I have become extremely dependent on the carseat mirror my husband installed when our daughter was just an infant. I used to be able to look into the rearview mirror and see if our little girl was sleeping or looking out the window, etc. With all the moving of carseats and packing and unpacking of all of our camping gear over the summer, the mirror broke. Our daughter is approaching a year old and is very active in the backseat (strapped in her carseat of course), I just can't see her now. When is it appropriate to turn her carseat from rear facing to foward facing?
some people think it's one or the other, but babies have to be 1 year old AND weigh at least 20 pounds. it's really hard to wait and not be able to see them but it's worth them being safest.
S. m
You got mostly good advice already, and I'll just reiterate what the good advice said.... the BARE MINIMUM is 1y AND 20lbs. However the AAP and experts recommend that children remain rear facing until the rear facing weight limits of their convertible carseat. If any pediatrician is stating its ok to forward face before a year, they are going against the AAP and need to be reported. They shoudl all be stating the new guidelines now. ALL convertible carseats will rear face to at least 33lbs, some are 35lbs. Most kids don't hit this until age 3 or later. My boys are large, my oldest was 33lbs at 18mos, my youngest at 21 mos, they both were 37.5'' tall when they went forward facing. Crossed legs doesn't matter, as someone else stated there has never been a case of broken legs from rear facing, however there are children with broken necks, internal decapitation, and death, every day from being forward facing too soon.
Its worth it to spend another $10 on a mirror for her safety. She won't outgrow rear facing until she reaches the max rear facing weight limit on her convertible carseat (33-35lbs) or there is less than one inch of the carseat hard shell above the top of her head.
Remember too that the harness should be tight;meaning you shouldn't be able to pinch any slack in the harness, only be able to slip max two fingers under it at her chest, and the chest buckle should be level with her armpits, not down by her crotch buckle or belly button. THe harness should be just at or BELOW her shoulders for rear facing.
Thay can at about a year and 20 lbs. Some convertable car seats can be rear facing up to about 35. It is recommended that you keep then it rear facing as long as possible.
At 1 year they can be turned around in a forward facing car seat. My daughter was a pound under the 'limit' for facing forward (which is 20 lbs)... but she was super long and would sit cross legged to fit into the rear facing seat... or she would strech her legs up onto the back seat (not safe in an accident) so we made the switch to forward facing.
1 year AND 20 pounds. My little girl was rear facing until 18 months.
Here in IA it is 1 year and 20lbs. According to this website it is the same in MN.
Although my daughter was only 18lbs when she turned one, but we felt she was strong enough to be faced forward. It helped her attitude immensely in the car too...much happier!
http://www.buckleupkids.state.mn.us
Your car seat should have guidelines on it, which is what you need to follow.
Rule of thumb has been turn them at one year old, but recently I have been seeing more advice to leave them rear-facing longer. (up to the maximum on the car seat guidelines).
If your carseat is one that can be turned (rather than a baby seat) it will have minimum requirements listed on it for when to turn her forwards. (Hight and weight). If you are still using an infant seat, you will want to go to a store and look at the convertable seats (can be used rear or forward-facing) and check the guideline requiremtns on them.
Note: each seat may have slightly different requirements, so make sure you know what you are buying.
Also, do not get the Scenera car seat. It has not been recalled yet, but there is a defect that causes the strap to become worn through and unsafe. (we have Sceneras in both our vehicles and in Grandma's car, and we are going to be writing to the company and hope to get replacement seats that are safe.)
They need to be at least 1 year old AND 20 pounds before being moved to a forward facing carseat.
There are ALOT of people now rear facing thier kids til 35lbs like 3 and 4 years old. There's alot of research backing up that it's safer.
The law is 1year and atleast 20 lbs though!
This is a extrememly helpful website with any carseat questions including rear facing your kids for a extended amount of time.
They have to be at least one year old and some doctors will want you to wait till a certain weight. My son was a very small one year old. He was only 18 pounds at 1 year and he had to wait till he was 20 pounds to be front facing. I think I finally was able to turn him around around 16 months. Ask your doctor.
M.
rule of thumb is at least 20 pounds AND 1 year old...most people will tell you to keep them rear facing as long as possible as it really is the safest way. If you have a carseat that accomodates this and the baby is doing fine, keep her rear facing. Personally, both my kids were done sitting rear facing at one years old and were more pleasant on car rides when faced foward facing...but my kids met the age and weight guidelines at this age too.
Hi K.,
Your doctor will probably go over this with you at your daughter's one year checkup, but typically at one year children can face forward in the car seat. However, I think most car seats require that the baby be at least 20 pounds.
Double check w/your pediatrician, but I know they have to be at least 1 year old and X number of lbs (that's the part I don't remember). My advice, though, is to keep her rear-facing as long as you can and as long as her legs are comfortable. I speak from experience as when my son was 1 year 1 month old, we were T-boned by a bunch of delinquents who ran a red light. Fortunately, they hit my side of the car--not my son's. Anyway, they totalled our brand new car; that's how bad it was. My son was still facing backward in his carseat and thank god barely had a scratch on him--just one mark on his neck from where the carseat strap had dug into him on impact. I shudder to think what damage might have been done to his neck if he were forward facing. Anyway, as long as your daughter is comfortable (her legs aren't too long that they are smushed in), I'd keep her rear facing and just get a new mirror if you want to keep a better eye on her.
at the very minimum, she has to be one year old AND 20 pounds. the safest is to keep her rear facing until she reaches the maxiumum weight on the seat. The seat should have a sticker on one side saying the weight limit for rear facing - sometimes 30-40 pounds depending on the seat.
The law states 20 pounds or age 1. They actually go by pounds. So if your child is 1 but is only 15 pounds he/she has to stay rear facing until he hits 20 pounds. If he/she is 20 pounds and is younger that 1 you will need to wait until he/she is one.
I turned my oldest forward facing when she was 12 months but with my second I waited until she was 18 or so months. Both having to be 20 or more pounds.
If you can I'd keep her rear facing as long as possible as it is encouraged nowdays. I'd invest in another mirror or carseat toy if you need to or if you're comfortable with turning her then do it as long as she meets the requirements.
K.,
I was at a community early childhood family center tonight when a woman spoke about rear facing child seats and I thought of you! I remembered your post and would have told you what everyone else did...1 year AND 20 pounds. The lady tonight said it should be 1 year AND 35 pounds! She went forth with some statistics and really made my husband and I rethink our intentions of moving our daughter forward facing next month.
Good luck and have fun with her first birthday.
J.
The law is one year AND 20lbs. However, the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) recommends that children remain rear facing until they max out the rear facing weight limit of their carseat. My oldest is almost 3 but only 23lbs so he is still rear facing (in a Britax Marathon) and my youngest is 19 months and 22lbs so he is also still rear facing (in a Cosco Alpha Omega Elite). They are both perfectly happy riding rear facing and because they've never forward faced they don't know any different. Both of their carseats will rear face to 35lbs so we have a long way to go. Rear facing is 4x safer than forward facing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2DVfqFhseo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psmUWg7QrC8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K62Ea8Fs4ng&feature=re...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMFPSStXfqE&feature=re...
ETA I just saw someone mentioned the legs being against the vehicle seat while rear facing being dangerous in an accident. That is not true. There isn't a single documented case of broken legs in a rear facing child but there are plenty of broken necks from forward facing children. Broken legs can heal, broken necks cannot.
As everyone is stating, it is the law to keep them rear facing until 1 year and 20 lbs. We have a tall baby and his legs were crossed in the seat because of it. I called the car seat makers and the doctors office. They both stated to keep them rear facing until the seat's height or weight limit is reached. They stated that even if the child's legs are crossed, to keep them rear facing since car seats are designed to distribute the force of a crash through their bodies. This only works when rear facing. When forward facing, the child faces whiplash or worse. We kept him rear facing until he reached the height limit.
Ditto with the 1 year AND 20 pounds.
Most infant seats only go to 22 pounds (based solely on my experience of trying to find one bigger!). I would double check the weight limit on your seat if you're considering keeping her in it to a heavier weight as one person suggested.
1 year AND 20 lbs. You can keep them rear-facing longer if your carseat limit goes higher (I know some go up to 30 lbs). Just check the limits on the seat. Don't switch her any earlier!
I believe it is one year old and weighs 20 pounds. Check the instruction manual for the carseat to be certain.
They have to be 1 yr old and at least 20lbs. I turned all 3 of my kids facing forward between 11-12months, my kids were on the heavier side so they were all over 25lbs. They were happier and enjoyed car rides more and so did the driver.
I put my son into the forward facing position when he turned a year old. That is when his pediatrician told me to do it. He loves looking forward and we can play his music together and sing. Which is fun.
Hi, K.!
You have wonderful replies already, but I just wanted to add that it is a LAW to keep them rear facing until they are One-Year-Old AND 20 pounds. The fine in Iowa is over $100 if you are caught with a child under the age or weight in a front-facing car seat. Some of the posts made it sound like a choice or a "good thing to do" but it is actually a law until your little one turns a year old. After that, yes it's better to keep them rear-facing, but it becomes your choice.
Hope this helps!
the recommendation is to wait until the child is one year of age AND AND AND 20 pounds. however, there is much talk that it is much safer to keep your child facing backwards as long as possible. there are many things you can do to keep an eye on her, including buying another mirror. they make many different kinds, and i would think that there are kinds that would be able to be used back there now, nad then in the front later. i have one now for my 22 month old son that straps to the rear view mirror, and i can see him when hes forward facing. its very nice.
anyway good luck.. and remember the AND part....
It should say on your individual carseat. Mine (Britax) was 22 pounds AND 1 year old. It was GREAT when I finally switched her, it is so much easier to interact with her. I would read your carseat manual, I know the pounds are usually different for all.
