Rear facing car seat - After 9 months old?

RadoJo

30 mins is ridiculous - plenty of people will have babies at hospitals which are more than 30 mins from their houses, so that can't possibly work! I've also yet to see any actual conclusive research to support the 2 hour rule in general cases (as opposed to premature/low birthweight/other 'at risk' babies) - plenty of advice but not much in the way of sound medical evidence although I'd be happy to do so if anyone here does have a link.

Sagaris

Exactly - that was why I questioned it! I will ask the trainers if they have any links to the research, the cynic in me would say it's strange that the lie-flat car seat manufacturers hve done the work on that!

Sagaris

Links to not using car seats for newborn babies:

http://www.carseatinfo.co.uk/index.cfm?sid=19086&pid=292366

I know I'd seen some somewhere - I'm still suspicious!

cottonhead

I moved mine into a forward facing seat at about 10 months. I felt Ok about it as I could glance in the mirror and see him which was reassuring and he could see more and didnt get bored so travelled better. Like others have said the scary thing is so many seats are not fitted correctly. If you get a good quality seat and make sure its fitted well and remeber to turn off rear airbags if you have them, I personally dont see forward facing as a safety concern. I know this sounds horrid but not all car accidents involve being hit from behind / driving head on to something, so front or back facing is not the most important factor to me personally.

AnotherMakes3

cottonhead wrote: »

I moved mine into a forward facing seat at about 10 months. I felt Ok about it as I could glance in the mirror and see him which was reassuring and he could see more and didnt get bored so travelled better. Like others have said the scary thing is so many seats are not fitted correctly. If you get a good quality seat and make sure its fitted well and remeber to turn off rear airbags if you have them, I personally dont see forward facing as a safety concern. I know this sounds horrid but not all car accidents involve being hit from behind / driving head on to something, so front or back facing is not the most important factor to me personally.

Being hit from the side is also an issue as is being rear ended however rear facing is still up to 5x safer. My 3 year old is still fine in a besafe izi combi and I believe it will last him til 4 no problem. His legs bend so foot space is not an issue and his seat takes up no more space than his britax infant carrier he had before. Being able to see better (to what exactly the back of a seat in front?) is not a reason to go forward facing. The govt are trying to bring in a law which states babies under 15months old must be kept rear facing. I hope this brings the cost of rear facing seats down. You can get a britax two way elite for around £200 or the multitech for not that much more. These are around the same price as an all singing all dancing forward facing seat. Considering they will get up to 3.5years use I don't consider them that expensive in comparison to infant carriers which can cost £100 for one years use.

Infant carriers are outgrown when the top of babies head is in line with the top of the shell of the seat OR when they are at the maximum weight limit. Legs do not dictate these things as they can easily bend.

GobbledyGook

Rear end shunts are by far the most common type of car accident.


Personally I don't think they will change the age limit on rear-facing and even if they do people will ignore it, as so many do with the legislation that means children under 10 are supposed to be in seats. So many just don't bother. I don't understand the logic of "they don't like their seat" or "they want to be able to see out the window" personally, but until people who don't bother are actually caught and fined no new legislation is going to make a big difference.

GracieP

I'm getting a newborn to roughly 4 years rear facing seat and am ordering it from Sweden as that is the most cost effective way I have found. The one I'm getting is the Graco Duologic 2 (which is known in the UK as the Kiss 2). It's one of very few seats to pass the Swedish Plus Test which is the world's most stringent car safety test and comes to about £250 including shipping. The base can be fitted to either isofix or a seatbelt and the seat itself detaches really easily and has a handle and wheels and can be pulled along, which is handy if you are running into the supermarket or travelling on a ferry.

http://www.carseat.se/store.html

dizziblonde

RadoJo wrote: »

30 mins is ridiculous - plenty of people will have babies at hospitals which are more than 30 mins from their houses, so that can't possibly work! I've also yet to see any actual conclusive research to support the 2 hour rule in general cases (as opposed to premature/low birthweight/other 'at risk' babies) - plenty of advice but not much in the way of sound medical evidence although I'd be happy to do so if anyone here does have a link.

We got told naff all when we got discharged with our 4lber... it was a "got yer car seat - ok off you go."

We've GOT to do a fairly long journey in the next week and we're just going to break it as much as we can - but ultimately we have to do it, and car's the only logistically possible way to do so... it's just minimising it as best you can I think.

Seen a few infant carriers fitted in the front seat of cars with passenger airbags in the last week which is a bit :eek:

GobbledyGook

dizziblonde wrote: »

Seen a few infant carriers fitted in the front seat of cars with passenger airbags in the last week which is a bit :eek:

The airbags could have been disabled so might not all be in danger (though I bet not everyone who does disable them thinks to inform their insurance company).

Sagaris

GobbledyGook wrote: »

The airbags could have been disabled so might not all be in danger (though I bet not everyone who does disable them thinks to inform their insurance company).

It's still recommended to put all child seats in the rear of the car - just because an airbag is switched off, does not mean the components will not reconnect if the car is damaged in that area. If you have to put a forward facing child seat in the front it is recommended that the seat is pushed back as far as possible.