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 :)

I have no idea how people have kept rear facing for so long. We swapped at about 15 months as the level of distraction due to her hating it was just so dangerous. I couldn't get anywhere safely.

Still rear facing at 2.5 not but she's always been 99th percentile so I don't think we'll get to 6.
Got the Brit way max that goes to 23kg so once that's outgrown she'll be forward facing.
I'm guessing somewhere around age 4. I want to get ar least to age 3 though!

FF 18 months. I have twins. I physically can't get RF in the back with a another child seat in the middle and to be honest the reality is that extending RF seats are expensive compared to FF and I just couldn't afford 2 sets of those seats. I also do a lot of long journeys - 4 hours without a stop with the kids and they would hate looking backwards that whole time

But that pic is nothing like how my son sits in the car? Isn’t it obvious from what I said that he folds his legs?! He sits like this.

Believe me, if he was uncomfortable I would know about it, and I doubt it would be safe for me drive with him
complaining for even 5 minutes, never mind the last 5+ years.

We do not have a car but occasionally use a hired car. I think we FF at about 2.5, as did everyone else I know.

I’ve said this before on threads like this, but I find it weird that there is SO much emphasis on rear facing car seats, but no discussion at all about things like living in a way that requires less driving or cuts out the most dangerous types of driving (example: extra curriculars that involve a lot of driving late at night when everyone’s tired, choosing to live in the countryside where you’ll have to drive everywhere on bendy rural lanes and your kid will probably drive from 17, living in places with no public transit so you will be stuck driving when your child has kept you up all night and you are cross-eyed with sleep deprivation).

Plus the most important bit of car seat safety... make sure its installed properly, and is fitted properly for your child (and you check it regularly!)
I had a friend who was insistent it was safer to be in a harnased seat rated up to 18kg than a seat belt when her child was over 20kg for example.

Mine is 5 next month and has almost outgrown our spinny seat, and we've bought forward facing as a replacement. He's short for his age so it's lasted longer than I'd thought, which I'm pleased about. He's also just stared to feel car sick so I'm hoping forward facing will help with that. He's never seemed uncomfortable, he's used to sitting with his legs crossed and up on the seat back.

The rear facing seat which went up to 7 didn't fit in our car so I couldn't have gone any longer anyway. We buy our car seats from an In-Car Safety Centre, as we have one near us and trust their advice and fitting. We go back once a year or so for adjustment to make sure the straps are in the right place.

Out of interest, so you regularly do longish journeys @Justnoidea ?

Eight months.
Twenty years ago.

Our daughter is two (not long turned) and rear faces, where we live its customary for children to rear face until 5/6.

Mine is 5 and we need to look at forward facing in the new year due to height/weight. I'd love to keep him rear facing as it's so much safer with his SEN to keep him in a 5 point harness, but he's on the cusp of outgrowing even the 36kg rear facing seats by height. Currently boggling my mind over high back boosters with additional harnesses 🤯

This is the kind of attitude I don’t get.

safety should come first. Knowledge of the benefits of ERF has come along massively in the past 10 years yet some parents still move children up before needed because “others may laugh” or “they don’t like it” - they may not like it but if it saves their life one day then that’s what matters!

It’s a good idea to know your child centiles, as that will help guide you towards the best seat. From this you can work out rough on what age they will reach 25kg, which is the weight limit for most ERF. There are also some 36kg seats on the market, some of which have taller shells which may allow you to continue using the seat longer than the 125cm height limit.
Finally, knowing what car you have can help as some seats are more space hungry than others.
We have the BeSafe Stretch for our tall (75th centile) 6 year old. It’s a space hungry seat, although we have it fitted in a Skoda Superb which has a huge rear cabin, and my extremely tall FIL can sit comfortably in the passenger seat.
The more expensive seats such as the Stretch and the Minikid 4, have self-tightening lower tethers, which make moving and adjusting the seat so much easier.
It might be worthwhile finding your local independent retailer and trying a few out in your car.

Posting this just in case anyone isn't aware of the science behind why rear facing is safer.

rearfacingtoddlers.com/pages/why-rear-facing-is-safer

Also, some good info about where their legs go and travel sickness

rearfacingtoddlers.com/pages/frequently-asked-questions

My 6 year old has never asked to FF, only once asked why he RF, which I think came from watching some of his friends at school get into FF seats in their cars. He understands that we have decided that RF is safer for him now, and that when he’s older he will FF. He also understands that it would be safer for everyone to RF (which is why he always picks a RF seat when we travel by train). I’m hoping that we’ll get at least another year out of his seat before he moves into a HBB.
I recognise that we’re fortunate to be able to afford an expensive RF seat and that the upfront payment for these is far beyond what some families can afford. However, a lot of independent retailers offer payment plans which can help with this. Axkid and Britax have released lower budget options recently, around £250 mark, which is cheaper than some less well tested FF seats.
I wish information around car seat safety was better advertised here in the UK. I’m glad that the old laws of FF at 9 months have changed, but 15 months is still way too young in my opinion.
I appreciate I have strong views about car seat safety, but transporting my child around in a car is the most dangerous thing I do with him, and having weighed all the pros and cons, RF is the only way for him (and me).

You’ve misunderstood the poster. She (like me) had a child that was distressed when rear facing which makes for more dangerous driving when your child is screaming. It wasn’t about leg length, it was about weighing up which is safer on a daily basis in your personal circumstance.

I really don't care what a bunch of 7 year olds think 🙄

Evidence shows it's much safer. Mine would be rear facing until then if the seats fit in our car.

Ridiculous isn't it. We were made to feel like we were being pfb. He's our 3rd! All you have to do is read the research and it's a no brainer.

Eldest DD was 6.5, middle DD was 6, and youngest DD is almost 4 and still rear facing and will be til similar to the other two.

I dont understand the rush to FF. They don't know anything about it, so why rush them. When people say there was no room for their legs, I disagree if my 6yo can do it any 2 yo can too.

With all of the research done, as parents, it's our jobs that when we know better, we do better. Their skeletons aren't fully formed to withstand the impact of crashes until they are at least 4 and it's 5 times safer to rear face.

The research isn't trying to shame anyone it's just giving factual information that we now know to be true. Similar to how we now know it's dangerous to smoke!

DC1 was 6 when we swapped from a rear facing seat to a high back booster.

He was in a Britax Max Way Plus (which we all preferred to the Axkid Minikid when we tried them out) although it's not sold any more, they have brought out a new (more expensive 🙄) seat instead.

DC2 is 3 and still in our rotating seat - the recline option is handy as she still naps in the car sometimes - but she will go into the Max Way Plus at some point.

Both children quite high centiles for height/weight.

Son rearfaced in Axkid Minikid until around 5.5 when he suddenly screamed that he was too big, and he probably was. He did look a bit uncomfortable at that point, possibly had a growth spurt.

Younger son was 4 in September and still rf in axkid and Britax TWE. He looks comfortable for now, but he does enjoy the odd occasion he goes forward facing, and he is much bigger than his brother so is he has to turn ff soon I think I'll be ok with that.

Yes. In fact we pretty much exclusively do long journeys. We live in London and only use the car for trips out of London on weekends and holidays - so the vast majority of journeys are 2-6 hrs long.

I don’t care what you do with your own child. But it is a little annoying to have strangers tell me my own kids must be uncomfortable (they’re not) or I’ve chosen a particular seat for them to make a point (I haven’t). I just chose the safest option for them and they’re happy in it.

If they were unhappy or uncomfortable then I might make a different decision, but we’re all happy with our arrangements so I guess we are lucky.