Guest guest Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 I have always been told 20 pounds AND 1 year of age but some doctors might not hold to that. I'm a stickler for those kinds of things though. Bess mom to Elena (3/31/00) and Audrey (9/27/03), bcf, dbb 12 hrs/day At 09:57 AM 1/12/2005, you wrote: >Well now that we are talking about car seats I have a question. When >can rear facing children go to forward facing? I thought it was >20lbs but I am not sure. I too will be looking for a new car seat >this weekend for and you have all giving me great tips! > and >BL CF 12/16/03 >(3 more days of casts left!!) > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 The law abotu seats differes from state to state. Call your Highway Patrol office for the laws. Here it's 20 pounds AND one year old. Meanwhile my little rabbit continues to sit backwards. He's been at 19 pounds for months. s. Re: car seats Well now that we are talking about car seats I have a question. When can rear facing children go to forward facing? I thought it was 20lbs but I am not sure. I too will be looking for a new car seat this weekend for and you have all giving me great tips! and BL CF 12/16/03 (3 more days of casts left!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 Right or wrong my thinking is that being anxious to put them forward facing is because it's a mile stone in their development, a graduation of sorts.....and also, it's easier (usually) to install a child facing forward than backwards. Many times too, by the time a baby is a year old or so, he is active and curious so if he's in the back seat all alone, facing away from the driver he gets irritated or lonesome or bored. That is my experience with both my boys - they facing away from the action and are old enough to know it. Everett is 16 months old now and wont' break 20 pounds. My inlaws have a certified scale in their store we put him on often...he's been at 19 for a few months now and I won't turn him around although I probably could. on the other hand was a hoss! He broke 20 pounds when he was about 6 months old and was getting too big to sit backwards by a year old so he needed turned. In any event, I do agree with you - no reason to break that barrier, meet that mile stone for the sake of meeting it....a parent's ego can be their own worst enemy in these situations. s. ----- What exactly is the benefit of turning a child forward facing? Why would anyone want to do this before it's absolutely necessary? Head and neck strength or not? My children, all three, have held their heads up steady and continuously before they were 2 months old. All of them held their heads up actually by 4w, starting somewhere around 2. Now, by using this rule I could turn a child forward facing at 2-3 mo's? No way. I'm pretty sure all the states have 20# AND one year rules but if you get the right seat you can leave them rear facing till they're simply too big to be comfortable rear facing. Darbi, my CF baby rear faced till somewhere around 18-19 mo's. The other two were 16 and 15mo's rear facing (boys, taller I think). The way I see it, if they don't know they can face forward and the parent decides this is the way it's going to be they're happy that way till the time is right to switch. I simply don't understand the push to move children to a less safe position although almost every parent I've ever met just can't wait to make some kind of less safe change. Whether it be forward facing or to a booster with a shoulder harness or no seat at all... whatever. This, I just can't understand. If I have a chance to place a child in the safest seat/position I will. Moving to boosters was not something I looked forward to, so much that I bought a 5 point to 80 pounds for my oldest rather than to move to a booster and shoulder strap. My 4 year old uses that seat now and I still am wary of the 6 year old being so much less restrained in a booster however because of room across the back seat for 3 children we have had to do one child in a booster. I too am anal about car seat safety. Irks me to no end to see a child too large for infant seats, chest clips too low (allowing shoulders and subsequently the whole body to be launched out of the straps), and loose straps. Worse yet... chest clips not done up at all. I just want to throttle some people! I've spent money we did not have to have the best seats for my children and I'm happy to have done so. Never been in an accident (well I did get bumped a few months ago but that's nothing) so I've not had to test them out but I hope I never do. If I do, I'm darn sure the seats are rock solid and the straps are tight and they'll have the best chance at avoiding injury they can have. It's the least I can do for them. And they don't complain either. They know they're required to be safe and that's all there is to it. I also can't say enough for tethers. It really makes a difference in getting the seat tight and not moving. Most US seats have tethers now but I don't think they're supposed to be used rear facing. Britax has always had a rear facing tether and I love it. OK - off my carseat soapbox... ya'll haven't seen this side of me yet huh? I'm actually famous amongst my mama friends for this stuff lol! Kori Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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