# When did you turn around baby carseat?



## ColoradoKat (Feb 23, 2006)

My dd is 10.5 months old, weighs 23 lbs and HATES the car. Seriously, she screams most of the time, and it is making me







: I want to cry when I have to put her in the car, it is so stressful.

I am *thinking* about turning her seat around. She is in the middle in a Boulevard. What do you think? Please don't flame me. I know I only have about a month till she is a year, but I'm going crazy here.


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## WhaleinGaloshes (Oct 9, 2006)

Don't turn her. It is unsafe for her to ride FF at this age, and it may or may not even help the screaming. If it helps, my DD screamed bloody murder in the car until age 15 months, but is now happy as a clam back there (RFing.)

To answer your question, my DD is 24 months, 31 pounds 35 inches tall and rear-facing in a Britax Marathon.

Really, leave her facing rear. It's heartbreaking to hear her cry but if she were injured in an accident that would be far worse.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

Absolutely not. dd is 3 years old and still RF.

You might try installing the seat so it sits up a bit more so she can see out the window.

-Angela


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## Oliver'sMom (Jul 17, 2007)

this might help your decision making...it really impacted me


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## mclisa (Jul 26, 2004)

None of my kids weighed 20 pounds at a year so they didn't get flipped until 15 months or so. You want to wait until they are a year for neck stability.


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## CaraNicole (Feb 28, 2007)

I know it's tempting but a child who hates the car usually isn't going to like it any better FF, kind of a 'she doesn't know what she is missing' Please keep her RF as long as your seat allows, it is just safer. There are some awesome videos on google about car seat safety let me see if I can find a link....

I see I X-posted with many


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

Rear Facing is hugely safer. It is possibly the biggest difference in carseat safety out there. I would not flip a child under 2 unless there was no seat on the market to keep them RF.

My children will be RF to the top limits of their seats.

-Angela


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## Nature (Mar 12, 2005)

Riding rear facing for as long as the seat allows is the safest option. Your baby will get used to it, trust me.







I had two carseat haters as well, and they still rode rear facing until 3 yo.

What was that sorta offensive, but effective statement? Dead babies can't cry.

Much better the crying and screaming, than no child at all mama.








I know it can be stressful


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## mcng (Oct 17, 2006)

I know this is not a popular opinion I did turn my baby at a year, and it did make a huge diference, screaming baby was very distracting for me and putting us on a more dangerous situation.


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## askew (Jun 15, 2006)

I won't change the seat until DS hits the upper limit of the weight limit. If that is two or three years so be it. I moved DS next to the passenger window so he can see out. It did help a bit as did car specific toys. (he also hates the car and always has)


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## User101 (Mar 3, 2002)

Moving to family safety


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## hottmama (Dec 27, 2004)

My littlest is 21 mos., 27 lbs., 34" and rear-facing in a Cosco Scenera. He will be in it until he is 35 lbs. or his head is less than 1" from the top of the carseat.


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## ThreeBeans (Dec 2, 2006)

No, absolutely not. Which is a worse, a screaming baby or a dead one? Because that is seriously the choice you are considering.

One year and 20 lbs is the ABSOLUTE BARE MINIMUM and even that is not really safe. Children should be kept rearfacing until they outgrow the limits of their convertible seat. DS did not outgrow his Wizard until he was 2.5. DD 19 months is barely 23 lbs, and I expect her to be rearfacing to three years or longer.


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## Papooses (Dec 20, 2006)

PLEASE do not put your child at risk of *internal decapitation* > learn about the _vital importance_ of keeping kids RF until the maximum limits


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## Kathryn (Oct 19, 2004)

You know what I've never got? When my baby cries in the car this is what I think; they are uncomfortable, they're hungry, their diaper is wet/poopy, they don't like the car, they're bored, etc.. I've never once thought, they don't like the way they're facing. They don't know any different!


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## hannybanany (Jun 3, 2006)

My dd hated her carseat, too. She would scream, cry, arch her back, all of it, but we kept her rear-facing, even trying another car seat. When she hit the rear-facing weight limit for her seat (35 lbs at 14 months) we turned her, and she was NOT happier. She just hated being in the car.

Now, at two years old she is again under the r/fing weight limit and is rear-facing. She loves it.


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## angie3096 (Apr 4, 2007)

I had a screamer too. She hated the car as a baby. Sounds just like your dd. I kept her rearfacing until 38 months. I decided I preferred a pissed off child to a dead one. Yes, it was distracting, but I think a slightly distracted driver is still not as dangerous as a forward facing car seat. I just had to try harder to concentrate. A crash test video is worth a million words. Here, watch:
Forward Facing:




Rearfacing:


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## bobandjess99 (Aug 1, 2005)

RF as long as you can, absolutely do not turn before 30/33/35 pounds, which is the RF limit for ALL convertible carseats on the market. This should be when your child is at LEAST 2.5 years +.

you *can* let an older RF child be at a more upright angle, the seat does not have to be really reclined, try and see if that helps. My dd was a screamer also. But now, she is great about riding in the car..happened somewhere around 1.5 years, I think?


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## ThreeBeans (Dec 2, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Kathryn* 
You know what I've never got? When my baby cries in the car this is what I think; they are uncomfortable, they're hungry, their diaper is wet/poopy, they don't like the car, they're bored, etc.. I've never once thought, they don't like the way they're facing. They don't know any different!

Well said. This push from parents to turn their babies forward I think is more often than not the parent anthropomorphizing to some degree


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## an_aurora (Jun 2, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ThreeBeans* 
Well said. This push from parents to turn their babies forward I think is more often than not the parent anthropomorphizing to some degree









Exactly!


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## Rico'sAlice (Mar 19, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Kathryn* 
You know what I've never got? When my baby cries in the car this is what I think; they are uncomfortable, they're hungry, their diaper is wet/poopy, they don't like the car, they're bored, etc.. I've never once thought, they don't like the way they're facing. They don't know any different!









:

I'm going to rear face as long as the seat allows.


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## runes (Aug 5, 2004)

the weirdest comment i've ever heard from a parent:

"i can't WAIT until i can turn my child's carseat to ff'ing"

as if it's some milestone of development.







:

i also have had people be horrified that 22 month old dd is "still" rfing, like we are stunting her growth or something. there is some major public education about car seat safety that is seriously lacking.

in the meantime, we are very confident in our research that rf'ing is safer and will continue to keep her that way until she reaches the limit on the present carseat (britax roundabout), then we will get her a seat with a higher rfing limit.


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## DoomaYula (Aug 22, 2006)

I turned my dd ff'ing when she was 1yo and 20lbs. She was ff'ing for over a year, until threebeans harrassed me enough and gave me enough info about it, and I turned her back rf'ing a few months ago, at 2.5yo and 29lbs.

_Thank you threebeans!_

I was really concerned that she'd notice, having been ff'ing for over a year, but she hasn't said a word about it. She did notice that her carseat was "backwards," but I just told her that it was safer to be rf'ing and she'd be rf'ing til she was 35lbs. She's in a Scenera. After she outgrows that, she'll get a Marathon.


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## Sharlla (Jul 14, 2005)

I turned DS1 when he was 20 lbs (I think he was 1.5 years) I didn't know anything about carseat safety back then other than what the law was. DS2 is 25 lbs (27 months) and he won't be turned around until he is 35 lbs.

I don't understand why some parents choose to turn their babies around knowing how unsafe it is. I have told my SIL and have given her pamphlets and she still turned her baby right at a year.

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx


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## s_kristina (Aug 9, 2004)

My ds will be 2 in November and he is close to the limits both height and weight for his Cosco Scenera to be rf. Safety reasons are one of the few times I wish my kids were average size rather then so far off the top of the charts. I'm currently just hoping for another couple months to keep ds rf and for a large monetary gift so we can get him a Radian before he outgrows the Scenera.


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## broodymama (May 3, 2004)

DS was over 2, 14 month old DD is still rear-facing.


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