to think mums who have rear-facing buggies for toddlers are the ultimate in preciousness?

[Picante]

Sorry I have had a glass of wine... (yes it only takes one these days).

I'm all for tiny babies being rear-facing, but older babies/toddlers? Don't you get a bit sick of all that cooing and smiling? Surely at that point they're in a buggy for a reason, either to get somewhere or to get them to sleep.

Stop smiling insanely at them. Turn them round so they can look at the world fgs.

What about deaf mums who need to lip read - such as myself. Rear facing is excellent in these situations..although on the rare occasions DS is in the buggy, he is now forward facing as he likes to see what is going on and instead, I stop at intervals to have a conversation with him about all what is going on.

What I could really do with is a mirror on the buggy so I could lipread while pushing him along but then I would look like a mad twat and no doubt there would be a thread about me

It is precious to believe that you ds/dd can only develop and communicate well if they are always looking at you.

If you are on a bus or a train do you prefer to face backwards or forwards?

We have already had people on this thread putting forward the argument that their child communicates so much better than their peers because they face mama in the buggy.

That sounds pretty darned precious to me.

Tinier, what can I say. I was the mad woman who often stopped pushing the buggy to kiss her PFB (and PSB) sitting in it. But I've never remotely contemplated to have a rear facing buggy for my older babies.
Mind you, they've always loved going for long walks on their buggy.

I don't care which way I face on a train. I do prefer to sit opposite someone when I'm talking to them though.

But really, I don't think it's that big a deal. I just object to being judged on it. The more I read Mumsnet the more I think there must be a lot of women out there continually asessing and finding fault with other women all the time. It's a bit depressing really.

Perhaps those children Bibbity spend the whole day sitting on their rear facing buggies. Hrs and hrs of fruitful interaction.

My Mum bought her own buggy for when she has my dc's, as mine faces forwards and she wants the dc's to face her.
She deaf and is worried that if they needed her she wouldn't know.
So if i was you I'd stop judging people and making something out of nothing and get something more important in your life to worry about.

Franca, but we had that buggy from birth! I didn't go out and buy it specifically for a toddler. This is what I don't get. Does everyone else get a new buggy every year or something?

I agree bibbity.

Also, to throw another favourite into the argument; I was an extended bf'er so my DC's had amples of time to gaze at my beautiful face and listen to me chatter whilst feeding

It was 5 minutes, if you'd bothered to read properly what I'd written.

I'm a speech and language therapist, so presumably in your view Washer that doesn't entitle me to either have an interest on how rear/forward facing affects my own personal communication style or to have a professional opinion on an issue which has been widely discussed and reported as impacting on frequency of communication.

Stop being a cyberbully and go and pick on someone else

Mine (16 months) rear faces in the pushchair when we walk but has the forward facing buggy when we're in the car. He likes both. i love chatting to him in the rear facing one.

I had a pram (rear facing, of course) and then I bought a light (cheap) buggy.

My DS2 was in a rear facing pram for 2 years, and also has a severe speech delay. I guess I'm precious and a shit parent at the same time.
Hurrah!

YABU - although I'm a SAHM and like a break from interaction once in a while, I think too much time forward-facing (ie. more than say half hour) is probably not good for development if its frequently just shopping trips and especially if you're more interested in your bargains or companion than your DC - I see it alot ). My SIL did that a little too much and has 3 DC with developmental delays!

I do think it depends where you are going - towns are obviously not as great for forward facing, as say the countryside/park, when a panorama, with loads of stuff to point out and chat about can be done forward facing perhaps more easily than RF - or you stop and turn RF buggy around - not rocket science!

With FF you can still talk, sing etc as you walk and I did the tipping the buggy back thing, when I wanted a peek/chat. If you're really clever, you stop the buggy and crouch beside DC and chat and point out things of interest.

I've had buggies both ways and prefered ones I could swap from one to other - best of both worlds.

Yes, and in the 1990s the disposable nappy industry convinced us that it was necessary to have different nappies for boys and girls.

Well I suppose if are a WOHM, I could understand why you would feel the need to make the most of every waking moment gazing at your DC.

I couldn't actually find a rear facing inline double buggy when DS2 was born.

I only turned by pushchair forward facing at Christmas as his feet were dangling. I actually dont like it as I cant hear him when out on a busy shopping place and he likes to talk all the time and I'm forever having to stop and go round the side to find out what he is saying

We have a bugaboo and I turned it to forward facing when DS1 was about 6 months old as i wanted him to see the world/thought he wasn't being stimulated, preferred moving forwards rather than backwards.

DS2 is now 12 months and still rear facing as I haven't given it a second thought and certainly haven't been arsed to spend the 15 seconds changing him round

Ds (11months) is rear facing at the moment. He doesn't like facing forward and grumbles until I turn him back to face me.

He will stay rear facing for as long as he is happy to do so. We like being able to 'chat' to each other so yes YABU.

Is there a reason that you are being so offensive washersaurus or are you like this all the time? I now understand why the media pick up on threads and print that mumsnet is a bunch of bullies and sniding woman

Don't know what the OP will make of me then....I carry my dd3 (16 months) most places with me in my Connecta sling...we both love it, we chatter away to each other and I point things out to her and kiss her alll the time . She's learing a new word or two every day and I'm sure it's because I'm constantly chatting to her.

I have four prams, two forward facing buggys that have hardly been used and two parent facing prams that I do use when I need to carry shopping!

When my dds were young I think most people had front facing (or maybe I never noticed).
I can remember people coming up to me and saying do you know your daughter has been sick/has only one shoe and sock/is chewing a dog-end etc so on that basis I can see at least one advantage of a rear facing buggy

I have rear facing pushchair envy!

If there's ever a next time I'll go for rear facing.

I have a rear-facing buggy because I can't be arsed to work out how to turn it around.

So OP, YABVVU. We are not all precious - some of us are lazy