When did you switch carseat to front position?

sw9370 · by **sw9370** on Mon Aug 04, 2008 10:37 am

My son is 11 months and he is 29 inches and almost 25lbs. I have the Britax Marathon car seat and there is barely enough room for it in my back seat and it's a 2 door so not much rrom to get him in and out. Not to mention he hates being in the car seat. The specs for turning it around are 29-32 inches and 20-30lbs. Between those they recommend turning them around. I know they are safer to keep rear facing and I'd like to keep him that way as long as possible but it's getting really hard to get him in there since he's so strong now and fights me backwards etc, etc. I'm just wondering what others have done???????

momto2girls · by **momto2girls** on Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:07 am

He can rearface to 33lbs in that seat, I would leave him as long as possible rear facing... sooooooo much safer but I'm sure you know all that and why and the consequences of forward facing in the first 2 years of life. If you really want to turn him wait until he's at least 12 months old.

beany · by **beany** on Mon Aug 04, 2008 1:27 pm

I didn't turn our little guy until 18 months due to the fact it is safer. I had a couple of soft toys that he could only have when getting in his seat and that eased some of his struggleing.He did get past the stage of fighting it though.

myboy · by **myboy** on Mon Aug 04, 2008 5:16 pm

I turned my guy at 1 year, but not before. He was tall and weighed 30lbs, so I wasn't worried. It is not illegal to have them forward face sooner than the year, it is just a suggestion. My friend had the same problem in her small car, the larger car seat just would not fit right. If you can wait for the one year mark, why not, it isn't that far away and safer.

Benjorsam · by **Benjorsam** on Mon Aug 04, 2008 5:36 pm

The new car seat law that came into effect July 1st says they have to stay rear facing until 1 year AND 20 lbs. Even though your ds is over 20 lbs, by law he must remain rear facing until he is at least a year old. My kids were all closer to 18 mths before we turned them around but they didn't reach 20 lbs until then. Heck, my youngest was in an infant seat until he was 15 mths old.

sw9370 · by **sw9370** on Mon Aug 04, 2008 8:52 pm

Benjorsam wrote:The new car seat law that came into effect July 1st says they have to stay rear facing until 1 year AND 20 lbs. Even though your ds is over 20 lbs, by law he must remain rear facing until he is at least a year old. My kids were all closer to 18 mths before we turned them around but they didn't reach 20 lbs until then. Heck, my youngest was in an infant seat until he was 15 mths old.

Wow I didn't know there was a law now, thanks for the info. I'm pretty set on leaving him rear for as long as I can, it's a huge pain in my a** but I'd drive my car with 2 inches of room for myself if it meant he is in a safer seat lol :lol:

Thanks for sharing everyone!

Mamasboys · by **Mamasboys** on Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:35 am

I know how you feel SW--it's been tough on us as well. DS is 29lbs (and a bit) and 33 inches and we are going to have to turn him pretty soon :-(

In some European countries kids are still facing backwards at 3years! Their legs just curl up and they still fit--if only we could get seats like that in Canada. My mom is very involved with a children's care organization and told me once that a HUGE (like 90% or something like that) amount of tragic head injuries in car accidents occur because children are facing forwards and their heads and necks aren't stable enough yet. IMHO all cars should be built to handle convertible seats by law and we should be offered seats that take them until they are 2 or 3!

myboy · by **myboy** on Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:40 am

I didn't even know about the new law, it is good to know. I would leave my second until 1 anyways. My first out grew the baby car seat by 4.5 months, and by 1 was pretty squished in the bigger one, he was close to the height limit. Hope the next one is smaller.

twins+1 · by **twins+1** on Tue Aug 05, 2008 9:37 am

Honestly, I would leave him rear facing as long as humanly possible. It is just so much safer.

I just switched my twins around to forward facing on saturday. They are 2 yrs, 4 months old. They are only about 22 pounds, but they are about 36 inches. I would have liked to leave them backwards for longer, but their poor little legs were just getting too squished

by **threespawn** on Tue Aug 05, 2008 9:42 am

Here is a great little pdf that ICBC has recently put out infant/toddler car seats:

http://icbc.com/road_safety/pdf/child_c ... mation.pdf

by **Guest** on Tue Aug 05, 2008 9:25 pm

I switched DS when he hit 29lbs at about 13 months. I was afraid that he wouldn't be safe rear-seated because he was almost 30lbs which was the maximum.

He was also REALLY tall at that age. I think about 32" so I had to turn him.

Cheers,
Lara

Proudmommyof1 · by **Proudmommyof1** on Wed Aug 13, 2008 7:11 am

when my daughters feet/legs were popping out of it.
Then i knew she was ready for front position.
i did that about 10 months.

vixx · by **vixx** on Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:24 am

Call your local BCAA or fire hall and they will actually check your carseat compared to your child and make suggestions

sw9370 · by **sw9370** on Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:33 am

vixx wrote:Call your local BCAA or fire hall and they will actually check your carseat compared to your child and make suggestions

Oh that's a great idea, thank you!

Mrs. Stroumboulopoulos · by **Mrs. Stroumboulopoulos** on Wed Aug 13, 2008 1:57 pm

The next BCAA (Victoria) Child Seat Check is Aug. 21 - To book an appointment you have to call 1-877-247-5551
This time it's at the BC Ambulance Station, 3300 Douglas from 10-3