... to wonder why more people don't buy rear-facing car seats for children over 1 year?

[FrozenNorth]

Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I'm just curious as to why I'm the only one amongst my acquaintances to have bought a rear-facing car seat that should fit my DD up to the age of 4 years?

I realise that the government guidelines / laws don't say much about the fact that it's far safer to stay rear-facing beyond the initial group 0 seat, but a few minutes' internet research and a couple of crash-test videos on YouTube were enough to firmly convince me that it's the way to go. In Sweden it's recommended to rear-face your child to the age of four.

So, if you chose to forward-face your child at an earlier stage, what was your rationale? I know, for instance, that the rear-facing seats may not fit in smaller cars. They tend to cost more and they are harder to get hold of. Not a single large store (e.g. Mothercare, Halfords etc.) in the UK sells them.

In case anyone's interested in the evidence behind rear-facing vs forward facing, here's a few links:

Why consider rear-facing?

Safety benefits

The British Medical Journal recommendations

Buyers' guide and list of UK retailers selling rear-facing seats

YouTube video showing crash test footage

Sorry about all the links. This is something I feel really passionately about and I feel so angry that major UK retailers don't supply the safest possible seats for our children.

I can't afford to spend a bomb on car seats! I'm on a budget and got a good value forward facing carseat. It's not fair to make a parent feel awful for not been able to afford a rear facing one!

Zarasmammy - I don't think people are trying to make you feel bad for not getting a rear facing car seat, just pointing out the differences and hopefully trying to raise some awareness. If we could create a demand for them, perhaps Mothercare etc. would consider selling them and the price would come down?

A car seat costs a lot less than buying or running a car and (presumably) you wouldn't consider putting a small child in the car without a suitable car seat because you couldn't afford one? It's just part of the cost of travelling by car isn't it?

Cokefan, I don't drive, but I regularly get in the car with my mum, or my dad or taxis for example, and I really genuinely can't afford a rear facing seat.

It's great to raise awareness but people also need to understand that at the moment many can't afford them.

"apparently only 5% of crashes are rear impact" so that means 1 in 20 crashes are rear impact.

That's quite a few then.

When my girls now 6 and four were little there were not available I kept both of them rearward as long as I could I think I could have done it longer if I had had a base for my seat but they were only just becoming available when we bought a new one when dd1 was 6 mouths I have arthritis and couldn't manage the first one. dd1 was 18 mths and dd2 was 16 mouths. They would kick there legs as I strap to strap it in. I bought the safest stage 1 car seat I could find. Up until the other day I would have thought I wouldn't have managed to get a walking child into a rearward car seat and strapped in safely. I put my friends 21mth in a britax first class which was rearward in the middle seat my car ( he is under 13kg. I lifted him up on one of my girls 23 seat he then climbed in I strapped him in and away we went. His mum didn't know he could do that. I think children get use to whatever seat you get them. Mine were as happy going backwards in fact toys did'n't fall on the floor when they were backwards if I had another one I would buy a 0+ with a base and then look at rearward after that.

Our FF Britax and RF Britax cost approx the same so I don't really buy this price argument

It is very uncomfortable to sit cross legged for any lentgh of time. Also I was told by a GP that it isn't good for children to sit cross legged it can cause damage to thir knees.

A car seat costs a lot less than buying or running a car and (presumably) you wouldn't consider putting a small child in the car without a suitable car seat because you couldn't afford one? It's just part of the cost of travelling by car isn't it?

Cokefan all carseats have to pass a certain safety requrirements so they are safe to use, if that was the case all ff carseats would be made illegal, not the same as putting the child in the car totally unrestrained imo.

pigletmania - as I said in one of my earlier posts, all ff and rf carseats meet current safety requirements, some more than others - otherwise they wouldn't be on sale. In my post above I was talking about unrestrained children.

I can see my 4 yr old who is the size of a 5 yr old sitting like that on the 10.5 hour drive to Isle Of Skye. Im sorry no amount of feesable research and proving about safety to me will change my car seat from a more practical car seat that is forward facing and albeit more comfortable.

Because you won't find them in shops like Mothercare and Babies R Us where most people I know get their car seats.

If my dd 3.2 was still a baby and we were looking for a carseat for the next step up than yes a rearfacing one would be chosen, but as she is older and at 4 will no longer need to be rearfacing, and we dont go out in the car often on long journeys, just local we will not be buying one. The risks for us are not high, we will stick with our ff one.