Those in the know about RF seats. How bad would it be to mover 2 1/4 year old to a FF seat?

[DrivenToDistraction]

So, give it to me straight, how worried should I be about moving to FF?

We're verging on bankruptcy, being kept afloat by PIL and DS is almost ready to move out of his stage 0 seat. Bugger.

I'd planned to get a second BeSafe izi for DS but we really, really can't afford it. We'll have to borrow the money for a seat from PIL and TBH I think I'm going to have to have enough of a job convincing them that we need a decent FF seat rather than some random cheapo or second hand FF seat.

If it really is still too unsafe to move DD (2 1/4) to a FF seat I suppose I could try and get PIL to let us make up the money above what they're willing to fund. That would mean a real struggle for us though.

DD is still very happy in her RF seat, I really don't think she's would enjoy a FF seat at all. But that's not the issue, is it

does it have to be a besafe? there are rf seats that are just as good but much cheaper. you could get a britax two way elite www.incarsafetycentre.co.uk and then use this for your dd and put your ds in the besafe? if you are near milton keynes or belfast then you could go in and they may give you discount for collecting rather than them posting? if you're used to rf then you would probably worry when you were driving...my ds was in a ff seat yesterday in a friends car and i worried the whole time that he wasn't rf .

I was just going to ask if my 4 y/o would be ok ffing! DD1 is 16/17kg, 106cm by the by.

We went out yesterday for lunch and when we got home she asked if she could have her seat the other way as she is too big for her car seat. I said no with out even thinking . She has plenty of growing room in it as she's got another harness slot to go up.

She's got a two way elite so could go the other way but for some reason I have it stuck it my head it's rfing 9-25kg and ffing 9-18kg only. She may go ffing but not unharnessed until she's 6 (at the earliest)!!

Plenty of real data showing that rearfacing is safer up to the age of about 4. Try this report if you're interested.

The most important thing though is that they are in a seat which is properly fitted and which fits the child.

Riven, how tall is your DD?

I am sure I saw a photo of a 6yo boy rear facing, some of the seats are rear facing until 25kg.

OP - you should get a britax two way elite - could say to inlaws that it will last long time as goes RF first of all, then FF.

truthsweet, according to my 2WE booklet it's fine to be used with the harness, forward facing, until 25kg.
the only time it has an 18kg limit is if it's forward facing but only tied back using a lapbelt

Riven, i think your dd travels in her wheelchair doesn't she?

there are, however some special needs seats available here but at vast cost! quite how they justify over £400 on a car seat for people who may not have a choice is quite beyond me tbh!

obviously it may not even be suitable for your DD, but there are options out there for older children with special needs. you jsut need to be rich too!

Riven the thing is that thousands of children aren't injured or killed in road accidents so its hard to have big studies on them. According to the AA 205 children are injured and 21 are killed each year in the UK in car crashes. We know that children in Scandinavia are much less likely to die in car crashes and they rearface until 4 or 5 as standard, but I also wonder how much safer the roads are in general in Scandinavia and how much impact this has but have never read any figures comparing this.

I think you're right that speed has to have an impact. I drive 15mo DD on the motorway frequently so I feel its important that she's in her rearfacing seat. She has to go forwardfacing in my parents' car and I try not to worry too much about this as generally they are going low speed over short distances.

Cheers TIY - I keep the manuals with the car seats (i.e. in the car) so don't have access to them when ever I have a car seat safety freak out.

If you want to see some examples of how rear facing seats are safer, then go to youtube and type in "forward facing crash test" (sorry, I don't know how to link it). I stumbled across it when looking for a new seat for my 10m old DD. Watching the crash test dummies' necks snap made my blood run cold. Needless to say my DD will still be in her Group 0 until the max weight, and I can afford to shell out for the next stage up!

Well, make sure you have her chair rearfacing on the train and you'll be fine

Interesting data greensnail. I;ve done some driving in Scandanavia pre DCs and in Sweden there seemed to be a pretty universal 50 limit rather than our 70mph one. It would also be interesting to see if there is any data from Germany where there aren't speed limits.

Not disputing RF are safer, just wondering how necessary they are for short distance low speed journeys - i.e 30mph if you're lucky