two way elite - when to forward face

[hotdog74]

Hi, my DD is 3 years 6 months now and is rear facing in her 2 way elite. She is 102 cms tall and the top of her head is getting near the top of the seat back. At what point will I need to turn it around? I want her to rear face for as long as possible, but will FF once she is too tall - she is only 2 stone 6 lbs so weight is not an issue.
I can't seem to find info on how to tell when her body is too long to rear face in the seat - bought it from the in car safety centre in Milton Keynes but most of the instructions are not in English :-)

[mismylinford]

Correct me if im wrong but my dd is 3 .5 years and roughly the same height and weight. She's been forward facing since just before she was one. She is now in a car seat uses the seat belt as a strap not a 5 point. She couldn't fit in other one.
Im not sure about rear facing at that age i was told to turn them round as soon as they are big enough.

[mismylinford]

Big enough - when feet are at the edge of the car seat

[GreyTS]

i have just turned my DD1, she will turn 5 in a couple of weeks, she only weighs 17kgs, not sure on her height but i think as long as her head is not over the top of the seat she is fine rear facing in the twe

[InvaderZim]

With the two way elite it's a weight thing - 15 kilos and you can turn them around. My daughter is 3.8 and just hit that, yay!

There are downloadable instruction sheets online if you have lost yours.

[MigGril]

Op is using an extended rear facing car seat. The one she is talking about its rear facing until 25kg we have the same one.

I think it maybe when the top of there ears reach the top of the seat. But not sure. The in car safety centre are great you can email them and check. They also have a face book page to.

It's far safer to keep children rear facing for as long as possible, not turn them around as soon as you can. You should also keep them in 5 point harness as long as you can to as its far safer. DS is 3.5 yrs still rear facing in a 5 point harness yet some of his friends are already in a high back booster with an adult belt. Even with DD as she was small she didn't go into a high back booster until almost 5 years as she hadn't reached the weight limit on her other seat.

[AliceMum09]

Another correction - feet at the edge of a car seat is absolutely NOT a reason to move them to a forward facing seat. A rear facing infant carrier is outgrown only when the child reaches 13kgs in weight, or their head becomes level with the top of the seat. It's nothing to do with their feet.

Depending on the child and the model of seat some children can use an infant carrier for over two years. My DD2 weighs 10kgs, and her head is not level with the top of my Britax Babysafe (well, it's an old Cosy Tot, but still exactly the same as the current Babysafe) infant carrier, so if we need to use a taxi she sits in that seat. She was 2 years old last month. On a day-to-day basis she has a Britax Multi Tech ERF seat, just because it's more upright than an infant carrier.

[HelicopterDad]

If anyone ever advises you to turn your child around to FF as soon as they are big enough then poke them in the eye!

RF is much safer than FF - do it up to 4 years if you can (provided your child is within the weight/height limits of the seat)

RF is more than 5 times safer than FF.

Read the research here>>http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/121/3/619.full

The new EU iSize regs aim for "at least" 15 months RF.

As for feet touching seat, this is NOT a safety issue. Kids can safely have their legs in a bent position without is being a safety issue.

In the UK we are well behind the Americans and Swedes on this issue.

[hotdog74]

Thank you for all the responses - much appreciated. For clarification, we are doing extended rear facing and DD is happy with that as it is all she has ever done. I will turn her around only when her body is too tall to rear face safely any more, but I'm just not sure when that is.
I will look up the in car safety centre Facebook page and send them a message - many thanks for pointing me in the right direction :-)

[nocheeseinhouse]

Urm, never! It's much safer RF, and not much better (if at all) than a HBB FF. DS is 5 1/2, and rearfaces in his TWE at 21kg.

If she's too tall to RF, she's too tall for the TWE, full stop, but very unlikely at 3 1/2 (my son is tall for his age).

[nocheeseinhouse]

Shoulder straps should come from below the shoulders when RF in the TWE, according to the manual, too. So as a tall 5 1/2 year old, he's still not on the top notch for the straps. I think it's unlikely a 3 1/2 year old is too tall, unless a giant!

I think it's eyes level with the top, not top of head at the top, that is the indicator for too tall.

If your DD's legs are squashed, DS has loads of leg room because we have it so that bottom bit is out (10 degrees of incline setting), and the front car seat quite far forward, so there is quite a big gap between the TWE and the actual car seat.

[hotdog74]

Thank you for the replies. I emailed the in car safety centre and no cheese is right - they say eyeline level with the top of the seat.
I didn't think she was too tall yet - I was just aware that I had no idea what I was looking for to determine when she is too tall as when we bought the seat we were told even then that she would grow out of it height wise rather than weight wise as she has always been tall and slim. I still use it on the reclined setting - no issue with the bent legs :-)

[AmandinePoulain]

That's reassuring alice - I've got a Dualfix in my golf but it's going in for repairs in a few weeks and the courtesy car is a teeny Picanto - which according to the FitFinder I can't put my Dualfix in. Dh is being sent to the attic for our Babysafe to try and squeeze dd2 back into - she's only 10kg so it's good to know she should fit!

[nocheeseinhouse]

Check, but I think beyond a certain weight it has to be on the 10 degrees setting. I think perhaps as low as 15kg? Your DD may not be there yet.

[InvaderZim]

I just checked about the recline - it's under 13 kg only. (Whoops, gotta change ours!)