WHY Do some of you have giant kids Rear Facing?

carolinamom · Mar 13, 2007

I just have a question - so many of you have big tall kids rear facing - why is that? Is it safer? To me it seems like it can't be good for them to have their legs all bunched up like that...Please - am I doing it wrong with my 22 month old? I just want to know...Seems like everybody on here knows so much about seats- can you explain it to me?

AdventureMom · Mar 13, 2007

Yes, it is much safer...

Here's a site that explains it really well and has some photos and videos of crashtest videos RF and FF: http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx

Hope this helps explain it better...

ETA: So many parents are eager to turn their children around FF (we turned our son around before he was a year old...

). But what they don't realize is that as soon as they turn that child around, the chances of them being seriously injured in a crash increase dramatically. The AAP and many others advocate keeping a child RF until the limit of the seat. For most convertible child seats that is about 33-35 lbs. My son had passed that limit before we knew the benefits of extended RF, but I'm sure many others on here will answer about their experience RF a toddler/preschooler.

henrietta · Mar 13, 2007

Yep, definitely safer. As inconvenient as it is for me right now, I keep my nephew rearfacing and he's 36" tall and almost 30 lbs.! It's really, really tough b/c it's hard for me to lift him into the seat in my minivan with arthritis in my hands and other aches...but it's *that* much safer, so I do it anyway. (-:

Great link given by pp'er that will explain.

(-:

henrietta

Suzibeck · Mar 13, 2007

Yep, safer. I didn't know this until my youngest was 24 months old. She had been forward facing for 6 months already, she is a peanut and didn't hit 20 lbs until 18 months. I turned her back at age 2 and she loved it! She is now 34 lbs and her seat only rear faces to 33, so she is forward again and not happy about it.

AdventureMom · Mar 13, 2007

It was until I watched those videos that I realized the force that a passenger experiences during a crash. Then in my CPS Tech course, it was explained that the amount of force is equal to the velocity x weight. So a 22-lb child in a 40mph crash becomes an 880-lb force. That puts an extremely high strain on the neck/head. When restrained in a 5-pt harness and FF, the torso is restrained but there's no way to restrain the head. So the head/neck snap forward, just as the arms/legs do. But the head of small children is so large and heavy compared to the size of their body, it goes forward with more force than arms/legs. Not to mention that an injured spinal cord can cause all sorts of serious complications...

saweetmomma · Mar 13, 2007

I totally get it, the force of the head. Seeing some of the crash videos and such, they scare me. What I'm most concerned about with RFin my almost 3 yo when I didn't know until recently that he should be is, how do you handle long car trips with his legs scrunched up? He can't stretch AT ALL like this. Do your children complain of their legs hurting or anything at all in extended periods of time in the car like that? I wish there was some way to make it easier for their little (or should I say, LONG) legs

arly1983 · Mar 13, 2007

We have actually found that with our son that he fusses on long trips when he is FF. He would prefer to be RF. We just turned him a month ago.

Suzibeck · Mar 13, 2007

Most kids will sit cross legged. They can also put their legs over the sides of the seat or up toward the roof. Kids are such little contorionists that they are comfy in positions that would be painful to us. My dd, who was ffing from 18-24 months and then back rfing is quite leggy. She can wear a 3T shirt but needs a size 5 in pants. She would still prefer rfing, but she is too heavy now.

skipspin · Mar 13, 2007

We have to put something under DDs feet on long trips now that she is too heavy to RF- otherwise she complains that they hurt from hanging down for a long time. She always loved RFing, and I did too once I got used to it. (Before I knew better I turned her FFing at 12 month and 20 lb, then after doing some research turned her back Rfing at around 15/17 months.)

She's been FFing for over 6 months and if I put my extra seat RFing in my car she still climbs in and asks to ride "backwards!"

Yoshi · Mar 13, 2007

Yes, it is a great thing if your child is within the weight range. By the time I knew better, my daughter had already been FF for over a year and a half and was too big. Most parents say that their kids are NOT uncomfortable.

saweetmomma · Mar 13, 2007

I'm so glad to hear they're not hurting. It sure does look painful to me lol My son probably won't matter because he'll get to play with his siblings behind him, I'm sure it won't bother him any. He just won't be able to directly see us anymore.

TheRealMacGyver · Mar 13, 2007

Since I just realized the answer to your question last week, I feel like I should pipe in here as an apprentice on the subject. Everything they are saying is true. I'm not sure about you, but for me I just thought "well if the government says I can put him FF at 1 year, that must be what I should do". WRONG! Since last week I have read the manual for my car seat about 5 times cover to cover and there are some seriously ambiguous statements in there. Knowing what I know now, I see a serious problem with the uninformed parent trying to do what's right for their child. Let's face it, we have a million decisions to make and only want the best for our child. This site is filling a major gap in educating parents.

I have to say one more thing: Just yesterday I realized that the banner on the top of this page is a link to car-safety.org, which is a different domane name than this one (car-seat.org). While they appear to be one in the same, there is a lot of information at car-safety.org that explains more of the RF questions. I feel dumb admitting this, but thought I may not be the only one that didn't realize this.

AdventureMom · Mar 13, 2007

TheRealMacGyver said:
I have to say one more thing: Just yesterday I realized that the banner on the top of this page is a link to car-safety.org, which is a different domane name than this one (car-seat.org). While they appear to be one in the same, there is a lot of information at car-safety.org that explains more of the RF questions. I feel dumb admitting this, but thought I may not be the only one that didn't realize this.

It took me awhile to realize that, too - and I still forget to look there for info sometimes.

Hey, thanks for chiming in about extended RF!

wendytthomas · Mar 13, 2007

Definitely safer. In fact, a lot of kids FFing cross their legs too. They hurt to dangle for so long! RFing it's like sitting in a lazyboy.

Check out the links. And check out my siggy pic.

4.5 year and RFing.

She was 31.5 pounds dressed at the doctor's office yesterday, after a meal, so she's getting close, but I hope she can make it to five. She just spent six weeks FFing full time (she is in my husband's car, and I just had knee surgery, so I drove her car and he installed in my truck to use a seat there and he did it FFing for ease) and she didn't even blink when she went back to RFing again. She knows it's safer.

Wendy

joolsplus3 · Mar 13, 2007

carolinamom said:
I just have a question - so many of you have big tall kids rear facing - why is that? Is it safer? To me it seems like it can't be good for them to have their legs all bunched up like that...Please - am I doing it wrong with my 22 month old? I just want to know...Seems like everybody on here knows so much about seats- can you explain it to me?

Safer, and some of us have skiiiiiinnnny kids (my dd didn't reach the weight limit for her Marathon till she was 4.5)

TheRealMacGyver · Mar 13, 2007

I have to show my "green-ness" again here: In this thread and others I keep seeing ETA and can't figure it out. I went back and looked at the link "lovinwaves" gave me for common abbreviations in a previous post , but it doesn't show ETA? Estimated Time of Arrival doesn't make sense, so please help.

kjcoggins0405 · Mar 13, 2007

edited to add

skaterbabs · Mar 13, 2007

My DD had to be turned relatively (for here anyway lol) early - at 2 years 6 mos when she outgrew her RF seat by weight and height. She hated it. Her legs dangle, and she was afraid of oncoming traffic, constantly crying out "Mommy! Don't hit the truck!"

(She still does this after a year FF! Thankfully not as much....lol)

If she could still be RF, you can bet she would be.

TheRealMacGyver · Mar 13, 2007

Yep, I would've never figured that one out!

Thanks.

ETA: I would have hurt myself trying

carolinamom · Mar 13, 2007

My sister-n-law and I have both been wondering about the rear facing- thank you for pointing out all the positives..When we get our new Shannon Boulevard I believe I will be flipping it around to rear -facing..

WHY Do some of you have giant kids Rear Facing?

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