Had i been in a harnessed seat as long as possible (now until 80lbs) i would have been in a 5 point harness until high school. Yes, i weight 80lbs dripping wet my freshman year of high school. Would you drive your 14 year old to their first day of high school in a 5 point harness? As a full grown adult, i am barely 5 feet tall, and i weight a little over 100lbs. According to the recommendations now, i would have had to be in AT LEAST a booster until i was in my 8th grade year. At some point, children have to grow up, even if they are on the small side.
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I’m sorry, but i find some of this ridiculous. 5 point harnesses until children practically are driving. Yes, child safety is important to me, but rear facing at 3, 4, 5, 6 years old???

I have a Britax Roundabout seat, and a very small car. I have tried every which way to install that seat rear facing, and i can honestly say, that if the child was anywhere under the age of 3, it would be unsafe to sit like that. Even in the full reclined position, it still sits way too far forward. Yes i added the car seat adjuster/water noodle thing, and yes, i put my front seats practically into the dashboard, and laid the passenger seat down, and none of it made any difference. I put a 9 month old child into the seat to try it out, and he was practically dangling on the harness, and his head was basically at his chest.

Is that REALLY safer? I don’t think so.

The research i have come across tells me, that if people installed their car seats properly, and harnessed their children properly, this wouldn’t be such an issue. Just because a child is rear facing, doesn’t make them any safer if their harness isn’t on correctly.

I am fine with the law stating certain safety regulations on car seats, however, i think it should be the parents discretion when to turn their child forward facing, and i pray that that law is not changed. My car simply does not accommodate rear facing convertible seats. I would be safer having a MyRide65 forward facing in a full recline, than to put them rear facing in a convertible seat.

I do not have the money to go out a buy a bigger vehicle, and quite frankly, do not think i should have to. Good grief. The gov. can’t make up it’s mind. They want us to “go green” and buy “economy gas saver cars” and then want us to rear face car seats until kids are at least 4? You would HAVE to have an SUV for that!

I would also like to know, who is paying for these car seat research projects? I would be highly surprised if the car seat companies didn’t make LARGE contributions to funding the research. How much more money are they making on these seats? Seats that accommodate a child of a higher weight and height capacity, and can rear face longer, START at $200.00 dollars, and goes up from there.

I rode in a car seat until i was 3, that was the law then. You would all be shocked to know that i didn’t reach 30lbs until i was well into the 3rd grade, and as the average height of a 5 year old child. Would you have had me in a rear facing seat as an 8 year old, because you felt that it was “safer”?

Again, i am all for safety, but i am also all for using some common sense. Sometimes rear facing longer is not an option. Sometimes parents do not want to do it, sometimes they simply can’t, and sometimes, they can’t afford that $400 dollar car seat that would allow their child to stay rear facing and harnessed until they are 18. Give people some slack. I won’t shove my “non-extended-rear-facing_do-not-want-a-car-seat-longer-than-needed-belief” down your throat, but i expect the same in return. I’ve read the research and come to my own conclusion. If you want your child in a 5 point harness for as long as possible, go for it, but i do not, and have every right to make that decision. I also can use common sense, and if a convertible seat does not fit in my car correctly, it is not any safer than having a child forward face in a fully reclined position.

I would hazard a guess that a car seat that is fully reclined, to the same level a child is rear facing, in a forward facing position, would reap the same rewards. Their head is cushioned, they aren’t sitting too far upwards, etc. etc. There’s the compromise. Create a seat that has the best of both worlds.

Their legs are NOT uncomfortable. They are how a child would naturally sit, in my opinion. I am not talking about a 4 year old, because I have not experienced that firsthand. However, at 2 1/2 my child is super cozy that way and sleeps on trips HAPPILY singing and talking in the car. He has never expressed any discomfort. It is a fact that in a crash there have been no reports of kids breaking or injuring their legs- HOWEVER, when rear facing, their necks and spine ARE left intact.

In fact, when I turned my older child around shortly after 1 ( I did not know the research then), she was WAY more uncomfortable because their legs dangle and fall asleep….when rear facing, they push their legs up against the seat and feel very snuggled into the seat, it is a comfy way to ride for most toddlers. People don’t realize that as parents of rear facing kids, we are not torturing them and forcing them to be scrunched up with their legs bent….they do not mind it, and I am at ease in the car because I KNOW I have done everything I can do to keep them as safe as possible. It is something I can control. I feel confident if I was in a crash, he would be very well protected in his rear facing position. He will stay that way until the 33 lb limit of his carseat.

On that same token, leave the kids in a harness. My daughter is almost SIX and is harnessed VERY happily in her Britax Regent, she is 44 lbs and has had no issues whatsoever getting herself in and out of the seat for school drop-off, etc. She will be in a booster when the time comes, for as long as she meets the height/weight limits, I would guess 9-10 years old.

I don’t care about any of the above questions. The physics are undeniable. I turned my daughter around to face the rear again after learning about this research. She is now four and forty pounds (five pounds over the rear facing limit). (I am currently looking online for a good Sweedish company that allows for rear facing limits up to 50 or 60 pounds.) In the meantime, I think she’s safer facing the rear EVEN five pounds over the rear facing limit.

This is a NO BRAINER.

GET YOUR KID THE BEST CAR SEAT POSSIBLE. KEEP YOUR KID FACING THE REAR OF THE VEHCILE FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. PERIOD. ANY EXCUSE NOT TO – IS JUST THAT – AN EXCUSE.

Here is some info and a quick test on how to decide if your child still needs a booster seat. It isn’t only about age, height or weight. It is about how they fit while seated in any given car. My son fits fine w/o a booster in some cars but he still needs a booster seat in our truck. He is 10 yrs old.

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=220066737904&id=129649842453&ref=share

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvyIv9QVRBE