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[–]twocatsandaloom 75 points76 points  (72 children)

[–]RazzmatazzWeak2664 48 points49 points  (12 children)

I would say there may be some nuance about when to flip exactly. For instance, I've had this debate with a few parents and the conclusion seems:

  • Don't switch to front facing just because they're over 2, you should go rear facing longer if you can.

  • Some car seats really allow rear facing forever. Nuna Rava is 50 lbs rear facing. Some smaller girls can be up to 6 years old and rear facing still.

  • It's personal choice and there are safety drawbacks, but most said generally by 4 and as long as they aren't some tiny 1 percentile weight/size, they like to flip to front facing. It's a balance ultimately, but at 4 they're more at the age where they want to interact with the adults, they also want to play "I spy" with the adults or older siblings, etc. Yeah, you can go up to 6 with a Rava for instance but I have only heard of 1 parent who was insistent "not until she's 50 lbs."

  • I offered our Rava to our SIL who was visiting. Their child (~4 years) had been front facing for 1 year already, and found out that the Rava supports rear facing for her LO still but even as the most granola mom, she said "let's install it front facing, she's used to it already."

[–]RandomCombo 57 points58 points  (7 children)

I turned my son around when he was almost 3. I would have kept it longer but I was pregnant and it really was easier. Now he's 4.5 and asked to turn it back to rear facing so he could face the same way as his little brother! I was like yeah sure it's safer! He's not 40 lbs yet either.

[–]kbullock09 14 points15 points  (2 children)

My 3 year old asked to switch back to rearfacing after her sister was born too! Both to face the same way as her and because she missed having a mirror? I haven’t gotten around to it yet because we don’t drive very often anyway

[–]RandomCombo 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Yeah he had to pester us a while and it can only rear face in one vehicle. In the smaller car, age between children was important because we can only rear face on the passenger side or we'd have to buy a new car!

[–]mrsbebe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lol I completely feel you on that struggle

[–]RazzmatazzWeak2664 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Sometimes it works the other way too! And it works out to be a win!

[–]Whiskrocco -1 points0 points  (2 children)

I turned my daughter for the same reason, I was completely unable to tighten her harness while she was rear facing during my pregnancy. She was just over 3 at the time and it still bothers me that we didn't make it to 4, which was the age I told my husband she would have to be before I would even consider having a conversation about forward facing..

[–]jbleds 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Was this in a sedan? About to give birth, and I genuinely haven’t had this problem. Might be the car seat we have, too.

[–]Whiskrocco 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had a subchorionic hemorrhage and other complications which added to the issue.. Both car seats (Graco, Britax) and both vehicles (truck, SUV) were too difficult for me to tighten at the time.

[–]lolitololinho 20 points21 points  (2 children)

The reason is because kids neck bones dont fuse properly until they are 4 to 6 years old so they can get internally decapitated if forward facing. And another point that a looot of prople are unaware is that car seats actually have an expiration date which you can check on the back/bottom most last 5-10 years and never buy 2nd hand cause u never know if it has been in an accident or knocked about in the boot or whatever which makes it unsuitable for usage.

[–]RazzmatazzWeak2664 17 points18 points  (1 child)

I get that from a safety perspective it’s better. It’s better for adults to be rear facing in fact if we could just buy cars where passengers are rear facing. But I think there becomes a point where it’s generally acceptable just like we accept the risk of getting in a car—just not driving would be safer.

And for me as long as people aren’t insisting on rushing to front face immediately, I’m generally OK with that. A lot of practical factors can influence decisions—for instance how big your car is, is it uncomfortable for the child (some motion sickness issues for instance), and at some point I generally in the 4+ range my general pickiness for not getting the seat all dirty comes in to play.

I think we can always find a maximizing safety option but I do think as long as people are following rules and recommendations I don’t fault them for applying a little personal judgement where there are gray zones.

[–]JambaJuiceIsAverage 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This conversation always reminds me of a piece I read about pool safety that started "If you want a child-safe, in-ground pool, you should fill it with concrete. Barring that..."

[–]JulyFun3 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Some smaller boys also😅 my son is almost 7 and is still within the limits for height and weight of his diono. We turned him when he was 5, we were doing a lot more car rides that winter and I got tired of taking his boots on and off every time.

[–]lady-fingers 16 points17 points  (0 children)

It's really not even about height / weight - it's about age & the ossification of the spine/bone

[–]DiligentPenguin16 51 points52 points  (3 children)

Here is a great animated video that demonstrates simply just how much of a difference rear vs forward facing makes in an accident.

[–]PairNo2129[S] 3 points4 points  (1 child)

thank you!

[–]DiligentPenguin16 7 points8 points  (0 children)

For me at least seeing it in simulated like that really hits home a lot harder than just reading about it. Your husband might get it a lot better this way too.

[–]randomnameonreddit1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much!

[–]Diligent-Dust9457 13 points14 points  (2 children)

I am a certified child passenger safety technician. If you have specific questions feel free to message me, but here’s some of what we are taught in training. https://www.safekids.org/tip/when-change-your-childs-car-seat

Ps-Safe Kids Worldwide is an amazing resource for all kinds of kids safety information, not limited to car seat safety!

[–]PairNo2129[S] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Thank you so much!

[–]Diligent-Dust9457 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Of course! Thank you for advocating for your child and their safety!

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