Please don't post to facebook.
Hi ladies
I am looking for advice on car seats and safety.
At what age did you put your child to forward facing?
At what age did you go from a baby seat to a booster seat?
What do you believe is safest?
Unfortunately with my first I forward faced him at around 7 months, as much as it is legal, I look back now and think how much safer it would have been to keep him rear facing until at least 12 months.
It's only now (he's almost 5) that I've given in and put him in a booster seat, he was in a 6 months to 8 year car seat with the harness.
I'm not far off having bub number two, so I'm dying to hear others opinions on car seat safety.
So would/did you change anything about what you did with your second child when it come to car seats?
Where is the safest place to have the car seats? Baby in the middle and booster seat on the left?
Friends and family think I'm overly paranoid and my partner thinks I'm silly saying I want bub to stay rear facing until 12 months at least.
Do you have facts on whats safest?
Sorry, I didn't want it to go to facebook because it might be a topic to start a war lol but any opinions are welcome ?
Thanks ❤
6 Replies
Personally I'd follow the kidsafe guidelines, and the laws in your state. They are there for a reason and based on evidence from car safety testing etc and evidence collated from actual accidents.
I haven't heard of any position in the car being safer but it's definitely easier to have the child in the highest level of restraint (youngest child) closest to a door.
http://www.kidsafe.com.au/crguidelines
Recommendations say safest is rear facing for as long as possible and four point harness for as long as possible as well.
Legally you can forward face at 6months and use booster seat with seatbelt at 3 years as long as they reach the markers in the seat.
Ambulance advised rear left for baby so will be off the road when loading/unloading them, but still asked me where as its my choice.
So its up to you. Personally i have done it with the legal age/size due to what works best for my kids and im with your husband you can think of worse case scenario and take safety too far, you have to live your life too.
Most car seats now have markers on when to turn or move to a booster.
My 18mo is still rear facing and will until he reachs the turn marker. My 5.5yo is still in a harnessed seat. I moved my now 7yo to a booster at 6 cuz I was due with #4.
The safest practice depends on the seated height or new seats
Rear facing is much safer for as long as their sizes allows & a harnessed seat is much safer than a booster. There are some extended harnessed seats which will allow your child to be harnessed till 8/10, they aren't cheap tho.
The safest place to put the seats is the place the fits the best so it really depends on the car
U can always move him back to his 6m-8yrs car seat.
I have my inlaws always telling me that my 18mo needs to see but honestly I don't care, plus I now direct them to the label that says he must be rear facing until this line.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/356633684421524/
This is a wonderful group who are very passionate about extended rear facing and extended harnessing.
Hi ladies, poster here.
My main reason for asking was because I'm also on a mums group for overseas and they rear face their child up until 4 years of age (their laws are on weight I think)
and I was thinking about just how safe Australian laws are with kids. Obviously everything is different, we have different safety standards and different seats, not saying we're unsafe at all and none of us would intentionally put our children in danger!
But I was thinking back to when I had my first born and he reached the line to go forward facing and I just moved him, not thinking of anything really other than he was over 6 months and he reached the minimum height, and would he really have had enough strength in his neck having been in an accident...
I think I am over thinking to a certain degree, but I also want whats best/safest for my kids.
God forbid I have an accident, but if I did, my now 4 year old would be safer in a harness than a seat belt over a booster seat, yes?
He's obviously too big for any of our rear facing car seats, but still, again safer rear facing than anything as he won't get thrown forward at all. Although depending on the accident.
I'm starting to think it's possibly a lot safer to rear face as long as possible and as long as the child is still fitting, and want more information so I can make the right decisions for both of my kids.
Not trying to bash other mums at all and not really wanting the laws, as I have researched them, but more so wanting safety facts and other people to say what they think is safest and why.
The general recommendation is safest for longest. Don't move them up a stage unless they've exceeded the markers on/outgrown the stage of seat. Laws and seats in other countries don't really apply here - in Europe, for instance, they have seats that accommodate much larger/older kids rear facing. Obviously it also depends on the size of your kids too - mine was too heavy to rear face at 6 months in the old weight-based seats but when she moved to a height-based seat she was able to rear face until she was over 2! She's now 5.5 and still in a harnessed seat (Infasecure Evolve, if you're wondering) with heaps of room until the exit line.
My personal advice is to find the seat that has highest height markers you can get for both rear facing and forward facing and once again don't progress to the next stage until they've outgrown the current one. The Infasecure Grandeur is an excellent option and is a legitimate birth to 8 years seat with both rear face and forward face option.