Rear Facing After 12 Mos and 20 lbs...How Is There Enough Legroom?

My oldest son was rear facing until he was 4 years, 3 months old without any problems. My middle son is 3 years old and still comfortably rear facing. As is my 19 month old. Kids are very "bendy" and will sit criss cross applesauce or hang their legs over the side of the car seat. It's really not a problem. None of my boys have ever complained about being uncomfortable. Rear facing is 5 times safer for both children and adults so I will keep my children rear facing for as long as possible, which is when they max out the rear facing weight limit for their seats.

Wow-I never heard that. My ped told me at 1 year and 20 lbs to switch my son to forward facing, he's now 14 months. I had no idea.

They sit criss cross or kick their feet up. They will find a way. There is NOT ONE documented case of a broken leg from extended rear facing. I would much rather have a child with a broken leg than a broken neck.

Remember kids are much more flexible than us adults, kids tend to prefer their legs bent and crossed.

Just adding more:
There was a time we were strapped in some crazy car seat bucket thing, and some grew up just riding in the car without any type of restraint. At that time it was what we thought was the safest thing for the children, car seat design as improved and our research has advanced to show what truly happens to a child's body when facing forward during an accident. Our research shows us a child's body can not take that kind of stress.
I'm sure when car seats took a major redesign people said the same, wow this is a bit extreme... but really is it extreme? I don't think so, what I do think is extreme is not doing what has been proven over and over to be the safest.

I was one of those who forward faced because the doctor gave the green light. I should have done my own research, it was my responsibility to do so. There's just so much info to show a child is a very high risk of severe injury when facing forward too soon.

All these that say there isn't enough room obviously haven't done it. They cross their legs and they are fine. They are much more flexible than an adult and they don't mind it. Giving them leg room does nothing for their necks. Most crashes are front impact, so the force comes from the front of the car. If they are forward facing, their head/neck is pushed back and then the rebound from that force makes their neck stretch forward, with young children this force can often break their neck because they don't have the muscle development etc to resist that forward motion. If they are rear facing, the movement is much much less. The head/neck goes forward slightly at the moment of the crash, but then the seat absorbs all the impact of the backward movement instead of the neck. Please watch at least the first video below, anyone watching it cannot watch the crash tests in this video and not see how much safer rearfacing is.

http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2DVfqFhseo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8gU9zzCGA8&feature=re...

My son is 2, and tall for his age ( >85% in height) and still rear-facing. And he is very comfortable too, believe me. He does not sit stretching out his legs (there is not enough room for that), but slightly bended at the knees.
It also depends on what type of car seat you have. Check the specifications to see until when he can be rear facing. We have a Britax and he can be rear-facing until there is about an inch left between his head and top of the seat (there is a weight limit too). We will keep him rear-faced until then.

I just turned my 29 month old 30 lb son last week only because we were having issue with him antagonizing his rearfacing brother. To be honest I am ready to switch him back. He won't fall asleep forward facing, he's kicking the back of MY seat and yes all that screaming, kicking, throwing, and just loud talking is now directed right towards me....uhhh I didn't realize how much "nicer" it was having him rear facing....

BAck to your question, he had absolutely no problem with his leg room. We have a Radian 80 for both kids, and it wasn't until he turned 2 that his feet even touched the back of the seat. I even reclined the backs of the seat to give just a little bit more room. when he did start to touch the seat he would naturally cross his legs, and if not crossed, they were hanging to the side. I asked the pediatrician and the car seat safety check person at what point should I turn him around. They said wait until they start complaining. You'd be surprised I constantly waited for some indication he was ready to turn around. Nothing, zip, not a complaint at all. I just figured the weight limit rear facing on his carseat was 33 lbs and he'd hit the weight limit in a few months so I better turn him around. Maybe it just depends on the car seat you have, as the last poster mentioned, but we have no problem with leg room. Even in my hubby's car where there is not even half the amount of leg room as in our van he doesn't complain at all...and believe me if you watch the videos on youtube, it's obvious why you should keep them rear facing as long as possible!!

Updated

I just turned my 29 month old 30 lb son last week only because we were having issue with him antagonizing his rearfacing brother. To be honest I am ready to switch him back. He won't fall asleep forward facing, he's kicking the back of MY seat and yes all that screaming, kicking, throwing, and just load talking is now directed right towards me....uhhh I didn't realize how much "nicer" it was having him rear facing....

BAck to your question, he had absolutely no problem with his leg room. We have a Radian 80 for both kids, and it wasn't until he turned 2 that his feet even touched the back of the seat. I even reclined it the backs of the seat to give just a little bit more room. we he did start to touch the seat he would naturally cross his legs, and if not crossed they were hanging to the side. I asked the pediatrician the car seat safety check person at what point should I turn him around. They said wait until they start complaining. You'd be surprised I constantly waited for some indication he was ready to turn around. Nothing zip, not a complaint at all. I just figured the weight limit rear facing on his carseat was 33 lbs and he'd hit the weight limit in a few months I better turn him around. Maybe it just depends on the car seat you have, as the last poster mentioned but we have no problem with leg room. Even in my hubby's car where there is not even half the amount of leg room as in our van he doesn't complain at all...and believe me if you watch the videos on youtube, it's obvious why you should keep them rear facing as long as possible!!

I know what you mean. Both of my kids were 99th percentiles and we couldn't do rear-facing that long ... no way. They were already destroying our car's seats with their shoes as it was, not to mention, they HATED being rear-facing (can't blame them ... I wouldn't want to stare at the back of a seat for long stretches either). Long car trips were excruciating. Additionally, having a rear-facing seat meant the front passenger had to ride with knees in the dashboard which couldn't have been great safety-wise for us. I know extended rear facing is ideal, but it just wasn't practical for our kids and family.

ETA: I think rather than spending so much energy on the rear-facing issue, there should be a larger push to get parents to use car seats at all. I can't tell you how many stories have been in the news in our area of young children dying because they flew out of the car in a car accident due to no car seat at all. Our son's best friend in kindergarten didn't use a booster at all and he was smaller than our son and in no way ready to go without one. When I said something to his mom, she said something along the lines of, I didn't know but whatever.

I couldn't help but laugh, as we thought the same thing. My second son is almost 18 months and for at least the past 3 months, he is in a front facing car seat. There is no way he would fit in a rear one. Check the height and weight requirements on the front facing ones and make sure it's installed correctly, which usually the local fire dept. will check for you. I've never heard of keeping them rear facing until 3 or 4!!

aap is going towards 2 plus 30 pounds instead of 1 plus 20, a seat such as the radian they can cross their legs or my 15 mo likes to dangle her legsover the edge

You might try a noodle under the carseat to raise the feet end up a little bit.

My 25 month old is 26 pounds and 30 something inches. He has plenty of room. Maybe it's your carseat?? Mine is a convertible seat that can later face forward.

Wow! till 3 or 4 thats crazy! Granted this was 6 years ago and we know that with each year that passes we find out how horribly and unsafe we were raising our kids, we were told at 1 year and 20 pounds they were able to face forward. My doctor told me at 19 pounds and over a year it was ok to face my daughter forward. She was/is very tall and very skinny and was miserable facing backwards and we were about to take a long trip. I understand that safety is first and if your little one is happy, then keep the rear facing car seat. I figured it was safer for me to not have a mad and screaming child distracting me during driving than me keeping her rear facing any longer. Talk to your pediatrician.

This is the first time I've heard of this! Now I'm equally as disturbed. My daughter is almost 4 and weighs 35 pounds...should I turn her back to rear facing? Now Im not sure either...

Okay, I've been looking over some of these answers, and I'm kind of surprised. I agree with the earlier postings more than the later ones.

Children should remain rear-facing as long as possible because their necks are much less sturdy than ours, and much more likely to break in cases of whiplash. If possible, it is recommended that your child remain rear-facing until AT LEAST TWO, (although if you are able to keep your child until age 4 in a carseat approved for that weight, go for it). This is not always possible, and that's the way it is. Rear-facing is the safest position for all of us, actually, but at some point, it becomes impractical.

I think it must depend on your carseat, since so many people seem to find their children cramped. My son is currently 16-months old, he is in the 92nd percentile for height, (60th for weight) and we have a Graco MyRide65...and there is plenty of room. He's not cramped at all. I think his knees are bent slightly, but he doesn't even need to cross them yet. Because of the way the carseat tilts to be "level," he still has a couple inches to grow, and he could also comfortably cross his legs for a time. I anticipate that, unfortunately, I will have to turn him before he actually reaches his 2nd birthday at the rate he's growing now, but after babies reach 12 months, their growth slows considerably, so he's got at least couple more months left. You might want to compare other carseats if you are concerned. Good luck.

I'm curious as to why all pediatricians do not share this information with parents. We kept our daughter rear facing until she passed the 20 pound mark which was about 13 - 14 months. She is in the 80th percentile for height and her legs were cramped for months before the move facing forward. We get handouts from the pediatrician at all the visits that go over safety as well as milestones for their age. The handout mentioned nothing about keeping them rear facing.
In January, we were involved in a 4 car accident.My baby was only 11 months at the time. We were hit from behind and pushed into the truck in front of us. The EMT came back to see us before we left the hospital and said he would recommend we keep her rear facing over the 20 pounds and as long as she can sit comfortably. For us, that was about 2 months ago.

This is one of 2 situations where we've decided, as parents, to go against our Pediatrician's advice.

At 12 months, because our daughter was so big for her age (95% height, over 99% weight), we chose to move her to forward facing. We were fortunate that we had no incidents to test the AAP policy, and she's now past 2.

It has only been in the past 2-3 years that AAP changed their policy. Our son was in the camp of being OK to move forward facing at 12 months.

Here is the AAP policy and rationale behind the recent policy change:
http://aapnews.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/30/4/...

http://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/...

There usually isn't. I plan on keeping my son rear facing until he's physically unable to be in this position. He's only 10 months old, so we still have a bit of time. It does make me nervous though. There are some videos on Youtube that show the dangers of front facing children, and it convinced me to keep my guy turned backwards as long as possible!

12 months in old enough to turn around, my kids where a little younger than that. There is no way a 3 or 4 year old needs to be rear facing! My 4 year old is in a booster using the regular seat belt!

I don't know about waiting until 3 or 4, it just seems to long for me. However, my daughter is 14 1/2 months and still rear facing. She is about 29 in long and her legs definitely hit the back of the seat. Right now she either spreads her legs out so they go off the sides or sits with them crossed. She doesn't seem to have a problem. After seeing the videos I plan on having her rear facing as long as possible, but I'm not going to have her miserable or me miserable if rear facing becomes too uncomfortable. She doesn't cry when in her seat so I'm not switching her. I agree with the other poster, better a broken leg than a broken neck. If you haven't seen the videos check out You Tube. They are scary.

The short answer is: there is not enough leg room and the child will be cramped and uncomfortable. The long answer: This is a hot-button topic. I got in an argument with another mom on this site about the need for rear-facing past 1 year/20 pounds. She was convinced that it was safer for the child to be rear-facing as long as humanly possible. Her 5 year old was still rear-facing. She argued that it didn't matter if her child was uncomfortable, as long as he/she was safe. I know she did a lot of research and she felt very strongly about it, but I did not and still do not agree with her. My son is very tall and has been forward facing since his first birthday. He was 25 pounds. I think the decision to turn your child around is YOUR decision, and I'm sure you'll know when it's time. Don't be surprised if you get some snarky comments from other moms who feel strongly about keeping their kids rear-facing until they are in college. Lol. Their hearts are in the right place. Good luck!

We kept our daughter rear facing until about 3 weeks ago - she is 23 months and 90% for height. Her legs were a little scrunched but mostly she just either bent them or kicked them out to the side. Really she didn't mind at all - we flipped her around because when she got mad and would push and kick with her feet it was too hard to get her belted in because she had the seat back to leverage off of.

Definitely keep your child rear facing for a while longer. If you haven't yet purchased a convertable car seat I suggest a True Fit -- it provides a little extra space for legs and can stay RF to 35 lbs and front facing to 65. We've been pretty happy with ours.