hello
my son is 15 months and a half and he is still in the rear position. he has a convertible carseat that can be used to up to 33 pounds in rear position and up to 65 pounds in the forward position.
the problem is that his knees are bent when he is in the rear position! so i really don’t think his legs are comfortable. i read that it is safer to keep him in the rear position as long as possible, so actually i extended it to 3 months and a half since he turned one. i guess it is time now to switch to the forward.
have you had the same issue?
babies dont have extremely strong neck muscles until the age of 3, its best to keep prolonging the switch until you feel like your baby could handle a crash and survive.
* Rear-facing is safest for both adults and children, but especially for babies, who would face a greater risk of spinal cord injury in a front-facing carseat during a frontal crash.
* Rear-facing car seats spread frontal crash forces over the whole area of a baby’s back, head and neck; they also prevent the head from snapping relative to the body in a frontal crash.
* Rear-facing carseats may not be quite as effective in a rear end crash, but severe frontal and frontal offset crashes are far more frequent and far more severe than severe rear end crashes.
* Rear-facing carseats are NOT a safety risk just because a baby’s legs are bent at the knees or because they can touch/kick the vehicle seat.
* Rear-facing as long as possible is the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatricians, and can reduce injuries and deaths. Motor Vehicle Crashes are the #1 overall cause of death for children 14 and under.
http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind…
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the longer you keep them rear facing the safer it is. Their muscles just aren’t strong enough to support their heads in the event of a crash. Go to Utube and watch the car seat crash videos, that’ll convince you! It’s generally the parents who say the kid looks uncomfortable in the seat but the baby doesn’t know any different. Also his legs being bent aren’t an issue, think about your legs their bent when in the car.
Remember that every step up in a car seat is a step down in safety.
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You don’t think his legs are comfortable because they are bent, but does HE actually seem uncomfortable at all? We kept my daughter rear-facing until she was about 18 months old (took almost that long to hit 20 lbs) and her legs were plenty squished but it wasn’t an issue. Sure, he will likely be happier turned around as others have said, but the important thing is for him to be safer.