I prefer rf.
1. I like to be extra cautious with other people's kids.
2. I can change the strap height on rf seats without uninstalling them.
3. I can have an older and younger child share a seat without uninstalling and re-installing because it won't hurt the older child to rf but it might hurt the younger to ff.
4. I've only really closely read the instructions for rf on my convertibles and I'm too lazy to figure out how to ff them.

So I guess kids in my car will rf until they don't fit anymore. So far I don't have anyone that's going to fit rf until they're 10 or anything so it works.

 

[laurengt]

3, as long as they fit that seat, obviously. If my DS didn't have Radians, he would have outgrown most other seats by now and he's only 2y 8m.

On this related note: I've been struggling lately with whether to keep DS RF past his 3rd bday. He is a solid kid and I think would do fine FF. He's so talkative, smart, and fun to be in the car with but I struggle to hear all that he's saying. Its hard to have a conversation and meaningful interaction when he's facing the rear and I can't hear him. I want him to know I'm fully engaged with him but now after I ask him to repeat things a few times he just gives up talking to me for that trip or at least for a while. I may be turning him at 3, even though he still has some room to grow in his Radians. I really keep going back and forth on this issue though so only time will tell what I decide. It's a tough one.

 

[megan.amarice]

On this related note: I've been struggling lately with whether to keep DS RF past his 3rd bday. He is a solid kid and I think would do fine FF. He's so talkative, smart, and fun to be in the car with but I struggle to hear all that he's saying. Its hard to have a conversation and meaningful interaction when he's facing the rear and I can't hear him. I want him to know I'm fully engaged with him but now after I ask him to repeat things a few times he just gives up talking to me for that trip or at least for a while. I may be turning him at 3, even though he still has some room to grow in his Radians. I really keep going back and forth on this issue though so only time will tell what I decide. It's a tough one.

My minimum is 3, but I'm having trouble with this too. my DD is so curious and interested in everything she sees, but is so soft spoken I can't understand her half the time. She only has another inch to go in one vehicle, but 2-3 inches in our around town vehicle. Not sure yet what we'll do, but for now we're toughing it out. She's currently 3y1m.

 

[kalamos23]

3, longer if they fit. Dd outgrew the xtsl by weight a week before 3, stinker. Ds likely could make 5 rfing by weight, but is long torsoed, so we shall see.

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[hedgefun]

For my own kids, my minimum will likely be 3+.

Right now it's just other people's kids in my car. My minimum for them is usually 2.

I transported an 18 mo FF once. The only reason I did it was because she was about to be a lap baby in a taxi.

 

[hedgefun]

For my own kids, my minimum will likely be 3+.

Right now it's just other people's kids in my car. My minimum for them is usually 2.

I transported an 18 mo FF once. The only reason I did it was because she was about to be a lap baby in a taxi.

Sorry, can't figure out how to edit on the iPhone app. ETA: And I only have GN, so RF wasn't a choice.

 

[Baylor]

In my car 2. Just 2. That's the minimum for me. I would never say anything to anyone that wanted to flip at 2.

I think it's awesome that people rf longer but 2 is min for my car.

auto correct hates me

 

[amyd]

For my kids, 3 is my minimum in our everyday ride. I would and have FF'd before that in other peoples' vehicles if RFing wasn't practical.

 

[Baylor]

Sorry, can't figure out how to edit on the iPhone app. ETA: And I only have GN, so RF wasn't a choice.

Click the little blue arrow next to name above post and click edit.

auto correct hates me

 

[TXDani]

Two....I don't try to convince anyone to go beyond that if 2 is their plan. I will likely flip my youngest when he hits 2.

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[jeminijad]

The question is the minimum, so my answer is 2. There are reasons that I would turn a 2 year old that would not be nearly enough to turn a 1 year old.

 

[newyorkDOC]

4 yo

 

[Little Ps Mama]

3 for secondary vehicles. 4 for primary.

ETA: that's for my kids who thankfully don't have motion sickness. . If someone was dealing with motion sickness and turned at two, I wouldn't judge. Everyone I know turns at one though regardless.

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[MorgieBear'sMama]

2.5 at a minimum in the primary vehicle, but will probably go to 3 or 4 in the radians. I'm thinking about flipping at 2 in their dad's car in the prorides.

 

[mimieliza]

It's complicated...

For DD (who is now nearly 6), I kept her RFing until she was 2 years old and 30 lbs. That is still my minimum for ANY FFing. At the time, it was unheard of to keep ANY kid RFing past 1 and 20, so it felt like a huge feat to get her to 2 and 30. And she was carsick. So, FFing she went.

For DS (who is 28 months), my minimum for any FFing is still 2 years and 30 lbs. So, he has ridden FFing on occasion. But overall, my goal is to keep him RFing until age 3. In my car, which lacks top tethers, I will try to keep him RFing to the limits of his seat (Radian XTSL). In DH's car, we may not even make it to age 3, as DH is getting tired of having no room in the front seat (DH's Forester has a very small backseat).

 

[SafeDad]

I advise clients to rear-face until 2 years. If they can go longer, great. If not, they've done a very good job at exceeding industry minimums already.

There could well be some cases where a child under 2 years old, but over 12 months and 20 pounds could be turned front-facing, but my personal minimum would be 2 years as well.

 

[BananaBoat]

My personal minimum for my kids to ever FF is 3.

That said, J has only FF only 5 or 6 times in the RSTV when traveling or when it was our spare seat. J still RF in her XTSL 99% of the time. She's asked twice to go FF ever. The times she's FF in the RSTV, she complains that she can't see anything. I have no reason to flip her right now, so unless she becomes carsick or insistent on it, I'll keep her RF until she outgrows it. I wouldn't hesitate to at this point, but again I have no motivation to do so, so why bother?

A is obviously still RF and will for a long time to come unless there is a significant reason not to. Again, being constantly carsick etc is reasonable for me to flip, but not to watch the DVD or whatever. Luckily, I have kids thus far who are fine to RF and don't complain about it.

 

[Maisie&BodensMommy]

For other people's kids, I've stopped even caring if they are 2 and FF full-time. That might be bad, I might be jaded, or just have friends with horrible carseat usage. But I talk about ERF if they FF their 1 year old. By 2, I just feel like the general population isn't going to RF beyond that, so all I'm doing is being adversarial to them.

For my kids, DD turned FF at 3 yrs 10 months because we had her FF temporarily due to a foster placement, and she asked to stay FF, and I realized that I was comfortable with it.

If my kid were carsick in the car super often, and I'd tried everything else, I'd totally FF them at 2.

All that being said, if my dd were complaining about RF and whining to FF, I would have kept her RF for another couple months. Ha. She just asked so nicely, stated her reasoning, and would have been completely fine with whatever answer I gave. But, like I said, I was comfortable with her FF at that point.

 

[jenfrogmom]

My own children, 4.