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!

Isofix is generally safer than using the car seat belt, but not if the car is hit from the side

Isofix was not designed to be safer than normal car seats installed correctly. It is only safer because it's much harder to incorrectly install Isofix seats. If you correctly install a car seat, the difference between using Isofix and a seat belt is negligible.

I think rear facing till 4 is ridiculous
What exactly are your reasons for this?

Ah,, Mumsnet and statistics. ERF car seats may have contributed to a reduction in road deaths in a country with almost no drink driving and a fraction of our population density - THE STATISTICS DON'T LIE! ERF OR YOU HATE YOUR KIDS!
Correlation of increase in SIDS risk and cosleeping - IT'S ALL LIES! COSLEEP OR YOU HATE YOUR KIDS!

Rear end collisions are generally at a lower speed and less likely to cause injury generally for this reason. Rear facing seats are absolutely safer in the vast majority of situations. Yes the benefits may be overstated and of course having any car seat is where the biggest benefit comes from but given the possible devastating impact of a crash I personally think it's well worth using ERF seats. Cost per use is pretty low!

I'm a doctor. All my medical colleagues use ERF seats. Most of my non-medical friends/family use FF. I wouldn't allow my DD be driven in a FF seat. She's 3.5, small (12kg, 95cm) and comfortably rear facing in a maxi cosi 2 way pearl. In fact my next worry is what I do when she outgrows her current seat in height as she's highly unlikely to be the 18kg recommended weight for HBB before she's around 6.5-7 based on her current growth centile.

Google internal decapitation then make your decision...

Seriously it's just not worth it.

Does her head reach the top of the seat yet? If not, I'd keep using the rear facing car seat.
A 9 hour journey is not going to be comfortable for her in any car seat, but likely to be far more confortable in the rear facing car seat because it will be easier for her to sleep comfortably.
When small children first move into a forward facing car seat the worst thing is that their heads loll forward when they sleep. Not so bad when you are 3-4 years old, but awful if you are under 2. Unless your forward facing seat can be reclined backwards, you may really regret moving her to the new seat.

Rear end collisions do not have the same impact as two cars heading towards each other

My DS went in à forward facing seat when he outgrew the baby seat, about 10-11 months from memory. An ISOfix 10 month to 4 years seat. This was 11 years ago when those were the standard rules. So long as within the rules then go for it - I don't know the new rules though as dont plan on having any kids that age in my car for quite a few years yet.

So long as within the rules then go for it

This is a ridiculous reason to choose FF. Choosing not to have smoke alarms in my house is within the rules but I'm sure no one would advise me to 'go for it'. The law takes a long time to catch up to safety in relation to car seas.

This is a ridiculous reason to choose FF

No it's not. The guidelines/rules are there and if you choose to go beyond them then that's your decision. The OP has the right to follow the guidelines and if the OP wants to move to a forward facing seat then they should be able to with confidence.

My DS moved into a high back booster seat aged 2.8 years (he was tall so it worked fine) because he wouldn't sit in the baby type seat any longer - I used to be in floods of tears trying to get him in (he would go wooden) and sometimes spend upwards of an hour until we were both exhausted by crying and drama. I felt it was safer for him to be strapped in a high back booster using the adult seat belt (in the guides on the seat of course and not across his neck) than me to drive without him properly belted in with the baby harness because I couldn't get it tight enough. I think the guidelines have now been updated so of course my experience is now out of date with that regard and if I had another child (or in the future grandchildren) then I would follow the guidelines/rules in force at that time. But I would do what is right for the child and its mother at the time, within the law.

So long as within the guidelines/rules/law then people should be free to do what suits THEM.

Katharinarosalie, maybe the low fatality rate in rear end collisions is because the majority of passengers are ff - it's because most rear end collisions are low speed fender-benders. Frontal impacts are at the highest speeds.

Rinceoir check out the Axkid seats - Minikid is 0-25 kilos and for up to 125 cm, she should have plenty of space there. shop.carseat.se/car-seats/axkid-minikid.html

This thread is a really interesting study on how statistics get misinterpreted by the general population. I've read the original study from which a link posted above extrapolates the "5 times safer" line.

injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/13/6/398
When you look at the absolute numbers, it is still very safe to put your child in a FFCS. For the two most severe injury categories, the numbers were:

Severity 5: RFCS 312 FFCS 50
Severity 6: RFCS 0 FFCS 42.

This was out of a total of over 450,000 crashes. The differences are actually tiny, but when presented as odds ratios are made to look dramatic. It's quite common in everyday reporting. If something happens to 1 in 100,000 people, and then it starts happening to 10 in 100,000 people that's "ten times more likely" but it still doesn't happen to 999990 people.

The absolute numbers always need to be considered.

99990*

I would sell your Cosatto and buy and ERF one. No way would I be putting a baby FF. As other pps have said, it's not just about height and weight, it's about bones too. At that age they are at more risk FF. Everyone saying that MN is biased towards ERF - well yes that may well be the case but for good reason! Why would anyone choose an option that isn't the safest in the event of a car accident?

I had the Simplicity too, DD had grown out of at at 10 months! So I can see why you're worried about your DC outgrowing it while you're away at that age.

We got a Cybex Sirona Plus because that's what fitted in our car and it was ERF and a rotator for when the time comes to move to FF. There are loads of similar ones out there that cost around the same as your Cosatto that do ERF. Have you got an In Car Safety Centre near you? They aren't attached to any brand so when you make an appointment they take you through the best seats for your car, requirements etc. We found them really helpful.

The five times faced stat comes from manufacturers doesn't it? Specifically Volvo? I agree rear facing is 'safer' but that doesn't mean front facing is unsafe and there are so many variables - speed of accident, aspect of accident, cars or other vehicles involved. It's really not as simple as rear facing = safe, front facing = neglect.

Interestingly my Dad's Volvo (only 6 years old) has inbuilt booster cushions that are marked as 15kg+ (And it is really hard to find a hbb to fit) so I am not convinced on their 'safety' personally.

ERF is safer I'm sure, in fact arguably everyone is better of RF but the hysteria about it being 'the most important thing you can possibly do for your child's safety' is . Particularly as 2yos are houdinis and you wouldn't be able to see as easily if they had wriggled out of their straps. I reckon holding their hand when crossing a busy road is more important.

Actually putting a 2.8yo into a booster is still legal if they are over 15kg in weight.

Car seat choice is not always about getting every possible tiny increment in safety. Let's be practical - often it's about cost or other matters. I'm happy to debunk rear facing myths but this idea that you're not a good parent unless you rear face until 6 are really not on. Feel free to share why you made a certain decision but there's no need for comments like 'I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to'!

Spot on Bertie.

there's no need for comments like 'I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to'! - nor is there need for comments like '4-year old in ERF is ridiculous!'

My dgc now 17 months has just gone ff as he's a houdini and serious car seat hater. My dil got distracted with turning round too see he was safe even with the mirror and Constantky stopping to put arms back in straps.

I think she's made the sensible pragmatic decision and they are both safer now as he's happy and sits still and she can concentrate on her driving

Like isn't just about stats it's about pragmatic commen sense too and weighing up each case on its own merit.

Dd was badly hurt by a driver falling asleep at the wheel and she was catapulted out of her belt through the window.

Life is complicated

there's no need for comments like 'I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to'! - nor is there need for comments like '4-year old in ERF is ridiculous'

Well no, it isn't ridiculous. MIL thinks it's ridiculous that my 8yo is in a HBB (most of the time anyway). It isn't just ERF that gets this.

No, agreed. There's no need to rubbish someone else's choice.