What age did you forward face?

[febbabies2023]

I'm just curious to see when people started to forward face their children?

I see a lot of posts on 'mum groups' about how they'll basically keep their kid rear facing until they're 26, but virtually everyone I know has forward faced at about 2

For reference, my eldest is 3.5 and still rear facing. Youngest is 9m and will be for as long as I can too.
Eldest is 50th centile so car seat weights etc not really been an issue
Youngest is 99th centile so we'll see!

Just curious to see what the general population does :)

About 15 or 16 months. I’m impressed you’ve managed this long - my ds would have gone absolutely mental rear facing long before now!

Ds is 14, when he was little 9 months was still classed as late to be rear facing. I kept him rear facing until he reached the limit for his seat which was about 18 months.

i think for a lot of people moving up in seat size/position seems to be some sort of odd race to prove how your child is growing well rather than being about safest

My little one is three and still rear facing. It’s so much safer.

I bought seats to rear face until at least six, hopefully seven. Not worth the risk.

What @Christabelladaisy said.

4.5, she outgrew the spinny seat on height at that point. I wanted to get to 4 so was happy with that.

Mine is 3.5 and still rear facing. Yes it’s safer, but she still fits it, it’s an Axkid one. And has lots of adjustable settings for when they get bigger.

We’ve made it to 3yrs, 3 months and now had to forward face. I’m so annoyed/ upset as would like to have done for at least another 1-2 years.

but 99th+ centile - she hates her axkid and is now car sick so forward facing has prevented that. My logic is I’m more likely to have an accident if she’s rear facing and screaming she’s poorly or vomiting than forward facing.

@Christabelladaisy if he started to say he was uncomfortable etc i would consider changing. I'd like to get him to at least 4 to be honest. I guess his average height and weight mean he's pretty comfy in his 360

@Sirzy oh my god I could not imagine forward facing at 9m! I'm sure the law is now 15m as a bare minimum but recommended up to 6

@modgepodge yeah I'd like to get to 4 as well, which he is in July. I think he'll last longer than that but when he outgrows his Joie360 and he needs a new one, I think I'll struggle to get an ERF that will last him a long time if that makes sense

Just to clarify I'm not judging anyone for their decisions to FF or RF, purely curious

About 18 months. She still rear faces for naps as it's a better angle but she very much likes to face forward and it means her legs aren't squashed against the back seat.

About a year for both as very tall babies and genuinely didn’t work rear facing anymore

Around 9 months. Couldn't afford the expensive rear facing seats. Might be cheaper now of course.

We’ve just put our boy forward facing now as he’s just got too big and tall for the specs on his Joie 360 thingy car seat and his knees were basically by his ears anyway. I had hell of a job finding a car seat to fit him that even had a five point harness let alone the ability to rear face. He’s 25 months.

@Give0fecks this is my worry with my youngest, where she's so big she's almost outgrowing the newborn car seat at 9m where as my eldest was in it until 18m at least!
I'm hoping by the time she is out of it I'll find one suitable to RF as long as possible
But i get why you've done it! You definitely have to weigh it all up

I don't understand the rush to forward face. I think it's all about their frame of reference. You don't know what you don't know and all.

When I look back it’s amazing how much knowledge about car seat safety has come in since he was a baby. Even on things like coats in cars.

he was in a booster until he was over 12 which was years later than most of his peers but I wasn’t getting rid until the seatbelt sat safely

We are mostly still rf at nearly 5 but our van the seats don't fit so he's been ff in that one since 4.

We have axkids and he will stay in it til he outgrows either height or weight first. They are comfy seats I don't see the need to buy another seat til he outgrows it.

The safety aspect is well proven and its a no brainer for us. Definitely saved money as well as he's had the same one since he was 10 months old!

My 6.5 year old (70th centile for height) is still comfortably rear facing in an Axkid so I would think we’ll make it to 7 or thereabouts.

My 6.5 year old is still rear-facing but I'm expecting him to grow out of that seat in the next few months, and then we'll turn him round.

I really wanted to get to 4 but I've just swapped now at 3.5 because DD is so tall and was actually starting to tell me she was uncomfortable.

Almost 3 and still rear facing, my daughter is tall so I do worry about it.

I know loads of people that forward face and turned there kid when they were really young, i don't know what they're thinking tbh it's just quite lazy parenting they can't all be getting car sick rear facing you know?

It's interesting to see that everyone that has done ERF has used an Axkid - I know they're the safest on the market and tested way above the 30mph UK testing so I definitely think that'll be the next seat I get for my LG

We got to over 4 and a half with the maxi cosi two way pearl I think it's called

About 30 years late to the party but I'm always fascinated by these threads. When my kids were little, it was, 0-9 months was rear facing, 9 months-4 yrs forward facing seat and boosters after that until too tall. A relative thought it proved how grown up her child was by putting onto a booster seat at around 8 months. Even then, I was horrified. I couldn't imagine a seat big enough to rear face a 6 year old though fitting in the cars we had.

My 5 year old is on the 96th centile for height and still rear facing so I it does seem odd that so many people have four year olds that are too tall.