Extended Rear Facing or Forward Facing Car Seat?

[NE90]

Just wondering if anyone has used a forward facing car seat from 9 months on? We have an extended rear facing one in our family car but I need a second seat for my own car for when I'm doing trips myself, although I won't be needing to use it until my son is 13 months old.

I can seemingly find plenty of affordable forward facing seats with side impact protection, but obviously this goes against the guidelines of rear facing as long as possible.

Can I have peoples thoughts and opinions?

Thank you x

[Winter_Girl]

Hi. I think it is illegal have children forward facing until minimum 15 months, so any forward facing only car seats must be from 15 month old.

My LG is nearly 18 months old and we obviously haven't used to the car for a good couple of months, but we have recently done a few car journeys and we now put her forward facing. Our reason for this is simply because she would scream quite hysterically if rear facing. She has never liked the car seat and her crying actually caused me to go into the back of someone, thankfully at a slow speed to no harm to any of us but still...I do it for our safety.

[NE90 in reply to Winter_Girl]

Thank you for your response. I was aware of the 15 month rule but its just confusing when so many group 123 seats are forward from 9kg! I will be telling my in laws to purchase a forward facing one and they can use mine until he reaches over 15 months. x

[Winter_Girl in reply to NE90]

I found it really hard to find a car seat since my LG outgrew her baby seat. I love our joie 360 I-spin, but it isn't easy to take on and out so we will need to purchase another seat for nursery pick-ups/grandparents, but it is hard to find anything safe at a reasonable price! X

[NE90 in reply to Winter_Girl]

Exactly...it isn't at all portable which is why I need my own but obviously i cannot afford another spin 360. Atm we've been trying to use 1 car but we have had to transfer it every now and then and it's so hard.... the installation video makes it look so much easier seen as they are using a big people carrier hehe!

[Winter_Girl in reply to NE90]

Let me know if you find anything because I had been looking for months before lockdown! Luckily I'm furloughed for another two months so there's no urgency for a seat right now. Silver lining I guess! 😂

[NE90 in reply to Winter_Girl]

I currently seem to have settled on the graco slim fit lx but I've still been hesitant to make the purchase yet as it's also not cheap but seemingly will last longer. It does have good reviews x

[Winter_Girl in reply to NE90]

I will check it out. Thank you x

[NE90 in reply to Winter_Girl]

Online4baby is the cheapest price and then halfords. I've shopped at online4baby a lot and they're a trusted merchant x

[stephkp]

There is evidence that children should be in rear facing car seats until they are about 4. Children under that age are at a much higher risk of serious injury if they are in a forward facing car seat and are in a head on collision. As has been said legally they can go in a forward facing car seat from 15 months, but thought I’d give you a different perspective x

[Winter_Girl in reply to stephkp]

That is very true and I would have kept my daughter rear facing if I could, but in some situations you have to weigh up the pros and cons of both. It is extremely stressful to have a child that screams hysterically until they are sick because they hate the car seat. This happened to us on a busy motorway and all I could think about was what if I were on my own. My family live 3.5 hrs away but I never want to do the journey on my own. X