Rear facing car seat how long?

[PasstheStarmix]

Hi, I understand by law you need to use a rear facing car seat until the child is over 15months old. I’ve seen information saying preferably keep it rear facing until 4 years old. I was going to change ds to forward facing after 15 months old but now I’m having doubts. What does everyone think on this?

We’ve got a Joie stages(not every stage) and can rear face till about 4yrs and forward face till approx 7, it’s got a good recline on it too which we found most rear facing seats don’t recline much so naps result in their heads dropping forward so swung our decision to choose this one. Dd is 23 months and still happy to rear face, albeit with usual toddler tantrums of getting into seat in the first place!! I think as she has never known any different I will rear face her as long as possible!

DD just grew out of her Cybex Sirona which we've kept rear facing all the time. She's 4.5. Definitely keep them rear-facing as long as you can.

I'm going to rear face my DS as long as possible. I chose the Joie 360 because it can be used both ways (and saves my back!) so if he stops tolerating rear facing I haven't spent loads on a seat that needs replacing soon.

My 2 year old is RF in a Joie seatmi will keep him rf as long as I can.

My 14 month old is nearly 13 kg and I've just bought the cybex sirona as the old car seat only allows rear facing till 15 months. Hoping to keep him rear facing for as long as possible, hopefully up till 4.

My 2yo and almost 4yo are both rear facing. They are both on the small side, and didn't move out of their first baby seats until about 15 months old. Eldest is still only 93cm tall and 12.5kg, so I envision her remaining rear facing for a good while past her 4th birthday.

Youngest may end up turning earlier as she's rather more of a forceful personality...

Everybody would be safer travelling rear facing, other than the driver for obvious reasons.

I'm like other posters and find it difficult when people say they are turning tiny ones forward facing. It's not difficult to find the reasons why rear facing is 5 times safer and it's not difficult to get good rear facing seats either.

If anybody has a child above the 50th centile, they are much better buying a 25kg rear facing seat as an 18kg seat is likely to be outgrown way before 4. For my 98th centile DS, an 18kg seat would be outgrown at 2.5yrs.

Obviously the 25kg seats would be a great choice for any child, higher centiles or not, as they would be rear facing for so much longer. Good ones to consider are the Axkid Minikid and Britax Two Way Elite.

And I agree with PP, I recommend everybody joins the Facebook group 'Car Seat advice UK' to educate themselves and for car seat advice.

Once ds gets to 13 kg and outgrows the rear facing element (he’s 50th percentile so I’m estimating around 3yrs old)I’ll upgrade his car seat to group 2 and continue rear facing. I can use his existing car seat if he has a younger sibling by then so it’ll all work out hopefully.

I wish they would just change the law and make it rear facing until 4. When you look into the research around rear facing its boggling that anyone chooses to forward face any sooner that they need to but yet I understand why people want to turn children round so they can see etc. I know DP thinks its a bit embarrassing I'm insisting on rear facing because all his nieces and nephews went forward facing as soon as they grew out of their infant carriers.

I'm just at the point of getting a new car seat for my 16mo. I think i'm going to get a Joie stages, I would like the Joie 360 but can't really justify the extra cost just to make it twizzle. I'm not too bothered about if she grows out of it early as DC2 is due in the next couple of weeks and is inheriting the maxi cosi pebble the 16mo is currently in. When we need another stage 1 car seat for DC2 I will make a decision then about what to get for 4+ for DC1

Agree pasta. I don't understand how forward facing seats sold. I had no idea that seats that are normal in the U.K. aren't sold in Sweden because they are considered so unsafe. And yet they are the safest country in terms of child fatalities in car accidents... It's not difficult to work out why.

Mine was rear facing until she was 4.5. She’s 60th centile so not tiny. In a decent properly fitting seat, most can RF quite a long time. Mine technically would only just be reaching the weight limit now and she’s 5.5. I would keep him rear facing until he’s above the weight limit.

Dc is remaining rf until I can no longer physically make him! He doesn't know any different and he can see me in his little mirror anyway, he's quite happy.

DS will be until 4 or 25kg whichever is sooner. He’s too centile for height but still comfortable rear facing and it’s actually easier to get him in facing that way!

There is no benefit to early forward facing

Icke ds is too percentile for height too but when it comes down to it little ones cross their legs and get into all sorts of positions, they don’t get leg ache like we do. If god forbid there was a big accident a broken leg is better than a broken neck or spine. I agree with pasta they should make it up to 4 years old rear facing by law and not 15 months.

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My son is 13 kg his seat goes to 25kg. I will turn him before school. We have a concord car seat. He can happily see out of the window and chats away happily about what he can see

Pass I completely agree. He normally sits froggy legged or crosses them and doesn’t complain.

Big children make extended rear facing more expensive and less options but it’s definitely possible

We have a joie 360 in our car, love it. I want to keep DD rear facing for as long as possible. She is 13months and only on 25th percentile so 9kg and just growing out of her baby seat which we use as a spare/second seat in my mums car. Struggling to find a RF seat that fits with a short seatbelt though (Toyota Aygo). It has isofix but ideally wanted a seatbelt one so could be used in friends cars which might be older & not have isofix. Has anyone found any RF seat that fit with a short seatbelt? Tried joie stages but it only fits FF due to seatbelt length! The baby seat (cybex Aton) fits on a cybex belted base, so a RF seat that fit on that could be an option too? I looked but can't find anything!

My DS is very tall and grew out of Sirona a lot earlier than the advertised 4 years. He's now wearing 7Y clothes and still fits in his Axkid.

We have a britax 2 way elite and an axkid mini kid. I like them both, but the axkid is a lot easier to fit and adjust and is really solid. Also it doesn't take up as much space and we can get it in a smaller car. DS is nearly 4 and still fine in both of them.

Pink The Britax Two Way Elite would be your best option, or the Axkid Minikid if your budget can stretch to. The seatbelt goes through rather than round IYSWIM so it uses much less. However she might be a bit small at the moment, it depends how tall she is? For the TWE they generally need to be comfortably in 12-18mo clothing as a rough guide.

Pink Or the budget version of the Minikid - the Axkid Move

DD has just gone forward facing at 2.5 and I’m not really happy about it. But we can’t fit the car seat in anymore due to having to raise the straps as she is tall and now it won’t fit in anymore even with passenger seat fully forward.

I planned to have DS1 RF until 4 or the weight limit. Unfortunately travel sickness set in and so I turned him at about 2.5. Not ideal but cured the sickness. DS2 is only 8 months but will be RF for as long as possible.

We have the Two Way Pearl and turned our daughter at around 3.5. She was still fairly comfy but getting bored at not seeing where we were going. I would have liked to get to 4 but didn't want every journey to be miserable.