forward facing car seat

[thursdaymurderclub]

DS's friend has an 11 week old, and the friend has just put the baby into a forward facing car seat?

DS has a 8 week old, and was asking me if they should start considering the same?

11 weeks seems awfully young for a forward facing car seat, especially as baby is not yet holding its head itself and is not sitting by itself?

i dont want to give my DS the wrong advise.

Absolutely too young in my opinion but we may be the other extreme as I have a 4 year old who’s still rear facing. He has enough leg room for now but will love him forward shortly.
Rear facing is far safer, especially for babies and little kids.

11 wks is way too young. Rear facing is now recommend until 4 yrs. Have a look on the direct gov website on the laws around car seats if in the uk.

i did look at this site.. and saw there are some regulations for froward facing from 9kg... this baby is now just over 14lbs im told.

i did mention to DS that i personally would not be happy with baby forward facing so young and that i wouldn't do it if i had GC in my car and i think i persuaded him that the car seat they currently have is perfectly fine (GC is only a little thing and no where are big as friends child anyway)

Are you in the UK? If so, what your DS friend is doing is illegal, unless they are using an R44 car seat and the baby weighs over 9kg. Even then, it is incredibly dangerous. Lots of people think the UK law is way behind the safety data on this.

https://www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-the-rules

The best thing for your DS' baby is to be in the rear facing infant carrier for as long as possible. If they have a swivel seat, it should be facing rearwards for as long as possible. My eldest DD is rear facing at 3yrs and will be staying rear facing until she is 5yrs ish at least.

There is a facebook group called Car Seat Safety UK with loads of information and videos (including a scary one about the forces on a childs neck in a crash when they are facing forwards) that you could show your DS to explain why baby should stay rear facing.

yes.. in the uk and i thought that forward facing and impact would be dreadful! its made me very anxious i dont mind telling you.

I think its great that you've come on here to ask and hopefully he'll listen to your advice. Do you know what type of car seat he has? If it's an i-size one then the law is pretty simple and baby has to be rear facing until 15months at least. Do you think your DS would be open to learning more about car seat safety? Maybe you could direct him to some of the online resources for him to have a look itself.

MERYDIAN 2-IN-1 CONVERTIBLE CAR SEAT its this one!

and now i've googled it.. im terrified for their friends baby!

to be honest i think he took on board what i was saying... they have an i-sofix one now, and i've suggested that the new one is the same... i think as new parents they want to do things right and their friend doing what they are doing has made him think if he needs to get ahead of the car seat game..

Sounds like your DS should be very cautious about following his friends parenting advice and learn how to research things for himself. The baby would be safest in a rear facing baby carrier until outgrown (usually after 12 months even if tall). Some are just as safe belted in (if done correctly) so doesn’t have to be isofix to be safe. After that you can get rear facing seats that last until they can go in a booster seat but I appreciate plenty of people FF earlier although even 15 months seems very young to FF.

I don’t think forward facing is legal in the eu until 15 months (assuming here that the uk is still following eu law)

Illegal and will highly increase likelihood of injury, even with just a sharper break. Hugely irresponsible. Babies that tiny should be in baby carriers which only face backwards

I was under the impression that forward facing was illegal in the UK before 15 months

The spin seat we had for DS, who is now 3.5 so would have been bought 4 years ago, had a very prominent label saying not to forward face it before 15 months. I thought that label was the law on all new seats and that one missing it must be very old or intended only for older toddlers??

But 15 months is the minimum to turn them forwards, even then I’d probably only do it at that age if they were car sick or unhappy in the car. If they’re content facing backwards then since it’s safer I would leave them like that until either they start complaining or until they’re around 4 and big enough/old enough for a high backed booster.

Isofix isn’t necessary though. Sure it’s quicker to install the seat and eliminates the chance of user error but there’s no safety difference between the same seat fitted on an isofix base vs. correctly installed with the seatbelt. Just FYI!

Most people do t forward face children till they are much older it's not safe . In the event of a crash that baby becomes a projectile. I would strongly recommend anyone thinking of forward facing a young h child to educate themselves. There is a brilliant Facebook group car seat safety Uk they also have lists of the safest car seats based on crash testing and other factors like how supportive the seat is for newborns etc. have to say I'm horrified at the thought of forward facing a small baby.

Pretty sure that illegal and it's certainly ill advised. Theres just no reason to face them forwards at that age. As baby gets older they may prefer a better view than the car head rest, butfar far better to get a mirror and some dangly toys an out off forward facing until much older. We switched to forward facing when the children were old enough to get themselves in the car and wnte d the independence of getting themselves into a "big boy seat" - around about 2.5 years.

He definitely shouldn't move his 8wo forward facing, it is illegal and very dangerous.

If he has an older regulation (R44) car seat then the baby needs to be minimum 9kg before changing to forward facing (by law) and if he has an R129 regulation car seat (which is likely, most car seats sold conform to this standard now) then the baby has to be 15 MONTHS old minimum to move forward facing.

8 week olds are far too little, need to be very reclined as they cannot support their own head. Forward facing seats are much more upright. And their necks are not strong enough to withstand a forward facing impact until much much older. 15 months is basically when the odds start going from "so dangerous it's literally illegal" to "you can do it if you really must" but it's recommended to keep them rear facing much longer. Personally I would aim for age 2 as a minimum, not 15 months.

I know that is a bit longer than we used to do it, even when my 15yo was little most people would forward face at about 9 months. But very much worth it for safety. 15 months at the very least. The longer the better.

I am not keen on that Harmony Merydian seat either - it's difficult to get a secure fit with it rear facing apparently, it is extremely cheaply constructed and very flimsy.

I could totally understand why someone would want to put that particular seat forward facing, but it's not appropriate for such a young baby.

An isofix seat sounds like a safer bet. I am a big fan of Britax seats. I appreciate they can be pricey. If they were looking for a budget friendly seat which will fit an 8 week old well, I would recommend Joie i-Juva which will fit for approx 12-18 months.

As long as baby fits in the baby carrier, that's generally the safest seat for them. The average 8 week old will still have quite a lot of the inserts in, nowhere near the limits. I'd encourage your son to save his money for now, DGS will probably fit in the baby carrier until a year, longer if it's one of the 13kg/85cm ones. It's easier to buy a good toddler seat if you don't need it to also be a good newborn seat.

You need to educate your son on Extended Rear Facing.

For their own safety children should be rear facing until 4 years old minimum, but 6 or 7 years old is safest.