My daughter is 11 months now, and I am looking for a new carseat. She is still in the infant carrier facing backwards. I really think she would prefer to face forward in the new seat. Two questions: 1, Any recommendations for a good carseat? 2, When is it ok to graduate to facing forward?
Thanks for your advice!
The recommendation is 2 and I believe they are pushing to have the law changed right now they must be BOTH 1 yr and 20 lbs but very unsafe and when it comes to safety why do the bare minimum.
We're a Britex family - love 'em.
A pediatricians’ group now says that toddlers shouldn’t move to a forward-facing seat until at least age 2. Read below:
The newest guidelines are to keep your child rear-facing until age 2 now. It's So much safer. I know it's more fun to turn them forward-facing, but it's best to keep safety a top priority when it comes to our children.
I don't have any specific carseat recommendations though...we used a Cosco Scenera until we switched both kids to Graco Nautilus (LOVE those), but I never really liked the scenera.
Please get a convertible car seat that can keep her rear facing longer which is much safer and then be used forward facing. I kept my daughter rear facing until she was 2. My son I turned sooner since he is very big of his age (he weighed at 1 what my daughter weighed at 2). But he is still in a harness car seat at 5 and not a booster seat since it is safer.
There are lots of good convertible seats that have higher weight limits. Graco My Ride is one but there are other very well regarded ones by Britax and Sunshine Kids.
Dont have any recommendations persay but your child has to be over a year old, and has to be over 20 lbs. Its the law, cant be one or the other, has to be both.
I believe the new recommendation is to keep the baby rear facing until 2 years old. Really your baby has only been rear facing, so she doesn't know any different. Our pediatrician ALWAYS recommended keeping our children rear facing as long as possible. Mine were both almost 2 when they were switched to forward facing.
You say you think she would prefer to face forward. She's a baby. You make the choice. And make the choice to keep her rear facing as long as possible! To you she may look uncomfortable. Her legs may be crossed because they are hitting the back seat. Well, kids sit that way!! Check your state, but most places are 1yr AND 20 lbs MINIMUM. This doesn't mean just because she may hit this that you have to turn her. Rear facing for as long as possible is better for her. This is not a "milestone" that you need to reach and be all excited about. Be excited for the birthday itself, not forward facing.
The Britax Marathon is a great seat. You can keep it rear facing and then change her over to forward facing after she has reached the maximum for rear facing.
car-seat.org is the best place to get car seat answers. They can also give you some fantastic reasons to keep her rear facing for as long as possible and why this is not a "milestone" to rush.
Try this site.
I had talked to my pediatrician who said for safety we should keep our children rear facing until they reach the height/weight limit. My girl was 4 1/2 when she outgrew her rear facing one and my boy, almost 3, is still rear facing and will be until he reaches those limits as well. Google "internal decapitation" and learn about "ride down" times and how you can keep your child the safest. And no, there legs are perfectly safe touching the seat or sitting criss-cross-applesauce. Lots of information can be found at: http://www.car-safety.org/ They even helped me figure out the difficult installation of our car seat into our new truck with the latch system.
look up the new car-seat recommendations! If she is little enough, keep her rear facing for as long as possible. You don't have to keep her in the baby seat, get a convertible seat. We have the Britax Boulevard and love it!
this link gives a nice summary of child safety seat selection
http://carseatblog.com/9416/confused-about-the-new-aap-ca...
everyone's answers i agree with but also want to add keep her in her infant carseat until her head comes up to 2 inches below the top of it when she is sitting in it...that is when she should graduate from that car seat (or are above the weight limit for that carseat, which is usually 30 pounds). This is what some carseat engineers told me, never rush into the next carseat, the infant ones are safer then the convertibles, the convertibles are safer then boosters, until your child outgrows the carseat, keep using it.
It is not OK to face forward before age 2. Most seats will get you to age 3, or even 4 or 5.
She is 5 times safer facing the rear. Please don't turn her. If you already did, turn her back rear-facing. It could mean life or death in a crash!
FF, their necks can snap. RF, the head/neck stays aligned with the seat.
Good carseat: I recommend Britax, Reccaro, or Sunshine Kids.
My DS (also 11 mths.) is in a Britax Marathon70. It is a really nice, sturdy seat and he can sit rear facing in it till 40 lbs..
The OLD standard was 1yr. and 20 lbs.. That is the bare minimum requirements and no longer what is recommended by the AAP.
Read the info on the link Christine J. sent! I've checked that one out and it has great info!
I also found this to be hugely informative: http://www.carseat.se/rear-facing-seats-and-joels-journey/
I can't argue w/ that.
DS is a big boy (or at least everyone likes to tell me so ;) ) but he will be sitting RF-ing till he maxes out the weight limit.
Whether he likes it or not.
He'd probably like to eat cake every day for B, L and D...but I'm the mommy. ;)
HTH!
My daughter is 28 months old and 26 lbs and we still have her rear facing.
Like all the responses below, it's best to be rear facing as long as possible.
We figure better be safe than sorry. We are planning to move her forward facing this summer.
Also, don't worry too much about kids missing looking what's outside. They spend more time sleeping in the car and we find having it rear facing is more comfortable because she will be lying down more as opposed to sitting down if she was forward facing.
I have the same problem as you when I was looking for a car seat. Too many choices out there. We ended up ith Sunshine Kids which we loved. Besides it's excellend rating, it is a bit more compact, you can have it in the car, and still have 2 other people sitting in the back comfortably.
Good luck. Hope you find one you love.
We have 2 boys & each of them had the basic tried & true Britax Roundabout. It's made for kids 6 months to 40 lbs so can be installed rear- or forward-facing. Very easy to install, especially now /this LATCH system. Britax does make other seats that hold kids up to 80 pounds but that means the seat itself is bigger, heavier, bulkier & takes up more space in your backseat. If you want other recommendations, I suggest going to the Babies R Us web site, & look at the comments made on carseats by parents. When our boys were little I always found that personal experiences were helpful when choosing baby gear. We live in the East Bay & our local CHP will install carseats for free (w/an appt.) so check w/your CHP in SF to see if they offer the same service. Good luck!
We love our Britax Frontier85 but children are supposed to be 2 years old before they are in it...... (I assume it's because it's recommended that kids are rear-facing till at least 2 and this is a front facing only seat.....) But we have 3 different Britax seats (5 car seats total because we have 3 of the Frontier85's!) and are happy with all of them!
We have a cosco brand and it works great. Our 3yr old is in one forward facing, and our 18mo old is in the same kind, back facing. She loves being able to see her brother and we'll keep it backward till she is 2 (new guidelines just came out a little while ago). Good luck!
After one year, she can turn around. Babies can't handle a head-on collision facing forward until after they're one year even if they're big for their age. That's what we found when we looked into this. I have an 11 month old also. =)
We loved the Britax Marathon!
Consumer Reports has great baby gear reviews etc. worth paying for the membership!
We found out the lard way to measure your back seat and the new carseat to ensure a proper fit. In other words, don't let your hubby choose a seat because it matches his nice leather interior. ;)
We got a Graco Nautilus and like it 'cuz it converts to a booster so we are done buying carseats. It also is easy to clean and has an insulated cup holder - vital for keeping your Jamba Juice smoothie nice and cold on a hot day. ;)
We always go with Britax carseats. Pricey but worth it. Facing forward used to be at one year, but more recently they are recommmending two years. If you wait to turn them around, they really won't know what they're missing ;) It depends how much of a 'stickler' you are for the ultimate in safety and how much time you spend in the car.
It is actually recommended that kids stay rear-facing until age 2 now.
We have the Alpha Omega Elite and love it. It is a convertible seat, 5-100 lbs.
I see a few others have already replied with this, but the new guidelines are to keep your child facing backwards until age 2. I just reas this article the other day: http://nyti.ms/fPDLSg
