When is the best time to turn babys car seat to forward facing?

Question

I have 3 children all in car seats in the back seat. Its very squashy and my 7 month old is still facing backward, making it quite tricky to put him in and do him up. I want to turn his seat forward, but he can't sit up by himself yet, but has head control. Is it too early to turn the seat around? When did other readers do the change???

Answer 1

Wow! 3 in car seats ... that's a tight squeeze :)

I turned my daughter forward facing when she turned 9 months. She had really good head/neck control weighed 21 pounds and was 28 inches long AND I got approval from the pediatrician.

All that said, I learned the hard way that rear facing is the safest for little ones. About two weeks ago, I had to make a sudden stop. When I did, the rear seat belt that was holding my daughter's car seat came undone, and my daughter still attached to the carseat came flying forward. She hit the back of my seat. Because it was considered a blunt force injury, she had to be taken to the ER where she was x-rayed. Fortunately, she was okay, but it could have been much worse, and was preventable had she been rear facing.

Answer 2

Yes it's too early. The law in most states is that a child needs to be in a rear facing car seat until they are BOTH a year old and weigh 20 pounds. So even if he does already weigh 20 pounds and you decide to turn his seat forward you not only risk his safety, you also risk a hefty fine as well as possible endangerment charges.

Answer 3

It's not legal to switch a carseat to forward facing until the baby is at least one.

My oldest was 20 pounds well before she turned 1. Her pediatrician said even though it may be tempting, keep her rear facing until she was 1. It's not the weight so much as it is the bone structure. Under one, their bodies just can't take the impact of a car accident if they are forward facing.

Answer 4

Seven months is very very early to turn his seat around. The guidelines used to be to orient your baby to front-facing after they were 12 months old. However, new research suggests that 15 months is a much better age to wait until and that is what we did.

You have to ask yourself what really is most important. You obviously dont expect to be in any kind of vehicular trouble, but it happens and I think that a little inconvenience is worth the security of knowing that your son will have the best chances of surviving it unharmed.

Answer 5

You should wait until a baby can support themselves to turn a seat around. Most places law is to wait until 1 year and over 20 lbs. My son was over 20 lbs at 10 months and could sit up, and stand while holding onto things. I turned him around at that time. Good Luck!

Answer 6

Don't turn it around until your child is 20lbs AND 1 year old. They make these guidlines for a reason, even if your childs legs are too long, I would rather my son have a broken leg from being rear-facing in an accident, then have a broken neck. My son is 7 months old, he's 25lbs and 30" long and he will be rearfacing until he is a year old.

Answer 7

I turned my son around when he was 10 months for a couple of reasons: he was well over 20 lbs and pretty tall for his age and also because we felt he was strong enough to be facing forward. We had asked our pediatrician at 9 months and she suggested to wait till at least 11 months, that's how long she waited with her child. I know it's illegal not till one but my son was close to the size of a 2 year old at 10 months and he's a strong boy. I don't think I would turn him around yet, as tempting as it may be, at least not until he can sit up pretty well. I would definitely see what your ped has to say about it.

Answer 8

As reported by employing others the criminal requirement the place you reside is *in all possibility* 3 hundred and sixty 5 days AND 20/22lbs (it could selection by employing state so which you will ought to examine the criminal minimum on your state). even nonetheless, please comprehend that this is two-5 situations safer (relying on result) on your new child to be rear dealing with in the form of an twist of destiny. the main extreme difficulty from untimely forward dealing with in an twist of destiny is loss of life (by employing inner decapitation) so this is taken under consideration necessary to pass rear dealing with for as long as accessible. in case you're nonetheless employing an toddler service variety vehicle seat then the load shrink is in all possibility 20-22lbs (nonetheless one style on the marketplace is going to 30lbs). After an toddler service variety seat comes a convertible seat which would be put in the two rear or forward dealing with. The rear dealing with shrink for convertible seats is 30-35lbs relying on style and the forward dealing with shrink is 40-65lbs relying on style. Our daughter would be turning 2 years old in 2 weeks and continues to be rear dealing with with genuinely no issues. in case you may get to 18-24 months rear dealing with your new child would be lots greater effectual arranged for forward dealing with.

Answer 9

I didnt turn my sons around until after his first birthday. He was a good 23 pounds also. What carseat do you have? What state do you live in? How much does he weight? I wouldnt yet. Happy New Year!

Answer 10

The absolute MINIMUM is one year, this is often mandated by law as well.

However rearfacing is always SAFEST and should be continued as long after one year as possible until your son has outgrown the weight/height restrictions for rearfacing in the seat you own. For most convertable seats this is 33lbs.