Vote on Rear Facing Car Seats

[VickyFord]

Advice sought please. Next week in the European Parliament there is a vote on whether children up to age 3 should have to travel in rear facing car seats. I have a vote. Apparently evidence from Sweden (where they are compulsory) is that these seats are safer if there is an accident. Also being told that studies in UK and US show same... but I think my kids would have kicked up such a fuss that we would have been more likely to have had an accident in the first place. However my youngest is now 10 so I?m probably miles out of date. Views from those with under 3s welcome. Have you read research? do you own a rear facing seat? what do your 2 year olds think?

p.s. I also think the EU shouldn?t be passing rules on car seats, surely we could decide this closer to home, but that is another matter altogether.

Fair enough

I just wanted to point out I was addressing the global refrain, rather than trumpeting that no babies are ever sick RF.

I have a RF seat for my 2.11 yo and she loves it. She went into a FF seat when we were on holiday and then went back into her RF seat with no complaints when we got home.

I think it would be a good idea to increase the age limit for RF seats, the problem is that some people have very small cars so the manufacturers would have to come up with more choice. We could only find one RF seat to fit in our old car (Alfa 147 so not even that tiny) and even then it was a bit of a squeeze. I think if there was more choice, the seats were more readily available- the In Car Safety centre in MK is excellent but an 80 mile trip!- and a wee bit cheaper then they'd be more popular.

This can't be based on age alone but you must take height into account, that is your big flaw. When my son was 2 he was almost twice the height of his best friend! Neither had any SN, just very tall and very short.

So what are the statistics re deaths in ff seats as opposed to rf seats?

Bite me gwendoline

Damn, I love that saying but am never quick enough to use it! :o

see this thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_campaigns/1226527-MNHQ-Please-can-we-have-a-campaign-for-rear-facing-car-seats-for-toddlers

My daughter is very comfortable in her rf seat and much safer.

Yes would love it if the law was changed.

Would obviously need to be a transition period where ff seats still legal but no longer sold.

It would bring RF seat prices down and public awareness campaign highlight the benefits.

Am determined that unborn dc will be rearfacing - the stumbling block is trying to fine a supplier in my location.

DD is a very tall 2.4 year old she has no issues with space in her RF car seat in fact she likes her feet being in front of her so she can take her shoes & socks off on EVERY journey . We went from baby RF to toddler RF and didn't have any issues. DD didn't particularly like her baby RF but it never even crossed my mind to put her in a less safe FF which we could've done at a young age due to her weight & height.
Yes the passenger space in front is reduced with the car seat we have but it's a small price to pay IMO.
If it were compulsory the price of seats would inevitably reduce due to the seats being more readily available & more competition in the marketplace.

XPost Sleepevader.

Check out the in car safety centre in Milton keynes. We didn't have any local stockists in our area either so we bought from them after a few chats on the phone. They're very helpful. It's a bit weird buying such an important thing blindly but they really are able to answer most questions if you do a bit of research on the models you like in advance.

Oh and we always take our RF seat on holiday.

We got ours from John Lewis. It wasn't too hard to fit with isofix. I wish we could have gone to the local halfords though as it was a bit of a faff driving so far to get the thing.

Thanks atomant I will be calling them. Dc not even born yet so probably a bit premature.

I have a thread in car seats that I may bump.

Atomant- did you go abroad on holiday? I'd love to take our RF when we go to see the in-laws but I'm not sure about baggage handlers chucking it around, if it would conform to Canadian standards or safely fitting it in a strange car (apologies for hi-jack)

Interesting first post on MN, OP.

I don't object to the proposed vote given that they'll have to allow for a decent phase in period and if RF becomes the law then the prices will come down and they'll become easy-enough to obtain and fit. Probably only just about in time for my grandchildren.

My DD is 13 months and we went from her RF Group 0 seat to a ERF toddler seat at about 11 months. After doing the research as far as I was concerned there was no other option than to purchase a RF seat, I want to ensure my child is the safest I can possibly get her to be. The £300+ price tag did sting but we went ahead. None of my friends have RF seats and most have never heard of them, their most popular comment is "but isn't she bored" and "isn't it a shame you can't see her when you're driving", these comments are from intelligent people who just don't seem to have considered that RF may impact on safety vs a view. As it goes my DD has a brilliant view and is probably therefore better stimulated in the car than a FF child (in my opinion anyway). I don't preach to my friends about the safety of RF as far as I am concerned it is their choice to do the research and then make a reasoned judgement. However many don't do any research as when they go to purchase their seats in the usual stores (mothercare etc) they are only shown FF, therefore are not aware of alternatives.

My daughter had terrible travel sickness from a very young age, it got much better when she forward faced, just about to have a second and am very worried they will be the same. I can only imagine it will be much worse if they can't face forward until four, especially as travel sickness tablets are not available for very young children and do not always work.

If I am driving on my own then I will have to put up with child being sick every time we get in car and having to clean or should I just stay at home until the child is four and actually understands the need for a sick bag.

It may be safer but there are other things to consider, like how safe it is for the driver to get into the car every time worrying so much about child being sick that they don't concrentrate on driving properly. Or the child being sick when you cannot then safely stop driving.

We have tried rear facing and managed it till 18 mths but ds is so travel sick we gave in and turned the seat round (it does both). I think to make it work we'd need a new car with a bigger windscreen for him to see out. I'd still welcome a compulsory law as it would mean more seats on the Market here that fit our car (only about two were possible). Rear facing was all he'd ever known and it was never a problem as a baby as the sickness didn't kick in till about 13 months.

If you take your rf seat on holiday how do you carry it and how do you ensure you get a hire car it fits? We went on hols by train and could barely fit our suitcase and buggy into the rack on east coast!

Ps we got the rf seat from the securatot website (went to see the lady for fitting) they were very helpful.

Re sickness pills pinkiemum my friend swears by phenergen (from 2yrs) but it hasn't worked for us as ds hates the taste!

I think they should be widely available and recommended BUT not compulsary because they do not fit in all cars. To get one in my car it'ld have to go in the front passenger seat not convinced that that would be safer than him in the back front facing.

I think you have to weigh this issue up with compliance. Yes rear facing are best. they are also expensive and not suitable for all cars. So either you have people on a budget or with teeny cars like mine being compliant and using the best car seats they can, or you don't have the alternatives available so then people without the money or space for rear facing car seats cannot comply at all

until you can get rear facing complient toddler seats for £30ish (like you can with front facing on kiddicare) then IMO making rear facing compulsary will actually reduce compliance with using var seats overall and mean that some children end up on laps or booster seats or neither (or in dodgy second hand seats)

My 3 year old is in a rear facing seat. She has always been happy in it, despite her older brothers facing forward, it is quite high and she can still see out of her window and the back. Don't think they should be compulsory though as it depends on whether they fit in the car and the size of the child. My 3 year old dd is quite small and she only just still fits in her seat.

Vicky ford is an mep. Do you think that means all mep's are getting to vote on this?

In theory I like the idea of RF car seats until 3/4 years old, however as I only have a 3 door car, I would have to buy a new car as well as seat and I simply cannot afford to do that.

I am one of those terrible people who has switched DS in to a FF seat as soon as he hit 20lb - I just couldn't lift the seat in/out of the car, and being a tiny 3 door it was a bugger to move around the back seat trying to take him in/out without moving the car seat. I did try a RF toddler seat in the front but it wouldn't fit. I do feel more vulnerable driving with him FF though, but happier to have him in the back FF than on a moving/folding front seat with airbags switched off. I don't know if he is statistically safer than that scenario though.

Thanks for the pic thisisyesterday, your kids definately look happy in them. I don't think I would change now as only my youngest is in a car seat which has been passed down from her older siblings,the others are all on highback boosters. Also our car has an NCAP safety rating of 5* and we very rarely travel on high speed roads. But in principle I think they are a good idea and if I was starting out on buying carseats now I would consider them.