Comments on: About-Face on Car Seats: Safety Questions for Parents

By: Jenn

Jenn — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:53:24 +0000

I got a lot of flack from family members and from people online (who had seen photos I had taken for a “day in the life” type of blog entry) for having my daughter rear-facing when she was fourteen months old. We turned her at fifteen months. We kept her rear-facing for the same reasons you listed. We turned our son a bit earlier, around fourteen months.

By: Rob Wilcox - CEO, FacedFile

Rob Wilcox - CEO, FacedFile — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:56:26 +0000

@Amy – You make an excellent point. Sometimes blogs are writers and parents conveying their thoughts and asking for input – as this one was. It’s assembled a great collection of links via the comments. The coolest things about blogs is their ability to bring people together to discuss issues. We appreciated Diane posting her links an it looks like the feelings on front-facing and rear-facing on car seats run the gamut. We’re glad to have the links from users for all of our readers to share and it sounds like there are some extenuating circumstances (long legs and all) that make for some exceptions to the rules! Thanks for stopping by and for your honest comments!

By: Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:02:45 +0000

We haven’t turned our daughter around yet. She is 21 months and only 22lbs. I do not feel as though she is ready to forward face at all. We will go til she is at least 2 and possibly longer.

By: Amy (@HappyMomAmy)

Amy (@HappyMomAmy) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:40:09 +0000

Really? Why bother writing a post on such an important safety issue for kids, without actually providing any reliable information.

Check out the links that commenter Diane posted -they’re the same ones I was headed to get.

For something that takes about.5 seconds to google, why are so many parents clueless about it? “I didn’t know” doesn’t unbreak a child’s neck after an accident.

Harsh, but true.

By: Are All Baby Strollers And Car Seats Made Equal? How To Select The Good Ones | Cool Baby Clothes

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:54:56 +0000

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By: ChurchPunkMom

ChurchPunkMom — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:06:56 +0000

We have 5 kids and they were all turned around at different ages. Our oldest was turned the earliest, mostly due to ignorance/misinformation. Our 3rd 4th and 5th children have been rear-facing as long as we’ve been able to keep them so.

Now that we have no car, they ride on the seat of a bus. However, on the rare occasion that we take a trip somewhere, we still put our 2yo rear facing!

By: EH

EH — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:17:31 +0000

Sounds like garage stranger, who was probably only trying to be helpful, was right:)

By: Amy W

Amy W — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:29:06 +0000

my oldest son was 2 y 9 mo when he was turned FF, he had reached the height limit of his seat (ie, his head no longer had more than 1 inch of carseat shell above it). my youngest is about to turn 2 and he is still RF and will continue to do so for as long as possible. their legs hitting the seat are not an issue at all. they just bend then and they’re fine, there are no documented injurys to legs from RF. kuddos to you for not just turning him FF on his birthday but you should actually consider turning him back RF, as it is 5 times safer under the age of 2. and like the PP said, the AAP recommends keeping them RF as long as they fit. as far as people making comments, just tell them, my son is much safer RF thankyouverymuch.

By: Diane

Diane — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:04:03 +0000

Actually, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends keeping your child rear facing for as long as possible (meaning to the maximum weight or height limit allowed for a particular seat.) AAP Guide We didn't turn our daughter around until she was 3, as she finally hit the max weight. It doesn't matter if their legs are long, as long as they are under the maximum height requirement for the seat. There is also more information available here: Car-Safety.org The most recent research shows that riding rear-facing up to age 4 is strongly recommended, and there is talk that car seats will be made to handle children that size in the near future: More info

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:04:37 +0000

We didn’t turn Maya around until she was 20 months old. We were on vacation and using a rental car. We decided to let her sit forward for the trip to make it easier to interact with her during the long car ride. She loved it so when we got home we decided to turn her seat around for good. We didn’t turn her at a year because she hadn’t reached the 20lb threshold yet and because I just didn’t feel it was safe based on everything I had read. I wanted her to be as safe as possible and facing backwards was safer.

I got lots of questions about it, even from family. I figure she is my daughter, I will do what I know is safe for her and you all can mind your own business.

Congrats on your first guest post here on Face File

By: ali (adil320)

ali (adil320) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:05:14 +0000

I am a certified car seat tech.

Chase was just turned at 2 and a half when he hit 35 lbs, which is the upper limit for his seat(True Fit).

A childs neck is actually not fully fused until around the age of 3. This is why in Sweden they RF on average until 3-4 and have the lowest amount of death due to car accidents for that age group in the world.

Chase is very tall, almost 40in. He sat indian style in his seat, and is actually very unhappy with it facing forward.