Is your child rear facing or forward facing in a car seat

Rear facing because she hasn't reached the weight or height requirements to not

Same here, ive asked a lot of older mothers (like those with older children) if they would rear or forward face a young child, and the majority said forward face

Rear facing at nearly 3 years old and will do as long as the seat allows

My Lo has been forward facing since she was just over a year old due to medical reasons. She's 8 now!

2.5 year old and rear facing because it is much safer. Will do it as long as possible.

Rear facing but that's because she's only 5 months, but I forward faced my other kids from like 9 months.

Rear facing because he’s 7 weeks old 🤣

Toddler forward facing because my husband is 6’6” and none of the extended rear facing seats would fit behind him. Before you come at me - we were willing to buy a new car to keep him rear facing. We took a big SUV in person and tried all the rear facing seats behind him and none fit. We would rather keep him in the back seat forward facing than put him in the front seat.

@Allie it’s actually much safer to have a rear facing seat in the front. Totally respect your choice but just putting this here for the benefit of anyone else on the thread who might find this useful to know 😊

We’ve just bought a rear facing seat for our little boy who is nearly 18 months, we’re hoping it will last him until he’s 4 or 5 years old 🤞

Still rear facing our 3.5 year old

Thank you girls for all your Input, just to say this post wasn't meant to shame or come at anyone who rear/forward faces. I still have my daughter rear facing as I do believe it is safer. I have recently bought a Britax Safeway M which was on sale and so far both me and my daughter love it. A lot of my family members don't agree with my choice and reckon I should have been forward facing my daughter by now, so she can "see everything" but I've told them it's my choice

5 year old is forward facing and obviously my 8 week old is rear facing lol

Rear facing at 3y3m :) she hasn’t maxed out the seat yet, she’s happy, she’s comfortable, she doesn’t kick off and it’s safer! I feel a lot of people see turning the seat as a milestone - idk anyone in real life who is still rear facing around her age x

Rear facing at 2.5 and will till she’s 3/4 minimum for me. I RF because I work in road safety testing and Ive seen things I cannot get out of my head sadly. I had to FF once when she was 1 overseas and I was sweating bullets just looking at her little vulnerable body in the back of the car.

Rear facing because 5 months old, will assess the situation at 15 months if I’m happy to forward face then.. more than likely will try to do 18/24 months before FF x

My son is 2 years 8 months and still rear facing because it’s safest. He has a long way to go before maxing out the height and weight for the seat (axkid mini kid 2) and will stay rear facing until he maxes it out. At that point he should be ready for a high back booster.

Unless it’s a medical reason, no child should be forward facing before the age of 4

My child is forward facing and she’s almost 4 😊

Here we go again

@𝐼𝑜𝒶𝓃𝒶 so far everyone is behaving 😁

@Kate I’m convinced this question is asked to shame the mothers that have their children forward facing without even knowing the reason. Especially comments like “all children should be rear facing until they are 4” 💀 We should all mind our own business 🙄

rear facing - so much safer . ff with a harness isn’t safe at all , my kids will be rear facing until they are mature enough and big enough to sit in a hbb

3 yo FF cause I drive a mini and you can't rear face in a mini 😅 also have a FF 5 yo

@𝐼𝑜𝒶𝓃𝒶 honestly I wasn't asking this question to shame people. I know people have their own views but like I said above, it's a parents "choice" what they decide is best for their child. I just wanted to know the more common answer, as it seems a lot of people I know are still forward facing their children. I'm on car seat safety UK and on there only rear facing is recommended. Some agree and some don't, I would never force my opinion on someone else. But I was told me still rear facing my daughter is wrong and I think it's wrong to judge someone like I was judge

Rear facing as it’s 5 times safer than forward facing until the bones in their spines ossify. Just bought my second baby two ERF seats for our cars. @incog is your rear windscreen blacked out?! That’s such a weird reason to turn them around, they can see out the back window 😂

@Lauren it is blacked out lol. That's the only reason I seem to get when I ask them "why should I forward face her" they just said "so she can look at the world and see everything" 😂 But she can do that in a pram and out and about, I've never been given a valid reason to forward face her.

Ah fair enough! If your seats are upright though I’m sure your LO can see out the window, mine can! We also have mirrors on the backseats and she had a phase of pointing out traffic lights when we were stopped at them, so they can definitely see plenty! Your child, your rules, ignore them 😊

My son is almost 4 and have long legs, I know rear facing is safest but he was so uncomfortable we turned him forwarcing this year. He sometimes asked to be turned again with his legs really close to his chest 🤷🏾‍♀️ (the seat spin), it's ok when we do short trips. I'll change his car seat for a high back booster soon ,which will be forward facing, and take his current one for the coming baby which will be rear facing for as long as we can, minimum 3yo like our son. I like having my son forward facing now he is older, especially for long trip when he ask for things it's easier to give it to him and he comment on everything he sees which I found nice and educational. He is a tall boy so I also think it depends on your child height.

@Ella hi, you may not be aware but forward facing car seats need 55cm survival gap from the top of their nose to the seat in the front. Otherwise they’re too close to the seat in the front, which makes it more dangerous. Rear facing seats are often also more compact than the forward facing ones and they don’t need a large survival space like the forward facing ones. It’s your choice of course. I just wanted to comment in case someone who has a small car sees this and thinks forward facing is a safer option in a small car 🙂

Forwad facing for my 2&3 year old. I physically cant fit 3 rear facing seats in my car and my 3 year old is barely under the max for the erf seats so itd be spending hundreds on a seat that hell grow out of by christmas, and my 2 year is marginally smaller than my 3 year old. Theyre both way above the 100th centile xx

I do agree with @ioana to an extent, while the post isn’t necessarily asking for people to shame others, it is a topic that invites it. Putting what I do and the reason for it then being told I’m still ‘wrong’ for that 🙄🤣 But yeah no one should shame you for continuing extended rear facing either. You do you!

Forward facing 3 and 5

@Ebony-Rose hi, facing seats have a harness limit of 18kg and if your little ones have outgrown that they can’t keep using the harness so your only options on the market would be either forward facing with a seat belt or an extended rear facing seats as they have a higher harness limit. At 2 and 3 years old they wouldn’t be ready to use an adult seat belt. I’d recommend looking at ERF seats for their safety as even a 100th centile child wouldn’t reach 125cm height until they’re 5 and by that time they could probably safely use a seat belt.

@𝐼𝑜𝒶𝓃𝒶 if you were referring to my comment, then yeah. It is my opinion that all children should rear face before the age of 4 but if you failed to read the rest of the comment I also said unless it is medically necessary for them to forward face. I did not shame anyone nor did I tag anyone. If people don’t wanna rear face their kids just because then you do whatever you want idgaf

Rear facing as it would currently be illegal not to due to his age/size but even when he's legally old enough to forward face I'll be keeping him rear facing as long as possible as it's 5 times safer.

@Allie I do agree with you that it invites it in, but a lot of posts on here do that. I didn't mean to anger or upset anyone. My friend happily told me she forward faces her son and I didn't make a comment as that's her preference. We all have different opinions about things to do with children and everyone should be allowed to say how they feel personally Thank you I will, I'm not comfortable forward facing my daughter and it'll constantly put me on edge driving with her like that 😅 but again that's how I feel. Other mums may not and feel safer with them like that x

She’s nearly 2 and still rear facing. She’s happy with it, has never kicked off so it’s working so far - aiming to get to 4 at least & then we’ll reassess. She’s average on height and weight percentiles and we’re currently using a Britax Dualfix M.

All 3 rearfaced until they were 5 years old

2 yr old forward facing . He has more leg room and is more comfortable forward facing than when he was rear facing .

Rear facing as its safer And as an older mother (with 28, 24, and 11yr old) I erf my 11yr old too The older 2 the car seat rules weren't as good or well known

Rear facing cause he hasn’t hit the height or weight requirement to switch to forward facing. USA er staff have a saying “we’d rather cast it, than have you pick out a casket”

Both FF and they're 2 and 3. Turned my daughter around at 2 because my fiance couldn't drive with her rf behind him and didn't want my son on the drivers side. But I turned my son around because he was getting car sick alot.

18months old , I just feel safer with rear facing

@Irita it's not about the gap. It's a 2 door car. If I had RF seats I physically cannot get the children into them. The gap is fine.

@Ella I agree with this, my friend had a mini and had the same problem.

I still rear face my 3 year old. Most people I know with kids similar ages have been front facing for a while now. He’s happy rear facing so I don’t see why flip it.

100% rear face and will do as long as possible as its much safer. I can't imagine forward facing after seeing all the horror stories 😳 uncomfortable legs or broke legs in case of accident are better than broken spine and having to arrange for your cholds funeral cuz they were turned too early... but each to their own. Many of my friends forward face their children since like 18-24 months and it sends shivers down my spine whenever I see it but it's their choice. I've added them to safety groups so they can educate themselves but again it's their choice and everybody else choice what they do, as far as people are aware of risks of forward facing and willing to take them that's up to them. I'm personally not willing to take the risks. My daughter is currently 19 months old and will be rear facing to the max as long as possible, it should be the norm in my opinion rather than the other way around. Baby/toddler forward facing seats should be banned 🙄

1 year old is rear faceing. 4 1/2 year old is forward facing with a seatbelt

It's interesting to hear everyone's reasons, I totally respect everyones decisions and like with @Kamila said I've seen far too many videos of accidents, like the toddlers car seat that actually left the car during a crash. The impact caused the whole car seat (with the child in it) to fly on the highway, I believe it was a team Tex seat but can't be sure. I get horrified and that's why I want to rear face as having her front facing feels too exposed.