Extended Rear Facing?

DS will be 2 next week. He is still rear facing in a Britax Boulevard cs. He weighs 34 lbs and  is 33.5 inches tall. The car seat is good in the rear facing position up to 40 lbs and 49 " & up to 16.75" from seat to shoulder. He is well under that but at the same time he is a very "sturdy"... ok big boy. It just seems weird for him to still be rear facing. Anyone else have their big kid rear facing?

Edited by samsmum - 07 Dec 2011 at 7:06pm

My big kids were RFing for a long time, even after being FFing.

DD was FFing from the age of 1 to 2.5, 35#'s, but when I learned about the benefits of RFing she went back to RFing. I did the same thing with ODS. I turned him FFing at 1 year (did not know any different) but when he was 18 months old he went back to RFing.

DD was RFing until almost 4, when she hit 40#'s and was about 39" tall
ODS was RFing until 3.5, when he his 40#'s and was about 37" tall
YDS is almost 1 and will be RFing for a long time still

DS1 FF at about 15-16 months. I didn't know about ERF and I probably would have turned him at 12 months but think I was just too lazy to switch the seat around.  The information I was given about carseats at the time made it sound like you were supposed to turn them at 1 even though I do remember being told by someone you could keep them RF until they outgrew the limits of the seat.  I guess I was confused so I went with what everybody else used to do at the time.  Luckily we were never in an accident to find out that it wasn't safe.

 

DS2 rear-faced until he outgrew his seat RF by height when he was almost 3.  He's turning 4 next week and is about 32lbs and could still RF by weight, but is too tall for the seat we have.  He wasn't really happy to FF at first. 

I FFed DD the day after her 2nd birthday, 2 weeks ago, b/c she outgrew the same seat by height.  She weighs about 26-27 lbs so is still in the weight range but is super tall.  She wears 3T clothes, so I'm guessing she's about the same height DS2 was at close to 3y.o.  I am not entirely comfortable FFing her and am contemplating buying her a new seat with a taller shell so I can RF her a bit longer.  Since we have a newbie on the way and the seat would get reused, it wouldn't be a huge waste to do that.  DD still sits RF in our other car where the carseat has a much taller shell (Radian.)  She is not entirely cool wioth FF either.  She gets nervous and complains that the ride is really bumpy.  The first few rides she complained that she thought she would fall out of her seat.

I turned DS1 FFing at 15mo, because I didn't know RFing was better honestly. I never turned him prior to that because he hadn't hit 20lb at his 1yr apt. We went home for Christmas and my parent's bought us DVD players for the car and the cord wouldn't reach to put it on the backseat headrest so I turned him FFing so he could watch movies. Yep, clueless.

We have the same carseat. Toddler child is 3 and just recently maxed the RF weight. He has only been FF for a couple months. He is a lumox, imagine a linebacker in a diaper. My aunt was more bothered about him being RF than he ever was. I had to put a towel on the seat to protect it, but he never cared about crossing his legs to sit. He'd still be RF if he was under the weight and we'll do the same with our younger child. After watching a few videos on what happens to a baby in a crash I'm more than happy to leave them RF no matter how sturdy they seem. Even at 2 their head is a large portion of their body weight and their little necks don't have the muscle built up enough to support and control the weight of the head in a crash. The carseat manufacturers have gotten better at offering more RFing options. When my oldest was little he was turned much earlier b/c carseats didn't accomodate the RFing as long and we didn't know the things we know now.

YDS is 2.5yo, 32 pounds and still rearfacing.  He's happy.  I'll keep him that way as long as he tolerates it, or reaches the limit of the seat.

DH dislikes it, bc it's harder to get YDS into the seat when he's being uncooperative.  But agrees that's not enough of a reason to turn him.

Thanks for the input everyone. There haven't been any issues from Sammy. He doesn't know any different. No peer pressure. It is much harder to interact with them when they are rear facing but worth the inconvenience IMO. On long road trips he has his big brothers to keep him company. I bought him one of those Leap Frog Leap tops for Christmas with the hopes that he'd have something to entertain him whilst I drive.

ambrose wrote: Did Britax raise the RFing weight limit?   For Marathons it was 33lbs when we got them.

They did in Canada..  Marathons went from 30 pounds RF to 40 pounds RF.  The RF height limits were also increased.  I have one of each the old (ODS) and the newer (YDS) models.  The seat looks physically different than the older one too, and takes up significantly less space RFing, leaving lots more leg room for the adults in the front seat.  From what I tell by photos, the new marathon here is the same as the Marathon 70 sold in the us (but the weight limits are different bc of gvt regs or something).

I have a 5.5 yr old RFing.  It's safer, so he stays even though he's really old.  He doesn't complain, he knows it's a safety issue, not anything to do with him.

That's great Sacha! I keep wanting to put midkid back in a 5 pt harness, but I know he'd never go for it. I just didn't know what I know now when we let him move to a booster. And even that he grumbles over since "no one else does" I tell him to tell his friends that his mommy loves him more than theirs does and wants him safe. lol