When do you change the car seat from rear facing to facing forward?

Question

When do you change the car seat from rear facing to facing forward?

Answer 1

When they weigh atleast 20 lbs it is safe to turn them around, I turned my daughter around at 7 mos since she was already 20 lbs, and I know she had a strong enough neck (she was sooo happy, she hated rear facing!)

Answer 2

1 yr. or 20lbs.

Answer 3

This site will explain it for all states...........

http://www.childseatcenter.com/article10...

Answer 4

Short answer: Not until you have to! LOL

Explanation; Turning kids forward at 20lbs/1year is an outdated practice that could cost you your child's life!

1)A forward-facing child under 2 years old is 5 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash than a rear-facing child of the same age.

2)A child's vertabrae do not fully fuse until 3-6 years old, before then, she is at great risk for internal decapitation. The spinal column can stretch up to 2 inches in a crash BUT the spinal cord can only stretch up to 1/4 inch before it snaps and baby is gone.

3)Current research suggests that children under the age of two years are 75 percent less likely to die or be seriously injured when they are riding rear facing.

4)In a recent article from Injury Prevention, it was found that the odds of severe injury to forward facing children age 12-23 months old was 5.32 times higher than a rear facing child. (Car Safety Seats For Children: Rear Facing For Best Protection; Injury Prevention 2007; 13:398-402.)

It works this way: when you get in an accident and run into something, the car stop suddently, but everything and everyone in the car keeps moving in the direction the car was moving when it stopped, in most accidents, this is forward. So in an accident with a child in a forward facing seat, his head, the heaviest part of the body on babies and toddlers, flies forward very forcefully and easily snaps. If that same child is in a rear facing seat, his head tries to fly forward but is supported by the back of the rear facing seat, so there is no stress put on the child's neck and spine.

Check out this photo album exclusively of rear facing kids, many of them much older than 12 months: http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum...  There isn't a single documented case of a child breaking their legs b/c they were rear facing in an accident. There are, however, lots of cases where children have been killed and seriously injured where a rear facing seat would have protected them better.

Answer 5

when they out grow the infant car seat.the one you used to bring them home from the hospital in.

Answer 6

The bare minimum is 20lbs AND 1 year, some seats require 22lbs AND 34 inches, but...

The recommendation from safety experts and the American Academy of Pediatrics is to rearface (RF) to the limits of the seat which is 30-35lbs on all seats sold in the US. My 3 year old daughter still rides RF and prefers it over FF.  

I have included several links with great pictures and videos of what happens to children’s necks when they are FF in a crash.

Most people are concerned about their child's legs being scrunched or broken in a crash. There is absolutely no evidence that shows a child's legs are in danger and I would much rather deal with a broken leg, than a broken neck.

Answer 7

Depends on child's height and weight. You can go by age but most doctors recommend you go by height and weight because there are a lot of children that either underweight or overweight for their age range. The packaging for the car seat will tell you the proper weight for that seat.