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 :)

8 years. She was quite comfortable and resisted the move to a HBB. I recommend Axkid Minikids - they fit in more cars that some similar seats. We've just got the newest one for our toddler. We had the original one for our older daughter. The Besafe and Britax seats barely fit in our mini SUV. When my older daughter was a toddler we hardly ever saw other people using ERF seats but now I see them almost daily but not many 5-8 year olds! I don't judge people who forward face their kids earlier it's a personal decision based on your assessment of risk, car sickness, who needs to fit in the car etc. 4 years is great though and I am quite uncomfortable with forward facing before 2.

dc1 5.5 because younger sibling grew out of the 18kg seat (height wise) and I couldn’t justify buying a second minikid. Dc2 4.5 because she hated being rear facing as she was getting bullied for being a baby at school as she was still in a baby seat. She was very tall for her aged and very sensible and I risked assessed (and bought the best high back booster on the market) and decided I didn’t want to put her through any more grief at school.

At about 18 months when she started screaming blue murder on every car journey for the entirety of the journey. One 3 hour journey where she screamed the full 3 hours and made me question my sanity made me forward face her. I was more likely to be involved in an accident with her screaming continuously than when she is quiet and content. So while I understand that ERF is much safer in the event of an accident, with my child the chances of an accident were higher with ERF. I would have happily had her rear facing until she was too big if it wasn't for the screaming to the point of sickness.

Oo, pondering over the axkids or be safe stretch - which do you prefer?

Eldest was just 4 I think. He's a bit bigger centile wise than youngest. Youngest went forward facing when he was 4y8m. Keep them rear as long as possible!

Axkid Minikid fit way better in our car - the Stetch was huge. If you have a huge car the stretch might be ok.

DC1, now 11, was 6, DC2, now 9, was 5. He was a little taller. Both were in Britax Two Way Elites.

2.8 here and RF but not one other person I know does. Naice area, educated people, plenty of money for seats. I think I only know about it from an acquaintance sharing an insta post so it's really not talked about much.

I would find your local independent seller which sells both and try them.
https://axkid.com/uk/find-a-retailer-near-you/
Check they stock both brands. Avoid car safety centre as they are not as good as the independent sellers at fitting seats.

We have a corsa and my dp needs is tall and needs his seat quite far back to drive, dc are quite tall too and found rear facing uncomfortable, as
One as you use the correct seats and the correct age/ weight you shall be fine.
Ds was 3 in forward facing but dd was 2

DS was 4, his sister was ready to move up to the ERF seat and as DS is very tall we decided to move him into an HBB (had he been small we'd have bought a second ERF).
DD is very petite so we kept her in the ERF until she was nearly 6.

How can these two year olds be taller than six year olds? I don't get it?

@Isthisexpected as a now 6 year old my DS is the height of the average 10 year old and has size 3 feet. He’s just always been very, very tall.

DS is also not just tall, but leggy. He carries so much of his height in his long, spider legs that it was mission impossible to squish him in.

The ERF seats are most commonly used in Scandinavia - home of very tall children!

My DS is 99th centile, wearing age 8-9 clothes, lovely long legs and happily fits in his Axkid Mini. There is literally no way a 2-3 yo could be taller than him.

Maybe there's a bit of bias as parents think their long legged toddlers look uncomfortable because they as an adult couldn't sit like that?

Bought a very expensive extended rear facing car seat, DD started screaming in the car aged 2 and 9 months to the point it felt more unsafe for me to be that distracted and stressed and I turned her forward facing. She’s much happier being able to see me.

Bit of a theme of toddlers asserting their independence and then parents reacting like this. I don't think the car seat was the issue for all these kids but they were reaching the age of wanting to be in control of more of their world. My toddler screams so I let them do XYZ just wouldn't fly when it comes to other aspects of safety.

Both of mine made it to 4.5/5 in their Axkids. Younger one protested more because she was seeing older one in a FF seat. I do think it’s unusual. I had to laugh one time when I was visiting a friend in a particularly hipster neighbourhood, I came out and someone had left a note on my car congratulating me on my two RF seats! I think that’s taking things a bit far but this person seemed to feel vindicated lol.

Yeah exactly. My kids both hated their car seats as babies and would scream blue murder in them, but turning them
round wasn’t an option so we had to get through it. It passed.

4 or 5.

When DC no longer fit in the rear facing seat.

Why go against what's proven to be safest for our children. We had the information and the means to buy the safest seats and so we did. (And didn't have kids who got sick in the car/had other special needs that being forward facing would benefit.)

I've not read this thread beyond the first post. But the "until they're 26" comment tells me that even though my youngest is now out of car seats the attitudes haven't changed.

I really could care less if people thought we were being OTT. It's such a weird thing to be self conscious over if you're doing what's safest for your kids.

If you ever had a child who would scream until they started coughing and struggling to breathe you would feel differently. Dont judge until you've walked in someone else's shoes.

(And no, it didn't mean we pandered to her tantrums. We had to calm her down quickly though before it escalated.)

We have a Joie I-prodigi which will hopefully last until age 6-7. This one only rear faces, that’s partly how it passed the Swedish plus test. The spin seats are a false economy because they’re usually outgrown before it’s recommended to FF.

I really don’t understand parents who are ignorant to the safety benefits of RF. It’s easily found information online, we were first time parents but made sure to educate ourselves on car seat safety before making any purchases. FF isn’t comfortable for their legs either, it’s like being on a bar stool without anywhere to rest your feet, so they just dangle.

I had a toddler who would be sick from screaming during a tantrum. It's the same thing as I don't want to rear face - I am upset and can't regulate my emotions...doesn't matter the context it's our job to help them stay safe.