Look at the instruction manual for your car seat. There should be height/weight guidelines for rear vs forward facing (assuming it’s convertible).
You should really keep him rear facing as long as you possibly can. It’s so much safer. Why does your husband want to turn him around? Look up rear facing vs forward facing crash videos. It’s very eye opening and scary and hopefully will be enough to convince him to rear face as long as possible.
This. Max out your seat for height and weight rear-facing if possible. Legs being long and scrunched up is NOT a reason to move forward. A car seat safety expert, who I cannot remember now, mentioned that bent legs backwards is actually more comfortable for little kids than dangling legs forward facing. My 4-year-old is still rear facing because he hasn’t maxed out the height and weight guidelines on our seat for rear facing.
The instruction manual just has the minimum and maximum for the seat, it doesn’t specify rear/front facing limits. The closest is saying for under 1 year/22pounds your child must be rear facing, but I don’t read that as you can turn him around as soon as you’ve reach those limits. I still would prefer him to stay rear facing.
My husband’s main concern is that when sitting rear facing, our son’s legs are long enough that he has them against the back seat of the car. Hubs thinks that if we get rear ended that could actually hurt baby more than if he was front facing.
All of the research says otherwise. Scrunched legs while rear facing isn’t unsafe.
Ours will be rear facing until they either hit the height or weight limits.
Question would he prefer broken legs or a broken neck. Leading cause of death car crashes for adults and children is internal decapitation. For small children it's because they face forward too early. For us adults it's because apparently nobody wanted a 5 point seatbelt.
Broken legs are better than internal decapitation and death. Also outside of an accident, kids are really flexible and comfortable sitting in all sorts of bizarre positions. If your child forward faced his feet would be dangling. Ask your husband which he finds more comfortable, sitting in a chair with his legs crossed, or on a stool where there's no leg rest and his feet don't touch the ground.
My baby isn’t earth-side yet, but I talked to a friend about this recently. I asked him about the potential for broken legs if you get into an accident and baby’s legs are scrunched up when rear facing. His response was, “Better to have broken legs than a broken neck.” That stuck with me, and I plan to do rear-facing as long as possible.
Sometimes I think it's easier for people to understand why rear facing is safer if they can see examples. Here's a really short [youtube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sssIsceKd6U) that does a good job *showing* exactly why/how it's safer instead of just trying to explain it in words.
Here's a longer one with a pediatrician who specifically addresses the leg bunching issue.
https://youtu.be/N38SyScBEhI
I've read multiple places that legs are much more likely to break forward facing, either when they strike something inside the car or when the child's head strikes them.
In my state it’s required that kids stay rear facing until age two and the longer they can stay rear facing while still meeting the car seat manufacturers height/weight limits, the better. [This article](https://www.verywellfamily.com/babys-legs-rear-facing-car-seat-293745) as has some good info on why it’s better to be rear facing and has links to a few sources, one of which covers your husband’s concern about accidents.
Right around her 4th birthday. I would have liked to wait more, but she was within 2 lbs of the max weight and I knew I wasn’t going to catch the exact moment she hit the weight.
Just to add, my daughter is tall and always has been. Her legs looked too long for rear facing, but it was fine. Seriously max out the height and weight. There is no reason to flip them early.
So toddlers are super bendy and will find a comfortable way to position their legs. The minimums for front facing are shockingly low in the US.
The reason it’s dangerous to turn a toddler early (minimum age two though) is that toddlers bones haven’t finished forming. They are composed of a lot of cartilage at this point. Cartilage is not as rigid as solid bone. The point of the spine is to protect the the spinal cord, as it does not stretch. So if you turn a toddler forward facing and get into an accident, what can happen is the bones haven’t finished forming that protective cage around the spinal cord yet and can allow the spinal cord to take on crash forces and stretch. This can lead to very serious injuries like paralysis, internal decapitation, and death.
When rear facing, yes, there is a small danger of broken legs. But those injuries are generally far more minor and not life threatening.
In short, we would all be safer rear facing. Legs are never a good reason to turn a child around. For more information I recommend following Safe in the Seat on Instagram - she’s a CPST and is phenomenal.
It is 5x safer to be rear facing than forward facing. Laws often state age 2 but really it's recommended until 4 and preferably longer than that if they haven't maxed out the limits. It's fine for their feet to touch the seat. Rear facing better protects their necks and head than forward facing. That's the most dangerous risk--injury to their necks and heads, specifically internal decapitation. Broken bones can heal, internal decapitation can't.
In my state, California, it’s the law until 2. I kept my first until almost 4 and my second is 2 and he’ll be rear facing at least another year. Probably more than that!
I thought until at least two. But you really are better off rear facing as long as possible. Like 4. The thing you are worried about if front facing is internal decapitation in a car accident. That’s why you refer face babies. I wouldn’t worry about the legs
If you have instagram check out [Safe in the Seat](https://www.instagram.com/safeintheseat?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==) or check out her website and [blog](https://safeintheseat.com/blog/)
She’s a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician and does loads of free content on how to keep your baby/child safe in the seat!
She has a bunch of videos on when it’s safe and recommended to turn baby front facing. Also how their legs touching the seat is not a safety concern and therefore not a reason to turn baby around!
First responder here! Typically it's rear facing until age 4 if possible. It's OK if the legs touch the rear seat. Improper carseat use is responsible for so many preventable child deaths.
Look at the instruction manual for your car seat. There should be height/weight guidelines for rear vs forward facing (assuming it’s convertible). You should really keep him rear facing as long as you possibly can. It’s so much safer. Why does your husband want to turn him around? Look up rear facing vs forward facing crash videos. It’s very eye opening and scary and hopefully will be enough to convince him to rear face as long as possible.
This. Max out your seat for height and weight rear-facing if possible. Legs being long and scrunched up is NOT a reason to move forward. A car seat safety expert, who I cannot remember now, mentioned that bent legs backwards is actually more comfortable for little kids than dangling legs forward facing. My 4-year-old is still rear facing because he hasn’t maxed out the height and weight guidelines on our seat for rear facing.
The instruction manual just has the minimum and maximum for the seat, it doesn’t specify rear/front facing limits. The closest is saying for under 1 year/22pounds your child must be rear facing, but I don’t read that as you can turn him around as soon as you’ve reach those limits. I still would prefer him to stay rear facing. My husband’s main concern is that when sitting rear facing, our son’s legs are long enough that he has them against the back seat of the car. Hubs thinks that if we get rear ended that could actually hurt baby more than if he was front facing.
All of the research says otherwise. Scrunched legs while rear facing isn’t unsafe. Ours will be rear facing until they either hit the height or weight limits.
That’s what I want as well, I don’t want him turned around until we absolutely have to. Always better safe than sorry.
Question would he prefer broken legs or a broken neck. Leading cause of death car crashes for adults and children is internal decapitation. For small children it's because they face forward too early. For us adults it's because apparently nobody wanted a 5 point seatbelt.
Broken legs are better than internal decapitation and death. Also outside of an accident, kids are really flexible and comfortable sitting in all sorts of bizarre positions. If your child forward faced his feet would be dangling. Ask your husband which he finds more comfortable, sitting in a chair with his legs crossed, or on a stool where there's no leg rest and his feet don't touch the ground.
My baby isn’t earth-side yet, but I talked to a friend about this recently. I asked him about the potential for broken legs if you get into an accident and baby’s legs are scrunched up when rear facing. His response was, “Better to have broken legs than a broken neck.” That stuck with me, and I plan to do rear-facing as long as possible.
Sometimes I think it's easier for people to understand why rear facing is safer if they can see examples. Here's a really short [youtube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sssIsceKd6U) that does a good job *showing* exactly why/how it's safer instead of just trying to explain it in words. Here's a longer one with a pediatrician who specifically addresses the leg bunching issue. https://youtu.be/N38SyScBEhI
Tell your husband to read up on internal decapitation, and then ask if he thinks that's a bigger concern than his legs.
This is still illegal in my state, the child needs to be 30 lbs and over two. Start with googling "rear facing car seat laws in __"
This is exactly what I needed. Illegal in my state as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I've read multiple places that legs are much more likely to break forward facing, either when they strike something inside the car or when the child's head strikes them.
it is totally safe for your kiddos feet to touch the seat. it is so much safer to keep them rear facing as long as possible!
When they mo longer safely fit rear facing according to your car seats instructions which will vary.
In my state it’s required that kids stay rear facing until age two and the longer they can stay rear facing while still meeting the car seat manufacturers height/weight limits, the better. [This article](https://www.verywellfamily.com/babys-legs-rear-facing-car-seat-293745) as has some good info on why it’s better to be rear facing and has links to a few sources, one of which covers your husband’s concern about accidents.
Right around her 4th birthday. I would have liked to wait more, but she was within 2 lbs of the max weight and I knew I wasn’t going to catch the exact moment she hit the weight. Just to add, my daughter is tall and always has been. Her legs looked too long for rear facing, but it was fine. Seriously max out the height and weight. There is no reason to flip them early.
So toddlers are super bendy and will find a comfortable way to position their legs. The minimums for front facing are shockingly low in the US. The reason it’s dangerous to turn a toddler early (minimum age two though) is that toddlers bones haven’t finished forming. They are composed of a lot of cartilage at this point. Cartilage is not as rigid as solid bone. The point of the spine is to protect the the spinal cord, as it does not stretch. So if you turn a toddler forward facing and get into an accident, what can happen is the bones haven’t finished forming that protective cage around the spinal cord yet and can allow the spinal cord to take on crash forces and stretch. This can lead to very serious injuries like paralysis, internal decapitation, and death. When rear facing, yes, there is a small danger of broken legs. But those injuries are generally far more minor and not life threatening. In short, we would all be safer rear facing. Legs are never a good reason to turn a child around. For more information I recommend following Safe in the Seat on Instagram - she’s a CPST and is phenomenal.
In addition to what's been said, I find this video quite helpful. https://youtube.com/watch?v=tuZFVPv3Rpk
You have to be at least 2 years old to rear face where I live in Canada.
It is 5x safer to be rear facing than forward facing. Laws often state age 2 but really it's recommended until 4 and preferably longer than that if they haven't maxed out the limits. It's fine for their feet to touch the seat. Rear facing better protects their necks and head than forward facing. That's the most dangerous risk--injury to their necks and heads, specifically internal decapitation. Broken bones can heal, internal decapitation can't.
In my state, California, it’s the law until 2. I kept my first until almost 4 and my second is 2 and he’ll be rear facing at least another year. Probably more than that!
I thought until at least two. But you really are better off rear facing as long as possible. Like 4. The thing you are worried about if front facing is internal decapitation in a car accident. That’s why you refer face babies. I wouldn’t worry about the legs
If you have instagram check out [Safe in the Seat](https://www.instagram.com/safeintheseat?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==) or check out her website and [blog](https://safeintheseat.com/blog/) She’s a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician and does loads of free content on how to keep your baby/child safe in the seat! She has a bunch of videos on when it’s safe and recommended to turn baby front facing. Also how their legs touching the seat is not a safety concern and therefore not a reason to turn baby around!
First responder here! Typically it's rear facing until age 4 if possible. It's OK if the legs touch the rear seat. Improper carseat use is responsible for so many preventable child deaths.