is it too early for a forward facing seat?

[Shelsy]

Hi all, Im new on here but really need a bit of advice! My dd just turned 7 mths yesterday and is extremely long for her age! She is still in a rf seat but her feet hang over the edge! She looks quite uncomfortable when she is in the car as she has to rest her feet up against the back seat.

I know you are not supposed to put children in ff seats until at least 9 mths or until they can sit up for 30 mins alone. My dd can sit up for approx 10 - 15 mins unattended. I bought a ff seat which is from 9 mths - 4 yrs some time ago but is it too early to start using?

Really grateful for all comments xx

Yes she is a giant. She was born huge and is still huge. Anyway I digress

Cool that's helpful. I'll see if I can find somewhere to try a britax out

I've got a kiddy thingamajig for DS and have liked the way I can carry it in one hand and hold his n the other into nursery. But I guess it's going to be a few trips back and forth withtwo children and two seats even if they are light
I also have concerns after reading that a big percentage of seats are incorrectly installed and they often travel in grandparents cars. The seats really need to be idiot proof very easy to install, which the kiddy is

I've just weighed her. She is 12.2 kg and actually is 7 3/4 months

I wonder if I can get her picture in the daily mail. Perhaps it would pay enough for a new car seat

I get really angry when I read these threads because British parents are being kept ignorant of the facts about extended rear facing and British children are being killed in car crashes because of that ignorance. We know that rear facing seats can save childrens' lives but it is still impossible to find them in the usual car seat shops such as Argos, Mothercare or Halfords. UK parents who do manage to find out about rear facing seats face a battle to find anywhere that sells one and also have to get past a barrage of misinformation at retailers. I have been told there is no demand in the UK for rear facing seats, that UK cars don't have the right fittings for extended rear facing seats, and that forward facing are 'just as safe' as rear facing.

Why are the lives of British children being put at risk like this? How many times does a child have to suffer internal decapitation before something gets done?

It goes on weight I think, my ds was a bug boy and went in at 7 months, absolutely fine. it did have 3 positions though.

how long do you suggest they stay facing backwards worldgonecrazy? Surely it's impractical after a certain point? my 2 year old wouldn't fit and would go bonkers

My DS fitted into his first seat for 18 months, they have reached the limit either when the top of their head is level with the top of the seat or when they reach the maximum weight limit (which is usually 13kg).

I would preferably not put a child forward facing before 12-15 months ish. Even after then, it is not ideal but it is more justifiable I think. If I had a big baby who reached the weight limit or the edge of the seat before this age, I would buy either an extended rear facing seat, or one of the convertible ones such as the Britax First Class, although that only helps with tall children, the weight limit is still 13kg for rear facing.

9kg is the absolute minimum weight to turn them forward facing, some babies reach this at 4 months. The law is appalling.

To people who are saying they turned their DCs around early and they were fine, well, they'd be fine without a car seat at all as long as you don't crash! It's only if you have an accident that you find out how safe their seat is.

my dd1 was about 3.6 when we put her in ff seat. she was right at the top of the centile charts, and would have fitted for longer, but her feet (enormous!) did get stucka few times, and as she had learning difficulties she could not work out how to sit, and so we turned her round instead.

dd2 is over 5, and is still rf. she would fit for a good while yet, tbh, but will change to ff soon as I will need to fit 3 seats across the car (dc3 due in July), and for practicality reasons, I can't have 2 rf seats (need to be able to reach dd1 easily to do up her straps, and can't put a rf seat in the middle in my car)

I don't think they'll be fine without a car seat at all somehow....

madaboutmadmen - they should be at least 9 months, as well as 9kgs, because young babies' spines aren't strong enough to withstand the forces they can be subjected to forward facing. So yes, any car seat is better than none, but if you have a crash your baby might break his neck.

I didn't move the dd's uintil they were at least 13m, dd3 was 16m when she finally got too big for her o stage car seat. They then went into an extended rf car seat, dd2 came out of hers at 3 and a bit years as she could squeeze out of the straps, hopefully dd3 will be able to stay in it till 4.

Putting a child ff below the reccomended age is dangerous, they can't control their head as well as an adult can so can get very injured in a crash. Internal decapitation can occur after you have done all the safety checks for a ff seat, usually strapping them in nice and tight like the manual says

Thank you for the clarification Rubirosa, i thought it was 9 months or 9 kilos because it always said "9kgs, around 9 months for an average baby", which gives you the impression that it's the weight that counts. 9 months is do-able, can't imagine DS in a rf seat now though.

That's not what I was saying - I was saying that it's pointless saying "I turned my children around and they were fine" because if you didn't ever crash, how would you know they were fine?

I probably didn't have a car seat when I was three, clearly, I'm still here - but that's more to do with the fact that the car I was travelling in didn't crash, not anything do do with a seatbelt being "fine".

Forget age.

Car seats that are sold as group0+, first stage carseats are all up until 13kg weight. Babies should remain in those seats until they have outgrown them, which is when they reach the upper weight limit and their head is out of the top of the car seat.

I for one will be grateful when they do change the law to 15 months- it will save a lot of arguing at work.

In the meantime everyone will just get on with doing their best as a mother until the Government issues more advice, then revises it again a year or two later....

i'm sure there are plenty of people who do it this way. i've got no problem with it.

the governement advice on carseats hardly changes every couple of years...

last change was back in 2006 I think, when the current laws were introduced re: using a booster until 135cm/12 years old.

the advice for 9 months and 9kg (and, not or) was certainly in place when I had dd1 nearly 8 years ago. (no idea before that, as had no contact with small children at all until I had my own!)

not exactly changing every 2 minutes, is it?

That wasn't a dig at you Silverfrog.

I didn't think it was.

I was just answering your point that the advice would be likely to change every couple of years - ime it tends not to.

DD is 14 months and being tiny she'll be in her maxi cosi seat for a few months, until she reaches the lower weight limit for her next seat which is a rear facing Britax Maxway. That seat will take her through to 25kg if necessary.

There really is no reason for your child to be forward facing until they're about 4 years old. There is an increasing choice of extended rear facing seats and some of them, including the one we've got, fit quite small cars.

I'm from new Zealand and its recommended for children to be Rear facing for two years. It's far safer for little ones to be rf. It's irresponsible for the govt to stick with the current regulations. If we move the recommendation to 15mo, the manufacturers will have to sell us the rf seats for toddlers. Like someone else has pointed out, it's impossible to buy group 1 rf seats. It means bigger babies will have to be ff as young as 9mo.

It's perfectly possible to buy group 1 rf seats. There aren't as many places stocking them as ff seats but as demand increases so will supply.

remember the days wen there were no seatbelts in the back of the car and 4 or more kids various ages used to squash up together or one would lie across the other 3 ppl? Or the little toddler would sit in the footwell? The baby would b sat on mums knee?

Out of the whole list, the Micra is the only car I would suggest not to install it in

Bugger. I've got a micra