My partner and I are looking at upgrading to a new carseat. This has caused a little debate between us as to whether we are going to have the new seat forward facing or rear facing...
He wants forward facing so that we can interact with our toddler easier, and our toddler theoretically will be able to see more when we go for drives, which I understand and partially agree with.
BUT.. I'm stuck on the rear facing train, purely just to ease my overly paranoid mind with the fact that sitting rear facing for as long as possible is safer.
Has anyone else gone through this stage yet? Are your now toddlers forward or rear facing?
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My husband and I upgraded our and we got a convertible one. And generally the rule of thumb is when you max out the height in rear facing

Im Staying RF till 2, minimum

Safest to rear face until 4

I'm also going to continue with rear facing until my little one reaches all of the height / weight limits. It truly is the safest way for them to travel imo.

Here is what the Canadian Pediatric Society says:
"As long as your child still fits within the manufacturer’s weight and height limits, they are safest using a rear-facing seat until 2, 3, or even 4 years old."
"Once your child has outgrown the larger rear-facing car seat – and is at least 2 years old – they can move to a forward-facing car seat with a 5-point harness".
https://caringforkids.cps.ca/handouts/safety-and-injury-prevention/car_seat_safety#:~:text=As%20long%20as%20your%20child,or%20even%204%20years%20old.
It really is safest to keep your little one rear facing as long as they are under the rear facing limits.

Whatever is safest

My daughter is forward facing since 1 year old simply because her feet was pushing on the seat and she hated looking towards the back of the car and now it is so much easier to see her and to interact with her.

Uhhhhh rear facing as long as possible 😵💫😵💫 my 2.5 year old is still rear facing lmaoooo

You are not paranoid and it’s not a matter of opinion. Official recommendation is to stay rear facing as long as possible until the child gets taller or heavier than manufacturer allows.

Please read up on the Facebook group below. It’s safest to stay rear facing until 4 years
https://m.facebook.com/groups/carseatsafetyuk/?ref=share