turning car seat around BEFORE 1 year!?
i was in mother care on Monday, and i asked about car seats. the woman said that you could switch it round at 9mos, if baby had hit the weight mark. Reece had hit the minimum weight at 4mos!
i am unsure about this as i have only heard that baby had to be at least 1 year, and 20lbs. but thins woman was specially trained to provide safety advice?!
i didn't buy one as i had to leave, but we will be getting one soon, and i would like to know before we get one
has anyone else heard this?
i didn't know it was 9mos in the UK. thats good then, hes 9mos next month
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14 Responses to “turning car seat around BEFORE 1 year!?”-
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ive not heard of this i am from uk,but thought they had to be over a year old!!
holly is 8mths and 21lb,but i dont think i will be turning her car seat just yet,as much as id love her to face forward,id never forgive myself if we had a crash,as their little necks arent strong enough!!
i say leave it a while longer before you put him forward facing.
EDIT-just had a read for you,yes you can at 9mths,if your boy is quite stocky this is good as he may have stronger neck muscles than a thinner baby!!
my son was big for his age and we had to get a new seat we was told to buy the seat on his weight rather than age x
If your in the UK the advise is 9 months. I thought it was 1 year in the USA?
My daughter also hit the weight mark at 4 months, same time she outgrew the rear facing car seat..
I don’t know where you live, but here in Florida, the baby has to be a year old AND 20 pounds.
If the baby outgrows an infant seat, you can buy a bigger one, but still keep it rear-facing until he’s a year old.
When I was a kid, there were no special car seats for kids. Heck, the cars weren’t even equipped with seat belts, and airbags hadn’t been invented.
I’m probably about the same age as your parents. People of your parents’ generation survived.
Of course, you’d be appalled at Standard Operating Procedure back then. Mom would have baby STAND on the front seat next to her, and when she had to apply the brakes, she’d put her right arm out in front of baby to keep him from falling into the dashboard. (Even at age 7 I was pretty appalled to see my mom do this with my little brother, and I volunteered to sit on him).
I’m sure the advice and laws differ in each country. In Australia I went to a government run organization called KidSafe who installed my car seat (Or rather I installed it while receiving a lesson – it was great, for a small fee I became a professional car sear installer LoL)
I asked about the weight and age requirements for switching over, because I knew my niece, who was 14 months old at the time, only weighed 7kg. (Perfectly healthy girl, just tiny person genes!) and had been frontwards facing for some time. The lady told me that 9kg no matter how old the child – so technically my niece should still be front ways facing. The law however is a bit different, and if your child is front wards facing and they are older then 6 months, then this is OK.
So what the professionals advise, and what is the LAW are very contradicting.
I would go with the professionals – if your baby is small enough, why wouldn’t you want them to be rearwards facing as long as possible? It’s clearly the safest way for a young baby to travel!!!
xx
go by the weight, and make sure he can support his own head
that is not the best. If it is legal than you ‘can’. After my son was out of the infant carrier, I got him a convertible car seat. It goes from rear facing, to forward facing. I know in the US some people keep their kids rear facing until 5 years old! The legs are all scrunched up, but the kids are used to in and don’t mind. Better broken legs, than a broken neck and dead, is what they say. As for myself, I am not going that long. My son is almost 18months old and still rear facing. I am going to turn him around soon, I think the next time that I clean the van out and vacuum it, than I will turn it around.
Hey my eldest son is called Rhys too!! =0)
Yes its all about the weight of the child. My youngest was gigantic for his age and he had to be put into a forward facing seat at 6 months in the back of our car.
I think all baby seats have a weight capacity for front and rear facing, the weight is more important than the age though. My son was also very big for his age and I was advised not to change him once he got to the 9 kilo mark as he wasn’t really great with his head control. The lucky thing for me was that he was not too tall for the car seat either so I left him in it for another month, once he didn’t have any gap between the top of the car seat and the front seat I changed him around.
Rearward facing is by far the safest way for an infant up to 12 months to travel, so I would try to keep him rearward facing for as long as the car restraint will allow (different seats have different weight limits for rearward facing travel, some have 9 kg and others 12kg). Good luck!
I always believed it to be 9 months and over 20lb in the UK, however you are advised to keep your baby rear facing as long as humanly possible, even in it means their legs have to bent, because even at those minimum requirements it doesn’t mean babies neck muscles are strong enough to withstand a collision.
If you look on youtube at the crash tests, you will see the difference between the movements of baby’s body using different types of seats in an accident. It’s quite frightening to see. I will be keeping my child rear facing for as long as possible.
I would go by the weight mark. Because, if you ever get stopped by the police how on earth would they know if he is under a year. Also, once he reaches the weight mark, it starts to become cramped and uncomfortable for them to sit with their legs against the backseat.
i changed mine around at 9 months she was wayy to big of the other way around her feet were squashed lol
Dont forget the whole rule has now changed its depends on there weight and height NOT there age anymore I.e my daughter is 3in feb and she is sitting in a proper seat with our seat belt becasue she is the right weight she is no longer in the 5point harness,
And my little boy god knows what im going to do with him he is even longer than his sister and he is only 6months old his ppor feet are already squashed but i think he will have to suffer a wee bit longer it a bit to early although im sure e will be wayyyyy over the weight limit!