When did your child move to a forward facing car seat?

[Alb1]

Just that really, I no rear facing for as long as possible is the best thing. DS is 17 months, 10kg (car seat says minimum of 9kg for forward facing, his feet are slightly cramped now rear facing so I'm debating turning the seat but not sure if he's too young so thought I'd see if I can find out what the average sort of age is?

"RF seats are too expensive" you can get one for £100-£150

"no isofix" you can get RF seats that use seat belts

"dc hates rf"

DS is 20 months and we will rf as long as possible.

Most rear facing seats are around the same price as a cheap travel system, and a travel system wont keep your child alive.

The too expensive argument always makes me roll my eyes. Parents are quite happy to spend 800 quid + on a silly looking pram but balk at spending the same on a car seat which is far more important. I mean internal decapitation is no big deal after all.

I've just turned my DS at two and two months. He hated rear facing, he would scream getting in the car seat and make car journeys very stressful. Forward facing he is much happier, car journeys are a lot less stressful. I'm still happy we got to two rear facing though.

DD who's 15 months is still rear facing and I intend to keep her that way, she's much more cooperative than DS!

Also just a point that not all erf seats carry a hefty price tag the stages retails at 150 and that lasts until 7! Alternatively the Hauck varioguard isn't that expensive either if you needed isofix.

I turned my twins rear facing at 4 years 11 months, just as they were starting school. I only did it because I was worried they would feel different to the rest of their friends.

I still rear face them for long journeys. The rear facing seats are much more comfortable for sleeping as they recline more, and obviously they're a lot safer.

I wish I hadn't turned them before they started school. Their friends would never have noticed.

Why do parents who erf have to be so militant about it?
Yes, it is safer.
Some of us choose not to for whatever reason.
It doesn't mean we don't love our children or that we want them to die. Stop picking apart our reasons, they might be trivial to you but they are important to us.

What are your reasons Muse? Youve already said rear facing is safer so you must have some pretty big reasons to then go against that.

I've just turned DD this week. She's 4 at the end of the month. The seat goes to 18kg rear facing and she's a skinny 13kg but the 5 point harness is so tight and I can't do it up if she's wearing anything more than a T-shirt, so I'm not sure what's gone wrong.

My reason was that ds screamed and puked facing backwards. We basically had to give up using the car for anything more than 20mins.
It was definitely safer. We couldn't drive anywhere.

But that's just me.
Other people I know ff as they have multiple people use the chair (gps cm etc) and find a common ff easier for all those people to fit.
And when I was looking 2yrs ago erf were twice the price of the most popular ff (britax etc)

Ds1 now 5 was rf in maxi cosi cabriofix til 18mths then ff we knew no better

Ds2 is 14mths and just outgrown his cabriofix so is just this week gone into joie stages rf and will remain rf til at least 4yrs as I know better now and its 5times safer so for me a no brained yeah he hates it and moans/screams when getting put in it not so much when we get going but safety is paramount.

Joie habse erf car seats now from £70 so they are affordable for all really as the cheaper ff ones are of similar price

Eastmid his constant screaming and crying was actually quite dangerous for us, I found myself trying to occupy him when the road should have my full attention, If it was just a whinge I'd agree but when it's full blown tantrums on every car journey I changed my mind.

I don't know about hour joie rf but the joie stages was labelled "don't buy" by Which.

That was the 2012 model muse. Their current seat is great and has won various awards..

Which are a little behind regarding their testing.

That's what I'm told Dixie!

Sorry to derail but as a result of this thread, I'm checking out RF car seats for when DD2 eventually moves out of her infant carrier. I see Joie do a couple more affordable options now (back when I was looking for DD1 they only did the Stages which wouldn't fit in our car at the time), what do people think of the Joie Steadi? It's only £100 in Mothercare and rf up to 18kg, seems excellent value.

DD is rf at 2.10 in a Britax 2 Way Elite. It's great as the seat part is really flat, no arm rests so she can get in and out by herself once we've unclipped the buckle. It was £200, we don't have her in the car daily or even weekly but felt it was worth the money. She is tall but crosses her legs or puts them up on the seat back.

She hated rf in her baby seat but is fine in this one. I remember we were so shocked that she fell asleep in the car for the first time on the way home after buying it, that I took a photo of her!

When my dc were little, rf seats were too expensive for us. We didn't even have a car so a carseat was for occasional use only. I'm glad they're more widely available and cheaper now.

And no, I didn't have an expensive travel system either! In fact I never owned a pushchair of any description.

Imwith - the steadi is a good choice if you're not fussed about it not turning in to a high back booster. It's also smaller than the stages so better if you are tight on space.

Passme it's definitely a seat I will consider, the fact that it won't take up too much room is another plus point. I don't mind shelling out on a HBB further down the line. At £100, It might also be a good option for the grandparents to get for their cars,affordable but also safe. It looks comfy too.

Thanks for the helpful response, by the way!