What's your personal minimum for rear-facing?

Your personal minimum for rear facing?

  • 2

    Votes: 17 12.2%
  • 2.5-3

    Votes: 56 40.3%
  • 3.5-4

    Votes: 30 21.6%
  • 4+

    Votes: 24 17.3%
  • I like ice cream

    Votes: 12 8.6%

  • Total voters
    139

Jessica61624

New member
I like ice cream!

I don't have a set age goal. Until my kid outgrows their Radian. My dd could be rf but I think it would be silly to sell her frontier and buy a Radian at 4.5 years and 40 lbs. When I bought her frontier at 3.5 I didn't know the Radian would be to easy to install.
 
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kate4478

New member
BabyKaykes said:
2 as a general recommendation for the public

3yrs, 30lb as a minimum if you're in my car

4 is the minimum I'd now allow for my kids

Yeap, this is me too! DS rf until 4y3m. He's ff now but rf for any long trips. We are on a short weekendcation right now and he's happily rf! :)

Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org
 

kgardnez

New member
I like ice cream...

I know I will be the black sheep on this forum, however my son had to transition to forward facing at 22 months when my daughter was born as neither my car nor my wife's would work with two rear facing seats:
1. In my car there simply is not enough room behind a 6'1" tall driver for either a infant seat or a rear facing convertible. I tried pretty much every seat on the market (had six at my house at one point) and polled this forum with no success as there simply isn't the volume/geometry.
2. My wife was driving a two door Ford Focus up until 2 weeks ago, there was no way to load my son into a rear facing seat.

Now that my wife has a Mazda 5 we may try turning my son around, we will see what the future brings.
 

aunt83me02

Senior Community Member
No kids yet. For my kids or kids in my car bare minimum is 2.5yrs & 35lbs (or too tall for the average seat). I'm not sure how things will work. Our "nice" car is a Civic and my husband is 6'3". Hopefully by the time we have kids that are too big for an infant seat there will be more seats that go to 45lbs+ and very upright. I have an old Radian (33lb rf limit) for nieces/nephews and I'm not sure I want to fight with one on a more regular basis.
 

Katy

New member
As long as I possibly can. Which means until they outgrow the RF seats I can afford. We have the radian and the CA. I was hoping the foof had higher heights, but even still the foof or importing a swedish seat is just too far out of my reach :( The longer they RF the safer I feel.
 

abacus2

Well-known member
I voted 2 because that's the age I would rearface my children at all times and any child who rides in my car, barring extraordinary circumstances. It is my minimum, not my ideal. My ideal with current seat availability is 3.5yrs, 30lbs+.
 

Kobain's Mommy

Well-known member
DS will be RFing till his 2nd birthday and after that we'll have to see in my car, DH's truck we are going to be getting a Frontier when he turns 2. I'm hoping to get closer to 3 RFing in my car. Last week when we had DD in the Dr I asked the nurse to do a quick weight/height on him. Fully clothed he's 30lbs even and with his shoes on he was 35" (the kid is all legs though as in his CCO he's still got about an inch to grow before out growing it).
 

gsdguenter

Well-known member
Minimum is two, but we ride to the maximum :)

My kids rf until they outgrow their seats but if there is some need to ff for whatever reason I would allow it at 2.
 

mamakc

Active member
My bare minimum is 2. No one under 2 will ride FF in my car unless it's a dire emergency and I don't have a rf seat installed. DD got flipped permanently FF at 3.5 and my goal with DS was 4, but he already rides FF part time (in DH's car and whenever I watch my 18mo niece). I will turn DS & DN FF permanently at the same time because they share a car seat (ds moves to DD's FN85 and she gets boostered), so either when DS is 4 or if he outgrows the radian before then (he'll definitely fit until she is at least 2).
 

Avery'sMama

CPST Instructor
I vote for ice cream!! Times change, they change quickly! When my DD was 1, 33lbs was the best we could do. Now it's 45lbs. The ages my kids went FFing will vary widely, accordingly. I don't have a personal minimum. I have a Radian XTSL now, and a BV70, so I'm guessing DD will easily be RFing well past three. By four, I'll turn her if that's what she wants. And realistically, she'll be FFing in other people's cars before she maxes out weights on my personal seats. When working the public, I meet them where they are. I am happy when we can get people to make it to two.
 

kathysr98

Active member
I voted 4 because that's what I'm using with my only child. I think she will still fit in a CA or RN past her birthday, but as of then she can decide. I know my mother will want the seat in her car FF then even if dd prefers RF. My father will probably want her FF as well. DH will likely do whatever I want. Carseats are one of the things he doesn't question me about.

As far as other people's children, I bow to parental preference, but would not allow anything illegal. I expect my (safer) preferences to be followed, & give other people the same respect. That being said, I encourage safer practices without pressuring people. I would rather not loose my credibility in keeping a three year old harnessed because I'm pushing for them to be RF. I also keep 2 harnessed seats in my third row to fit the two kids I borrow from time to time. This is convenient and helps with preventing early boostering.
 

CrazyBoysMamma

New member
My van is at least 4 AND max to the seat. If I ever met a kid who was younger and met the max and not my kid then I will FF that kid unless that kid is 2 yr old then I'm importing!
Pretty much this, but I also like ice cream. Why couldn't I choose both? For anyone in my vehicle or my kids in any other vehicle my minimum is 4, for my kids in my vehicle it's 4 and the max. And ice cream. Lots of ice cream. Which RFers can't see me eating.:D
 

mumof2

New member
my first goal was 2 years the first seat my daughter had was a Safe N Sound (BRITAX) AHR Merdian where RFd to 12kgs (26lbs) she hit that weight at 19 months I did not want to turn her. at the time I wanted to get the BRIO ZENTO RF to 25kg(55lbs) but at $580 NZ it was out of our budget so we ended up getting the Cosco scenera. she outgrew that in height at 2 years 7 months

around a year later the Radian XTSL was being introduced into NZ the one thing I liked about it is that it harnessed to 36kgs/80lbs...from memory I dont think there were any seats thats harnessed past 18kgs/40lbs.

so I got a radian and because she still met the height at weight requirements for RFing I decided to keep her rearfacing.....

my goal was then 3 years and then she was still with the limits so though hmm maybe 4 years....well I have decided now that she can stay RFing til lshe can RF no more (unless she really starts protesting). she is around 42lbs and 42" and over 4 years old so i have got to my ultimate goal :)
 

newyorkDOC

New member
4 for my kids. But we're in europe and have a TWE so I'm not limited by the seat. DD will be at least 4.5 by the time a future sibling needs it. I'm undecided on what to do if she still wants to RF at that point. My plan was to move to a booster (she will be mature enough for one and doesn't usually sleep in the car). I'll just cross that bridge when we come to it though.

We don't transport other people's kids. But if we did, we'd likely have no choice but to FF them since they don't sell convertibles that RF in Italy.
 

leighi123

Active member
My kid - until he no longer fits (he is almost 4.5 and still has tones of room)

Other peoples kids that I'm driving anywhere (my car or their car) - if they fit RF in available seats, they ride RF.

Friends - until age 2, but I remind them often that they can RF beyond that.

General public - I tell them the "new minimum" is 2yrs, and beyond that its best to keep them RF if you can. When people show up to a check with an under 2yr old FF, I strongly encourage RF, most of them come in a convertible so its not too hard to do this, usually I can convince people with kids under 18months or so sometimes older. If they show up with a kid that is 2+ I don't bother mentioning it unless they have a younger kid/one on the way, or their kid is super tiny.
 

justKate

New member
My bare minimum for my kids would be 2.5ish. DD will be 3 in a month and is still RFing but it is getting hard, with me very pregnant and her increasing carsickness....

My goal at this point is to keep her RFing through the icy season.
 

Ninetales

New member
I wish I could say 3 or 4 but at the rate my kid is growing my minimum is whatever age she is when she hits 45lbs.
 

KaysKidz

Senior Community Member
My goal is 3 with Kaylee, in the primary car. I do let Kaylee ride FF in secondary vehicles. But those rides are very very very rare. 99% of the time she is in my car and rf'ing. The boys rear faced until 2.5yr when Kaylee came along and I couldn't do 3 rear facers with a teenager. I tried rear facing in the 3rd row and it was just not feasible on a daily basis for me.
 

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