To put my daughter in a forward facing car seat before she's 15 months?

[LoveItWhenYouCall]

So my daughter will be 15 months at the end of this month. A few days before she is "officially" 15 months, we will be doing a long distance car journey (around 9 hours). We will be staying at the location for 3 weeks and then be doing the long journey home.

She only just fits her current car seat and really needs to be moving into the bigger one but it's forward facing.

What should I do? Should I squeeze her into her smaller car seat and have her use that the full 3 weeks we are away and then for the journey back down? Or should I just put her in the more comfortable seat as she'll turn 15 months 3 days after we arrive?

Please help!

What does she weigh?

Personally I don't understand why anyone turns their child forward facing that early so you I think it would be unreasonable.

She weighs over the 9kg minimum weight for the bigger chair. I think she's just over 10kg's.

It's safer to be rear facing for as long as possible

Honestly- as it's a long journey and far I'm assuming it's motorway and I would be so scared that if we had a crash I would feel guilty as the evidence for rear facing is so strong. If she is happy enough RF i would leave her for now.
In saying that, if she isn't happy and doesn't sleep well in it and would be happier FFing... then you've done well to keep her RF so long anyway so you could change seats.

Fat lot of use I am!!!

I would base it more on height and weight requirements for the seats.

Rear facing is supposed to be far safer, hence why there are recommendations to remain rear facing until 4. So if they still fit safely in the original chair I'd keep her in that for the long journey.

welsh there are definite benefits of having them face you when you do long distance journeys like we do on a very regular basis.

Regardless of the law, rear facing is far, far safer past 15 months.

I wouldn't put a baby that young forward facing.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=tuZFVPv3Rpk

My DS was ff from much earlier than 15 months as he outgrew his car seat and I had a fiat panda which wouldn't fit a different rear facing seat so he was FF and has been ever since! Not much help I know

Mine all FFd far earlier than 15 months partly due to size and partly as they hated car journeys so much facing back.
What is current recommendation? I'm behind the times here I guess. I though 15 months was quite a long time.

I will be keeping rear facing until as long as possible as near to 4 years as I can get as it's reported to be safer even though a bit more awkward

A few days is unlikely to make any difference. Rear facing until 4 is recommended as it's so much safer but as you are turning her anyway, a few days is irrelevant as the risks in an accident when forward facing don't just disappear at 15 months. However, I would consider that it's an incredibly long journey so part of me would also think about the safety of the roads you'll be travelling on etc, and possibly leave her in the rear facing seat just in case.

I just put off turning my nearly ( admittedly very slight) six year old forward facing because we had a long journey coming up and rear facing is safer.

If she's within the weight/height limit for her current seat then she's safer in it. Ultimately it's up to you.

It's to do with her weight and height isn't it? So you have to use the right seat for her height and weight until she exceeds them.

love it what benefits?

And yes my DD is a serious car hater, screams the place down. We have a mirror so I can see her, but regardless of how much she screams I'll be having her rear facing for as long as possible.

No benefits outweigh the benefit of safety though tbh. Neither of mine turned before 4 and neither will #3. I understand in the case of extreme car sickness that this may not be desirable though.

We'll be travelling overnight so the roads are extremely quiet.

I wouldn't put an under 4 forward facing but hey it's your kid not mine and you get to make the decision with your own child

I second what benefits? Certainly none that outweigh their safety if you had an accident

there are definite benefits of having them face you when you do long distance journeys like we do on a very regular basis.

Safety benefits? Because otherwise they don't really matter if you're in an accident.

I can think of any benefits. They can see as much rear facing (we remove the headrests), use a mirror if you want to see them, you can attach a tablet to the seat back if you want, no evidence that travel sickness is worse.

Quieter apart from exhausted drivers. If it is night time then what benefits are there to FF? In understand slightly more in the day time, but presuming she will be asleep? 15 months and 9/10 kg is very small.

Fully accept that no benefits I had in mind are as important as my daughters safety. I have her in one of the first size car seats (silver cross simplicity) at the moment. I'm sure you'll understand why she can't be in that much longer. I'm moving her to a cosatto hug 1,2,3.