Group 1 car seat - is 9kg a must?

[suzi2]

DD is a year old and is a complete monkey in her rear facing seat. It's near impossible to get her in it and she just screams for most journeys. DS was like this until we moved him to a forward facing seat at about a yearish. I know she's safer rear facing for as long as possible, but the distraction from her is probably more dangerous. I was in no hurry to move her to a group 1 until the last few weeks.

Anyway, problem is that she's only 19lbs/8.5kg. She's hardly put on a thing in the last few months as she's been very mobile/walking. And at current rates, that other pound will take her about 4 months.

Is 9kg an absolute must for a group 1 seat? I have a feeling the answer is yes and I would never compromise her safety, but I have googled loads and can't find out how strict that 9kg is!

Or are there any front facing seats that have a different weight start?

I'm pretty sure that being 9kg is important. There are group 0/1 seats that can be rear or forward facing which would be safer I think.

i think the fact that your lo is safer rearfacing is reason enough to keep her in it as long as poss,does she have plenty toys to keep her amused?
the seats are from 20lb as thats the weight they are safety tested for i would never put lo in it before they weight that,

yeah - she has loads of toys. I think she's miffed that DS and I face forwards.

maybe I should get her a DVD player...

9kg is strict because they haven't passed forward facing seats below that and she needs to be a certain weight/strength for the harness etc to work as it is designed. dd was almost 18 months when we switched her and she did go through a restless period but not for long. I suspect that would be the case whichever way they faced tbh. Can you fix a mirror to enable her to see around andn attach toys so she can't lose them easily.