When to turn your toddler round in their car seat?

[Stillmonday]

My almost 2 year old is around 90cm tall so quite cramped in his chair facing backwards. I'm so worried about him facing forwards as it seems such a big step but the last week or so he's hated going in the car and I think it's because he's so Cramped.
I attempted to face him forwards thinking it would solve his reluctance but he was petrified- it was like he didn't feel safe so screamed in terror for the whole 5 minute trip.

Any advice?

You can get bigger rear facing seats. What seat does he have?

As above - look for a bigger rear facing seat. We had the Britax 2way Elite. Both dc rear faced to around 4yo in it.

My three kids have been RF to 120cm - what seat do you have? It shouldn’t be cramped. They can usually sit cross-legged.

My nearly 3 year old is a bit over 90 cm and nowhere near cramped in a Joie spin 360. There is still room to lengthen the isofix arms and move the seat back further yet. We also have a britax two way elite as a travelling seat which will do her when she outgrows the 360. I am planning to rear face in the 360 until 4 and then the 2we until 7 if we can.

As late as possible. It's so much safer to rear face. I've only just forward faced my 5yo this last 2 months. Would have kept him rear facing for another year but can't fit 3 rear facing seats in our car.

And I do think how cramped they are depends on the seat and the car it's in. We have a two way elite and there is loads of room, the 5yo is very comfortable in that when he uses it. We also have a Joie stages and my 5yo cannot rear face in that- his knees are up by his ears and he can't cross his legs comfortably as the sides are quite high in comparison to the TWE.

As he's not even 2 he shouldn't FF if you can help it. Yes what seat do you have? A decent RF 25kg seat will have loads of room. The minikid is good

We have the minikid and DS is RF - he is 2 and 3 months. No plans on changing but we do have to take his shoes off because the seat is getting somewhat trashed

Mine faced forward from about 15 months.

I’m shocked at school aged kids facing backwards!

My nearly 5 year old has just moved forward facing. My youngest will be 2 in January and has plenty of room - he will stay rear facing until at least 4. We have the axkid minikid.

@OverTheRainbow88 why shocked? Mine was quite happy to be driven to school in his rear facing seat, he knew no different! I only moved him forward facing as my youngest needed his seat. He now complains that he can’t see as much and his legs hurt dangling down.

Aged 4.5 here

@welshweasel

I guess I just didn’t realise that kids can face backwards until 5. Mine looked cramped by 15 months so spun him around. 😬

I've got the joie 360 spin, can it be moved back? I didn't think it could. He's knees are up to his chin and he hates it ☹️

Can anyone inform me why it is so dangerous to forward face? I’ve only heard this on mumsnet and in real life people have told me I can forward face my 11 month old (I haven’t tho)

@Stillmonday no you can’t move the 360 back but even a big 2 year old will be fine in it rear facing. You could look into getting a 25kg rear facing seat for the future as they have a lot more leg room.

@Hellothere19999

incarsafetycentre.co.uk/safety-centre/what-is-rear-facing

I think its because the head of a child is heavier in proportion to the body so in the event of a crash the head is moved forward and if in a forward facing seat it can cause a broken neck whereas if in a rear facing seat the head is pushed into the shell of the seat and the neck is protected

@Oh12lookanothernamechange1234 thanks!

The risk of a child being seriously injured or killed in a car crash whilst rear facing is virtually zero. Sadly not the case forward facing. The main issue is the load being put through the neck - in young kids the head is disproportionately heavy when compared to the body - if thrown forwards in a crash (where the body is kept still by the harness) then you risk internal decapitation, where the brain snaps off the rest of the spinal cord. I’ve seen it once, utterly horrific and entirely preventable.

This quote...

My nearly 3 year old is a bit over 90 cm and nowhere near cramped in a Joie spin 360. There is still room to lengthen the isofix arms and move the seat back further yet.

How do we do this??? I didn't think it was possible?

@OverTheRainbow88

I’m shocked at school aged kids facing backwards!

I'd face backwards as a passenger if I could. Much safer in a crash.

People spend a silly amount of money on those awful shopping trolley looking prams but when it comes to car seats they balk at the cost of rear facing car seats IME.

I was sceptical about RF and had no plans on doing it beyond the first stage car seat but once I read into it I was convinced- much to my in laws' horror. DS loves his seat and actually can see a lot out the window. I also have a mirror so he can see the driver. The only irritation is I think he could get himself into it if it was FF but cant in the RF, but that's an irritation only.

@Hellothere19999

Can anyone inform me why it is so dangerous to forward face? I’ve only heard this on mumsnet and in real life people have told me I can forward face my 11 month old (I haven’t tho)

There are test dummy crashes on YouTube. Google internal decapitation crash dummy videos, watch a couple and it's pretty obvious.