How Old Was Your Baby/child When You

As late/old as possible. Many states have diff laws about it, but you want them rear facing as long as you can. My son was about 2. Look on utube for some videos about why, you'll understand.

look up "Texas - child safety seat law" and you will get the "legal" answer. It should take you to the texas DOT website.

My son is 27 months old and still rear-facing. It's safer. His legs are a little squished, but he doesn't care. I have bought three car seats (me, dh, & grandparents) all for their higher rear-facing limits. The law in TX is 1 year old & 20 lbs. The APA recommendation is at least 2 years old. I will be keeping my son rear-facing up to his car seat limit.

our first was 18-19mths old.
Our second was around 16mths (although it never felt right, thankfully more info was out with our 3rd)
Our third was after her 2nd birthday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRP7ynNI8mI

Benefits of rear facing

It's much easier to fix a broken pelvis then a broken neck. To turn around just because their legs touch the backseat isn't a good reason. Carseats have extremely high weight limits, up to 35lbs at least.

and don't forget tethering when you finally do turn him around
Importance of 5pt tethered harness
http://www.vimeo.com/2994502

With our first he was 11 months, he outweighed the reccomendations for his convertable carseat being rear-facing at 35 lbs. He was a big boy! Our 2nd is 18 months and at 27lbs she is still in a rear-facing convertable. When she reaches 35lbs too I will turn it around, until then not a chance! Recent studies show toddlers are 5 times safer if they remain rear-facing until age 2.

http://www.babyproducts.about.com/od/carseats/qt/rear_fac....

My daughter was almost 2yrs old. I kept her as long as I could w/ the rear facing weight limit. I read so often on how parents turn their kids cause their legs were hitting the back or looked uncomfortable. Personally, I would rather my daughter have gotten a broken leg than broken neck if we had gotten in an accident. And kids often sit with their legs crossed so sitting that way in a carseat to me was no big deal. No matter how tall a kid or how much they weigh, their necks are just not strong enough yet. They are still growing and developing strength. They can be internally decapitated if in a car crash because their necks can't support their heads when whipped forward.

In my town, we have 4 nationally certified carseat technicians and I'm privileged to know all of them. You would be amazed at just how much we DON'T know about installing car seats correctly and having the proper one not only for your child but vehicle as well. Every couple of months I have them check that mine are installed properly, etc. To answer your question, as long as possible. IMO, if the technicians are keeping their little ones faced backwards as long as possible, even w/ their legs going up the back of the seat (they taught them how to fold Indian style) then I would listen to them. They recommend at least age two at the very minimum and actually longer if possible. The 1 year & 20 lb. rule no longer applies. This is not about making the child happy, it's about caring for their safety and well being so please make the proper choice.

My son will be a year old this week. We just changed it out for the forward facing 5 point harnass......We just had to do it...he is big boy at 25 lbs and 31 inches long. We were having a hard time with rear facing and making sure we weren't crushing his legs...ugh...and oh my poor back trying to lift the darn seat out of the car..... :)

my daughter was in one probably around 6 months, i have very tall children.

My DD was 13 months and weighed 24 lb when we turned the carseat around.

10 months.
DS was walking and our ped said if he can walk, he can face forward.

Research these days would have you face your child to the rear until they're 4!
My son HATED it and screamed constantly in the car until we faced him front.

My older daughter was only 10 mo. when we turned her around. She was always very tall for her age. She was also already 25lbs at 10 mo. old. Her head was actually taller than the back of her car seat and with the small backseat of the car we had, there was no way we could buy a toddler car seat that would fit rear-facing, so since she met the weight requirement, we went ahead and turned her around. Her feet had also already started being cramped b/c she was so tall. (and I'm from CA originally, and while they recommend that babies be 1 yr old before being front-facing, the only requirement is the weight, which used to be 25lbs, I'm not sure if they've changed that or not)
My 2nd daughter was much skinnier, although still tall, so we kept her rear-facing until she was about 14 mo. I believe.

My toddler is 18 months and still rear facing. I've been tempted to turn it forward facing for a few months now but I keep watching that video on youtube that details what happens when you get into an accident and your baby is rear facing and I'm scared to switch it. (if you search for rear facing on youtube, you'll come up with several videos -- watch them. you'll prob. keep it rear facing as long as possible)

My first two were 1 and a few days and my 3rd was 2 bc she is tiny

we turned at 1 year. My daughter was 3 feet tall at 15 months and has really long legs and she was not comfortable rear facing any longer.

If he will tolerate being rear facing - keep him that way - it's safer. After 1 year and I forget how many lbs (20???) they can face forward in CO.

I want to say mine all were 1. My younger 2 are tall for their age so the need to turn then was bigger than my oldest.

If I were you I would wait as long as possible - I think the law in CA is they have to be at least one year old....but it is safer to keep them rear facing.

My DS was 9 months when he started facing forward. Only reason was he outgrew his carseat. He was in the 100% for height and weight, and could already walk so we had no other choice but to put him in a carseat that he could actually fit in.

Well we did it at one year, but now I have read they are recommending for as long as possible or at least two years. With this second baby I will try and shoot for 2 years. One of the most important things is making sure of the weight restrictions on your particular seat for each position. See how long your seat is supposed to go rear facing--make sure to check height restrictions as well. Best!

My son went into the forward facing car seat at 11 months. He surpassed the height and weight requirement and there was more leg room!

I think he was around 14 months when he hit the weight limit. We ran it by the pediatrician and he suggested keeping him RF until he was either completely uncomfortable or grumpy in the car.

After one year AND 20 lbs is when you can turn them around. BUT it is best to keep them turned around as long as possible. Their necks just aren't that strong to take a crash and the whip lash. Well nobodies neck is, but theirs mostly.
My son is still rear facing and he'll be 15 months in a couple days. I'm going to turn him around soon, because he is so miserable rear facing because he is so big. If your son is perfectly fine facing backwards, keep him that way. But you can decide now what you want to do.
Here is the youtube video that a previous poster mentioned.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8gU9zzCGA8

When my daughter was 9 months, we asked her pediatrician because she was so big, she barely fit in the rear-facing seat. Doctor was very clear that law and safety mean at least 12 months. We moved her the day of her birthday and for several weeks before that, we completely avoided the car. She was so uncomfortable and we couldn't buy a new car seat for just a couple of months.

About 15 months. I would've liked to keep him RF longer, but he was throwing the biggest fits getting into the car seat. So we turned it FF and never had a problem since. Our youngest just turned 1 year and is still RF, I'll keep him like that as long as he isn't freaking out.

My daughter is 11 months old and has been in a forward facing carseat for about 2 months now. As soon as she was big enough I went and bought a convertible carseat and she loves it.
My older boys were also in forward facing carseats around the same time.

My twins will be RF until they met the requirements of the seats and have to be turned around. If there legs are too long, they can fold them, set them over the sides, etc. There safety is far more important that their comfort.

At 10 month i got my son a forward facing carseat only bec he was to heavy and to big to fit in the other carseat. you can get a front facing carset and face it so it dosnt face forward we did that for a while then turned him around :)

Good luck

Mine was very young, apx 6mo, because it was unsafe to have him rearfacing (even had a note pinned to his seat via the FD & PD). We had the biggest seat available and his shoulders were above the highest strap (his spine would have snapped in an accident from the straps being in the wrong place... which is what prompted the exempt note from the seat inspectors), and his knees were in his face giving him bruises. The inspectors felt quite safe turning him, in addition to rear facing being dangerous, because he'd been holding his head up since the day he was born, so his musculoskeletal system was far more advanced than most babies his age.((As in they said they usually feel terrible when they have to recommend FF this young, but in our case, not to worry... cause he had the most control of any baby his age they'd seen.)) He was also well over 20lbs at 6mo, and was pushing the seat's weight limit of 30lbs. I come from a scandanavian background, we're big people and grow very very fast when we're young. By age 2 (when you double their height to project adult height, he was a few inches over 3').

Nowadays they have seats that MIGHT accommodate him... so we'd be able to have him rearfacing much longer. I'd take advantage of that as long as it made sense.

In an ideal world, one stays rear facing for as long as possible. But we don't always live in an ideal world.

I intended to keep my son rear-facing as long as possible. We bought the Graco My Ride 45 for that purpose. However we switched my son at 21 months. He was getting so grumpy in the car and he ran out of leg room. Once we switched him to forward facing he loved riding in the car and it made car rides for me and my husband much more enjoyable.

PA state law will not allow any child under 1 year to be in a front facing car seat and THEN they must meet certain weight/length requirements as well. Call your TX state authorities and ask them what the requirements are for you.

I believe it's relative to the state you live in. In PA, a child *can* be placed forward-facing at 1 year AND 20 lbs. However, if your child is still content, fitting properly in his rear-facing seat, and is not cramped in the rear-facing position, then it is safe(st) to keep him that way.

I changed my daughters carseat when she was about 14 months. She didn't meet the weight requirement at 1 yr..so I waited a few months until she did. But, I felt bad for her, because she was to tall to have it rear facing anymore.

I would keep him RF as long as possible. For my huge son we turned it around i think the day he turned one. He screamed in the car since the day he first rode in it and never fell asleep so it was super stressful. My driving was safer this way. With my second it was closer to two. It also depends on your carseat, the way the straps fit, and proper installation.

I turned my little guy around at about 10.5 months. I know that he was supposed to stay rear facing until 1 year; however, he met the height and weight requirements. He also HATED being rear-facing. He would scream and howl from the time I buckled him in until I took him out.
I figured his severe crying was more of a safety risk (because it was distracting me when I was trying to soothe him and drive) than him facing foward a month and a half before he was supposed to be turned around.

We switched our daughter at 10 months out of necessity. We were leaving town in a car that absolutely could not fit her rear facing. We tried everything and were really, really nervous. But we thought, hey she's over the weight limit and nearly a year so I guess it's fine. We misunderstood the recommendations and thought kids were SUPPOSED to face out after a year. Now we know better.

My kiddo is now 17 months old and I just recently learned about extended rear facing. We even tried switching our daughter back to rear facing but she wouldn't have it and we didn't blame her.

We are due in 3 weeks with baby 2 and I'm planning to keep this kid facing out the back as long as possible.

My daughter had just turned 1 when we turned her. That was about 4 years ago. Now, if I have another child, I will keep him/her rear facing as long as I can, according to the car seat's maximum height & weight. My husband & I are short & petite (I'm only 5') so we probably won't have to worry about our kids being too big at 1 year old!

My daughter is going to be 5 next month and weighs about 40 lbs. I have her in a new seat that will keep her in a 5-pt harness until 65 lbs. (I joke that she might make it into a booster seat by high school :P)

Mine were right around 12 months, when their legs got cramped and they began to get uncomfortable. It was so nice having them face forward, than I could hand stuff to them ect.... I know that now a days they are saying like 2 or 3, but that is just silly, were are their legs supposed to go? I think they are going a little over the top. Yes we have to keep our kids safe, but that is why they are in car seats. Are they really so much safer being rear facing and all cramped up in a tiny space with no leg room?

Two years old. I believe the APA just changed their recommendations from one year to two years old.

My DS was 1 year....he met the height, weight and age requirement to be turned around.

My daughter was 13 months (5 yrs ago) but if I were doing it again, I might keep her RF longer. My son was adopted as a toddler (and is bigger for his age than his sister), so we never went RF for him.

Officially I think the rule of thumb is 1 year old and 30 lbs (according to my pediatrician). But, the longer you leave your child rear facing the safer they are. I have a friend who left her child rear facing until she was 3 yrs old. The kids learn to cross their legs so they dont get smashed up against the seat. Just make sure the weight allowance is acceptable in your carseat.

When my son was that age, the rule of thumb was 1 year (I don't remember a weight requirement). However, my son's pedi told us at his 9 or 10 month check up that he was large enough we could safely turn him forward facing.