To think most parents don't know that rearfacing DCs is safer?

[mumaw]

I'm in Facebook groups that specialise in advice for mainly extended rear facing car seats. It's proven that rear facing your child is much, much safer (in fact 500% safer) than front facing.

But I never see anybody RF'ing their child and don't know anybody that does either.

Is it just a case of parents not knowing that its safer?

Oy on MN have I ever heard of this. I have never seen anyone rear face a child over probably 14 months.
The though of me putting my 5 and a half year old ds in a rf seat is making me laugh tbh. He's quite big. I don't care what anyone says, there would be no room for his legs at all. I doubt a seat that would fit him rf would even fit in the car and I've got a pretty large car!

I'm pretty sure I'm right in thinking that the Tilt only goes up to 4 years old, whereas the Stages goes up to 6 years old (but forward facing from 4–6) so I felt the Stages was a better buy as it will do as our spare seat up until DD is 6 or 7 (she's fairly small for her age).

So far I've fitted the Stages securely in the following cars:

Honda Jazz
Kia (not sure what model but a small one)
Fiat 500 (in forward facing mode as not enough room to rear face)
Skoda Citigo (in forward facing mode as above)

It's much lighter than our main seat (GB Vaya) as it doesn't have the bulky isofix integral base.

Both the Tilt and the Stages rear face upto 18kg. The Stages can then be used FF upto 25kg. If I was choosing between the two I'd pick the Stages as although a bit more expensive it should last a bit longer.

@Drogosnextwife I can assure you that I definitely exist in real life and my 3yo is rear facing and will be for quite some time yet! In an isize seat it would be unlawful to turn a child FF prior to 15 months.

Thanks! Stages sounds like a good bet.

I think you should just concentrate on your own DC and not bother yourself with anyone else’s l. TBH in the town where I live most kids are lucky their parents bother to buckle their seatbelt at all

@RushianDisney

I knew it was safer to stay rear facing, but DD gets carsick, the risk of choking on her vomit in her car seat (which has happened before) is higher than us being in an accident. So she is forward facing and has been since she was the legal age/size so that I can more easily deal with her when she is sick.

Exactly the sans scenario here. ... for the first 2 years she vomited on every journey - even 10 minute drives.. It was hell on earth. I sat my DC front facing in the front seat as soon as I legally could.

I once arrived home to find her silently choking her vomit while RF in the back seat. Terrified me.

Do you know what’s more dangerous that what seat you use? How shit a lot of drivers are. Some very smug about their choice rear facets who are a liability on the road, distracted by their kids, drinking coffee as they drive, never learnt well, weaving over the road markings, making bad decisions etc etc. And not one of them would think to do a driving refresher course which is far more likely to save their kids life than what seat they use. It might be cheaper too!

ODFOD!! Come back with your helpful advice when you have older children and maybe more than one in the back!
Distraction when driving is the biggest cause of accidents and the so called solutions you speak of would cause are at best optimistic and have their own problems...

Rear facing seats are not tested against forward facing by likes of which and so I find your 500% safer figure somewhat dubious...

My kids are all way past the car seat needing stage now so this wasn't an issue when they were small, but my DIL has a

My kids haven't needed car seats for well over 15yrs so this wasn't an issue as much then, but my DIL was bringing me up to date with the legislation for RF now the other day when fitting a car seat in our car for the DGD.

I get the safety aspects of it but I'm curious. What does a 4yr old do with their legs when RF?? Hang them over the head rest? Fold them up round their knees? It can't be comfy for them

What does a 4yr old do with their legs when RF?? Hang them over the head rest? Fold them up round their knees? It can't be comfy for them

www.besafe.com/en/misconceptions-rear-facing-car-seats/

I tried to remain rf for my dd but her legs are very long and in the end despite shelling out for the ‘best rf saggers record seat’ we put her ff as she got very distressed in the end. That was at nearly 3 yo though. She also didn’t like rf when old enough to understand we were turning her away from us.

Another thing is I don’t know if things have changed but our rf seat was much bigger compared to ff seat. We used to call it the rocket launcher as was massive so a bit of a pain and had to have a permanent home as couldn’t easily be transferred between cars really.

Saggers?!

I was advised by a staff member at Mothercare that FF was just as safe as RF by 15 months. I knew this to be untrue from what I had read but I didn’t question it at the time.

I get the safety aspects of it but I'm curious. What does a 4yr old do with their legs when RF?? Hang them over the head rest? Fold them up round their knees? It can't be comfy for them hmm

My 118cm tall 6 year old son has only just gone FF. Absolutely no discomfort when RF, even on road trips to the south of France.

Oh, and I have a fairly small car.

Ferris, did you never think that a bigger car would be much safer? Just curious. Because people who are so militant about RF seats seem to forget that there’s other more effective ways of increasing their possibility of survival in a crash.

happyspud yep. it was the first day back at a lot of schools round here, and the amount of idiots on the road this morning was shocking.

People pulling in and out of lanes without checking any mirrors or even indicating in some cases!

People slamming on to turn because clearly in 6 weeks they've entirely forgot where they're supposed to be going!

people going through red lights..

all that was in 1 20 min journey which wasn't even going through central town! absolute nightmare!

celebelly I have a stages and its very good (although its FF in our car!) but when we RF it seemed v sturdy for a belted in seat, and now its FF it seems pretty good too. DS is comfortable in it and I think you can use it to age 7 ish or whatever the equivalent weight is.

So, because people are bad drivers the safety of car seats is irrelevant?

If all that matters is people's driving them we can stick the baby on the back seat in a Moses basket and have done with it!

We have a Joie Steadi, which rear faces until 4 and is much easier to fit into a small car. Our car is small and old (too old to have isofix) and couldn’t get a Stages to fit, but the Steadi has been fantastic.
DD is now 3.75 yrs and still happily rear facing. She has long legs and is tall but she just crosses her legs or puts them up against the seat so it’s never been a problem. She likes looking out the back window at things. We’ll have to turn her forward facing at 18kg (which she will probably reach around 4 yrs) as there isn’t enough room for a bigger ERF seat in the car.

I do seem to be in the minority with still rear facing. I’ve never said anything to anyone else about it IRL because that’s up to them. We found it was straightforward to do even with a small car without isofix and not expensive (Steadi is from birth to 4 and cost £100).

@RushianDisney same here. We spent a fortune on a rear facing seat and had to put it forward- dd would be vomiting on even a 30 minute journey.

From my research it’s safer by a nominal amount and for us the risk of her choking was much higher.

@Celebelly we got a Joie Stages for Granny’s car as it rear faced until 4 but seemed good value for money as it goes up to age 7. Granny only drives DD a few times a year.

It’s actually worked out well as my niece is same age as DD but is FF so Granny can drive her FF but we can still RF for my DD as the Stages will do both.

Remember not all cars can fit extended rear facing. My dd was involved in a 60mph crash at age 2 forward facing and she was fine, a properly fitted seat is the most important thing, in smaller cars there isn't always room to properly install