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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

197 replies

LoveItWhenYouCall · 14/08/2017 13:42

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!

OP posts:
KatharinaRosalie · 14/08/2017 16:27

this post answers I think all questions raised:
www.howtosafety.com/safety-topics/rear-facing/rear-facing-car-seats-basics-science-crash-dynamics/

Orangebird69 · 14/08/2017 16:28

Then I guess that makes it equal Katharina.

ladyvimes · 14/08/2017 16:35

I'm not sure where the article Katerina posted gets the 5x safer statistic as the BMJ article it references states that rf is slightly safer in a frontal crash and 15% safer in a side in crash. So yes, safer, but only just.

RandomUsernameHere · 14/08/2017 16:36

No one type of car seat is safest in every type of accident. I thought rear facing is only safer in a head on collision and forward facing is safer if you're hit from behind. Isofix is generally safer than using the car seat belt, but not if the car is hit from the side. Apparently the latest research suggests that the rotating seats are actually dangerous as there is a weakness at the hinge.

pongoismyhero · 14/08/2017 16:50

Why do people always take these threads so personally

Orangebird69 · 14/08/2017 16:55

Because people get personal.

LouBlue1507 · 14/08/2017 16:57

How safe are RF car seats if an accidents occurs when someone goes into the back of you rather than you crash into something head on?

OhWifey · 14/08/2017 17:03

LouBlue they are also safe in rear end collisions. This is because a rear collision tends to be at much lower speeds (i.e. Not a combined speed of a head on). Also safer than FF in a side collision. This is because in the majority of side collisions the driver getting hit will instinctively slam on the brakes when they see something coming. This throws the child's head back into the seat. In a FF seat this would throw the child's head out of the seat.

Anotherdayanotherdollar · 14/08/2017 17:16

Isofix isn't any safer than using a seat belt, as long as a belted seat is installed correctly. The isofix reduces the risk of incorrect installation but isn't any safer in itself

littletwofeet · 14/08/2017 17:26

OP, I agree with you, more should be done to make people aware. I had no clue with my first and put her FF as soon as she outgrew the seat.

I then found out with my other DC and bought new seats. Once you know it's safer, I think you would struggle to put your baby FF, you can't 'unknow' it. The videos show the difference and it's quite scary when you see it. The chance of a crash is low but the consequences are high. Sadly, a lot of the children who die in accidents could potentially have been saved in the right car seat.

I would sell the seat you have and buy an extended RF, if you spread the cost of the seat over the years you use it, it's probably not that much per month/year.

I can't see your DD outgrowing the seat in 3 weeks, her weight is under the 50th centile at 10kg isn't it, even if her height is quite a bit above this, she's not a massive 15 month old. They don't tend to grow huge amounts at that age.

NorthernLurker · 14/08/2017 17:33

There is some weird science on this thread. The five times safer is commonly quoted but as another poster pointed out, without the qualifying information it's meaningless. Which is why you can't declare rear facing 500% safer as one poster has done.
Road safety stats aren't always broken down by pedestrian and passenger injuries and any analysis has to take in to account variability in car safety and effectiveness of car seat fitting.
The poor op (who is probably lying down in a darkened room with a brandy) has an appropriate seat for her baby. That's really all anybody needs to know.

NorthernLurker · 14/08/2017 17:36

Crossposted littletwofeet - do you have a source ( not a rear facing fan site) for you assertion that's lots of children's lives could be saved today by the 'right' seat? Given the huge variability involved I would love to know how that can be asserted?

littletwofeet · 14/08/2017 17:44

northern lurker I did say 'potentially'Smile

You're right, it's hard to assertain the exact figures but this from 'Which' (who are known to be independent rather than 'RF fans') that a pp quoted gives a very good indication that they do save lives.

In Scandinavia, rear-facing car seats have been used for a long time. Accident statistics show that child fatalities in car crashes there are rare. In the UK, infant fatalities in car crashes are low, but there is a marked increase in the number of deaths after the age of one, when children are usually transferred to forward-facing car seats.

In other words, it's hard to be definitive based on the available data, but the patterns suggest that rear facing children between 1 and 4 saves lives. Road accident fatalities of children in Sweden, where children routinely rear face up to 6 or so, are very rare; the same is sadly not true here

WeAllHaveWings · 14/08/2017 17:55

I changed mine to forward facing at 9 months and he was fine.........

But, that's what people did at the time, there weren't many/any rear facing seats beyond that age. We were lucky to not be in an accident. I'd be in rear facing as long as possible if we had to decide now.

NorthernLurker · 14/08/2017 18:14

Sweden's success in all but eliminating child deaths In car accidents cannot only be attributed to rear facing seats. Extensive and expensive road safety projects have been utilised to make the roads themselves safer and slower. Drink driving is at an almost unbelievably low level. The swedes have prioritised road safety in a way that is almost unthinkable here. I would like to know if any of you employing rear facing seats have also consciously reduced your speed with children in the car?

PandasRock · 14/08/2017 18:32

Size of car can be misleading. Erf seats can fit well in small cars, and still have room for someone in the front seat.

When dd1 was small, I had an erf seat for her. I had had a Volvo XC90, nad had a Volvo seat. It was huge. I then changed cars, to an Audi A2 - the seat actually fitted better, with more space in the front passenger seat than it had in the Volvo Grin

A couple of years later, I had an Izikid seat for dd2. Again, a huge beast of a seat. I had a Honda CRV, and the front passenger seat was as far back as it could possible go, and still this huge seat fitted in behind it.

I agree that the Britax two way elite is a good seat for longevity too - I'm another one who had a child in one of those until nearly 7! (Brought about by needing to get 3 car seats in the car - one an infant seat, and 2x high backed boosters, but the hbb wouldn't fit, so had one hbb and the two way elite in the middle seat - both drivers seat and passenger seat had ample foot/leg room, even for well over 6' teenagers who like to sprawl about!

Donostia · 14/08/2017 19:40

Those posters advising the OP to sell her car seat... why do you care so much about the safety of OPs child but not at all for the child of the people that have bought it?!

BertieBotts · 14/08/2017 19:44

The 15 month rule only applies if you're using an i-size seat.

You mentioned that the next seat runs on weight so it's perfectly legal to turn her as soon as she reaches 9kg. Safe? Not for all 9kg children but legal yes.

Rear facing is safer so it's best to keep using the rear facing seat for as long as they'll physically fit into it and then change. In your situation OP I'd change.

BertieBotts · 14/08/2017 19:45

It's sheer madness to sell the perfectly appropriate seat already bought.

Many people overthink car seat safety. The important part is using one.

littletwofeet · 14/08/2017 20:15

northernlurker the road safety will contribute but the RF will also have an impact.
Agree the Sweedish have prioritised road safety, part of which is their use of extended RF seats.

The fact that there is a marked increase in the number of deaths in the U.K over age 1 (when many DC go into FF) is also relevant.

You are never going to know exactly how much safer RF Is than FF it is but we do know it is definitely safer. The force placed on the neck, spine and internal organs is far greater in a FF seat in the event of a crash.

There are some fatal crashes that sadly would have been potentially survivable if the child would have been in a RF seat.
There are also crashes when the injuries to the child would be significantly reduced if the child had been in a RF seat.

I would like to know if any of you employing rear facing seats have also consciously reduced your speed with children in the car?
Am a bit confused to how this is relevant to the safety of RF car seats. If people are driving at an appropriate speed for the road conditions then reducing speed can (in some cases) be more dangerous. Obviously if someone drives too fast then they need to reduce their speed but not sure what it's got to do with RF car seatsGrin

Witsender · 14/08/2017 20:19

We drive within the speed limit, keep our tyre pressures checked, and regularly check the seat fixings...not sure how that is relevant though. 😂

Amanduh · 14/08/2017 21:02

What's being 'officially' 15 months got to do with it? The few days before she reaches that day will make no difference to safety.. she can be in the FF car seat from 9kg if you want.
Anyway, yes RF is much safer. If you want her to be in the FF seat and she's uncomfy then fair enough. Your choice to make, it's fine.

Rapunzel15 · 14/08/2017 22:06

Your child will be safe in a FF car seat dont let everyone scare you. They are in a car seat that is built to protect them in an accident. I think rear facing till 4 is ridiculous

Onetedisbackinbed · 14/08/2017 22:07

Katharinarosalie, maybe the low fatality rate in rear end collisions is because the majority of passengers are ff, I'd we all rf then wd may see that fatality rate equal the front end collision rate

Onetedisbackinbed · 14/08/2017 22:08

*If we all rf we may see

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