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Parenting

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Original poster

parent facing/reversible pushchair how much & what age do you use this feature?

34 replies

littlealien01 · 21/07/2013 08:18

Im currently expecting first baby and starting to get my head around the confusing world of pushchairs.

I love the idea of one that can be reversed so parent or outward facing but DH suspects its unnecessary as DC would want to face out once theyre old enough to be out of the carrycot.

the big difference between 2 pushchairs we like is 1 has it and 1 doesnt.

so please tell me your experiences, do you use/would you use or want this feature and what age is it useful for?

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lljkk · 21/07/2013 08:27

Supposed to help their language skills to have them facing you as long as possible (past 2yo, even).
But only if you are a very chatty person & not concentrating on keeping other people safe or crossing the road alive.
Since I am a grunting mute while pushing chair, DC preferred to face out after about 8 months. YMMV.

Florin · 21/07/2013 08:32

My son is 13 months and is still parent facing, we like to have a chat as we walk around town. I really don't like it when he is facing out as I miss chatting to him. If we go to a zoo or something we change it to forward facing so he can see better. I personally would not get a forward facing only pushchair.

mrscog · 21/07/2013 08:35

I have a pushchair which faces both ways. I didn't start turning DS around until he was 1, and aside from being able to talk to him, I just liked to be able to see him. Even now at 16.5 months I only turn him around 50% of the time (if he's in the mood for looking around or if we're somewhere really interesting (such as zoo)).

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PigeonPie · 21/07/2013 08:37

Both my DSs were rear facing when out and about until they could walk and didn't need it any more (about 2 1/2). They could talk to me and I could hear them, which I couldn't if they were forward facing.

They could see just as much going backwards and once DS1 was walking by the side we could all join in.

I had a Stokke Xplory and I can't recommend it highly enough.

heidihole · 21/07/2013 08:40

DS is 14 months and still rear facing. I like to be able to see him. I can see if the suns in his eyes, if he's dropped a toy, if he wants a drink or if he's falling asleep and I need to recline seat. On the rare occasion I've used the option of turning seat front facing I've hated not being able to see him!

MustBeDueSomeBetterFeet · 21/07/2013 08:47

my 5 month old outgrew his carrycot at around 3 months but his pushchair goes flat so he's been in that since. I have occasionally had him forward facing (because it folds better that way into the car) but far prefer seeing him. when he's silent I can't help but worry and if I've taken him out for a walk to get to sleep then I need to know how long he's slept for!

FairyThunderthighs · 21/07/2013 08:47

My first child had pram that didn't have that option, my second did turn round. I turned the seat unit round when my DS2 was about 16 months I think. I really liked being able to see him, especially when he was very little and only just out of the carrycot, but I wouldn't say it was "vital" for speech/language development.

Original poster

littlealien01 · 21/07/2013 09:16

thanks all, really helpful comments. sounds like its useful for much longer than we'd thought :)

OP posts:

WhispersOfWickedness · 21/07/2013 09:27

I still use rear facing for my DD who is 23 months, we both love it

Hamwidgeandcheps · 21/07/2013 09:31

I rear faced dd1 until she was out of her buzz. (Massive tank of a pram don't get one) (unless you want to buy mine. Ahem).
Anyway dd1 and I liked it rear facing and her language is excellent I would be rear facing dd2 but I've discovered the ergo and ditched pushchairs mostly. I did but my zapp extra especially because it rear faves though

Meglet · 21/07/2013 09:42

Mine forward faced from birth, I had a monster 3 wheeler.

I know the 'experts' are against it but they've grown up with very advanced speech and confidence from chatting to strangers from a young age. The big wide world was far more interesting than a tired mummy who is concentrating on a 'to do'list. It gave us both a break from each other.

CharlotteBronteSaurus · 21/07/2013 09:42

dd1 - didn't have a rearfacing buggy
dd2 - got a dirt cheap second hand bee. she was rearfacing until 2. I much preferred it. Only went forward facing when the wheels on the Bee gave up and I dusted off dd1's old maclaren.

although obviously it was dd1 who was well ahead with her speech, and dd2 who was referred into speech therapy .

MumofWombat · 21/07/2013 13:33

I must have the world nosiest children. Both of mine were happier forward facing from 3/4 months. If they were rear facing you could almost see them thinking 'boring! You can entertain me at home, I want to see what's going on!'

Sunnysummer · 21/07/2013 13:33

We have a city mini with rear facing bassinet and front facing pushchair, but DS at 3 months already vastly prefers the standard front facing to his expensive bassinet! We think he prefers the angle, and is frankly unconcerned about hearing from me

Like previous posters, though, we both much prefer the ergo sling to faffing about with the pram, so it is less likely to affect any development (plus you can carry things in both hands, and don't need to worry about finding lifts everywhere!)

Mutley77 · 21/07/2013 13:44

DD forward faced from birth (lie flat pushchair) and DS from 3-4 months (when out of carrycot). Both have excellent speech now - DS is 4 and DD is 8. DD was extremely advanced in her speech and was saying many words at 14 months - talking properly at 2. DS was much slower to start but quickly caught up.

Yes I am sure it helps with speech having them rear facing for longer but only necessary IMO if you aren't interacting with them at other times.

iliketea · 21/07/2013 13:45

I had one that went both ways. I found that dd cried a lot in the buggy, til I turned it round (at about 4 months) so she was facing outwards. Turned out that she's a proper nosy parker and she seemed to prefer looking at the world rather than at me! It didn't adversely affect her language - in fact she was an early talker. OTOH - my nephew HATED front facing until he was about 10 months old, but he has a shy personality compared to my extrovert dd and he cried when other people talked to him.

So, my unhelpful input is that it entirely depends on your child - one thing I found most helpful about being able to change the buggy direction was i could move it so dd wasn't facing the sun when I was walking anywhere.

HappyAsASandboy · 21/07/2013 13:53

We still have our twins facing us at 2 years 9 months. As others have said, we can turn them to face forward if there is something interesting to see, otherwise I'd rather talk to them :)

BackforGood · 21/07/2013 14:03

I bought mine over 17 yrs ago now but it had a handle that swung over, so you could simply switch from forward to rear facing whenever you wanted. It was therefore a gradual thing with all mine, rather than a set age, but I'd definitely buy one with the option of rear facing if I had my time again. Much better for communication / interaction development - and quite nice to just look at them while they are sleeping

minipie · 21/07/2013 16:44

I moved dd out of her carrycot at about 4 months when she clearly getting bored with seeing mainly sky, but she's still mainly rear facing at nearly 9 months.

the main reason is that I use the pushchair a lot to get her to sleep (she's a reluctant napper!) so I need to have her rear facing to see if she's getting sleepy. if I'm honest I suspect she might prefer forward facing when it's not nap time but in the pram I have (a Bee) it's a royal pain to swap the seat direction so I just leave it on parent facing the whole time... will swap it round if when she becomes a better napper!

Hamwidgeandcheps · 21/07/2013 18:14

I think to be fair it probably doesn't matter unless you either keep the baby in the pram the entire day or never talk to them anyway

Pobblewhohasnotoes · 21/07/2013 20:20

I have a Bee and don't find it a pain at all to swap the seat around, it just slots in and out. Can get a bit stuck at times.

Anyway, DS was parent facing until about 1yr and I was forced to turn him round by my DH who kept pointing out how much DS liked to look around. He was right. I was gutted as I like to chat to DS as we walk along! He just wants to look at things. I wouldn't want a newborn to face outwards, I like to see them.

thewhitequeen · 21/07/2013 20:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

StrawberrytallCAKE · 21/07/2013 20:48

I do use forward facing and parent facing both regularly with my 7mo. I have the stokke xplory and its easy to lift the seat up with dd in it to swap it around, if forward facing it can be pushed up to a table as a high chair which is very useful in restaurants.

Dd loves being able to see what's coming towards her and loves being able to chatter to me.

Purplecatti · 21/07/2013 23:28

Petite star njoy does both rear and forward facing

wickedwithofthenorth · 21/07/2013 23:48

Dd was really long and out grew the pram part of her pushchair quickly, then hated being faced forward. We had to buy a whole new pushchair so she could be rear facing again.

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