What age did you put your baby in front facing push chair?

[ThatTwinklyEagle]

Just wondering what age you put your baby in a front facing push chair? We are currently using our car seat (facing me as I push) on an uppa baby frame. The car seat is feeling a bit small now (ds is almost 8 months and a big boy!) we don’t have a push chair that will allow ds to face me, only to face forwards, and I worry it is too soon for him and he’ll wonder where we’ve gone! Thank you 😊

5 months, she was getting annoyed in the pram so we switched to buggy mode and it really helped her indulge her curious nature. I chat rubbish to her as we walk around but they know you are there anyway.

Never. Mine have always stayed parent facing.

We moved from the bassinet to the seat around 5 months (parent facing) and then turned it round to face outwards around 1 year?

I didn't want to turn my daughter around yet but I found she was getting upset in the pram, crying and trying to get out, so I thought I'd try forward facing and she stopped getting upset and went back to enjoying it, she was approx 14.5 months

Disagree…there is a big world out there. My children were about 5 months old and I chatted about what they could see.

Only ever had forward-facing pushchairs.

I think both of mine were 18 months - 2 when we forward faced consistently - before that I much preferred being able to see and chat to them. We didn’t buy the Yoyo precisely because it only forward faces from 6 months and I’m so glad we didn’t. We had a bugaboo bee which can go either way.

I really wouldn't worry. I have twins and there isn't a whole load of options for parent facing buggies so my twins were world facing from 4 months. They like it and are always quiet in the buggy staring around with interest. It is harder to talk with them during walks but they get my attention at other points during the day so I dont stress about what I cannot change.

People raging about car seats and world facing prams on here never seem to get as exercised about babies going in actual cars.

OP if you are doing most of your journeys with your baby in a buggy/public transport they are getting loads more out of it than staring at the back of a car headrest.

https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2008/nov/21/baby-development-buggies-sutton-trust

Follow Suzanne Zeedyk on Twitter for more info.

Each to their own. We all know the evidence about face to face contact with babies and small children.

This.

Had no idea there was even a debate on this or recommendations. What does it matter... Just another innocuous thing to make parents worry they're spoiling their children somehow.

6 months in the uppababy cruz

6 months as he got too big for the lying down attachment. He could sit fine and loved looking outside. Would have kept him lying for longer but he was really tall.

A minimum of age 1. It's better for a babies development to face a parent as they can see eye contact, communicate with you etc.

My toddler will be 2 in August and he still naps in the pram when he's with us and not at nursery. He's still parent facing just because we both enjoy it. He has another pushchair that is only world facing which he goes in occasionally as it's easier to use one-handed.

Our stroller was one way so no choice. Never a problem.

From newborn because they didn’t make side by side doubles that were parents facing for twins when they were born. Didn’t appear to affect their speech (at almost 13 they never shut up 😩😂). You can mix it up though depending on where you’re going.

Presumably OP doesn't have the Uppababy buggy seat or she wouldn't be asking the question or using the car seat. I read it as a choice between parent facing car seat or a different buggy forward facing.

OP I think we started forward facing at about a year maybe, can't remember tbh. Of course, baby 2 forward faced from birth every time DC1 was with us because the double buggy only faces forwards!

The baby may well love seeing everything around them and I'm sure you're doing plenty of chat and engaging the rest of the day.

You're absolutely right. Nothing worse than parents that are too arrogant to admit they've made a mistake, so would rather continue to do something that's bad for their child. Thank you for sharing important safety information - its just so unfortunate when people would rather ignore it, for their own convenience.

Nope, you can literally Google it, it takes two seconds. Being in car seats for too long is bad for babies, physically. And facing you is good for their development. Just because you don't like it, doesn't make it untrue. Parents are supposed to be concerned for their child's safety.

I don't agree with only keeping them parent facing until they don't need the buggy anymore. It's nice for them to look around at things (cars and trucks, cats and dogs etc) and its easier to point out stuff when you are both looking in the same direction eg I would point out the colours of cars as we walked places. There is lots of other opportunity for face to face interaction.

I kept mine mostly parent facing in Uppababy Cruz until12 months and then swapped to outwards facing. We also had a Yoyo for travel from 7 months which is only outwards facing.

From birth! Maclaren techno.

In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter whether you have a forward facing or outward facing pram. Children's language skills etc are impacted by a whole range of things. Your day-to-day engagement with them, your reading habits, etc will have much bigger impact than whether your baby was facing you or not when out for walks. As PPs have pointed out, outward-facing prams/buggies also have advantages - children have a much better view of the world that way. Or simply, it might be a more handy pram for your lifestyle, especially if you need a compact lightweight and easy to fold buggy because you use public transport on a daily basis.

Same with car seats. Yes, it's not good to keep babies in them for too long, especially newborns, but you're not going to damage your child if they have to be in it for longer than 45 min in some occasions. Common sense is key as with all things parenting and recommendations.

It's ridiculous to imply that parents don't care about their children's development or safety if they don't adhere 100% to these frankly very strict recommendations. Again, worrying about innocuous things like these adds to mothers' mental load and anxiety, no wonder we're all exhausted.

They can look around at things in a parent facing buggy (unless your child can't turn their neck!). You can point things out as you go past and it's much better for language development for them to see your mouth move and get clearly what you're saying than it is for you to both be facing the same way.

There are multiple opportunities for chat and face to face interactions of course, but seldom few that are as good as buggy time when they're fixed in one place and almost at eye level with you (depending on buggy type).

Obviously, do whatever you like, but it is best for language development to have them parent facing. You and your conversation are more interesting and more beneficial to your child than seeing a car or cat front on.