Should we change her to forward facing?

Question

My daughter will be 2 years old in a month. We plan to keep her rear facing until then to meet state requirements. After that we are unsure if we should flip her around. The maximum weight for rear for both of her car seats is 40lbs with a minimum of 20lbs and 22lbs on each seat for forward facing. Both manuals say that once either the height or weight maximum is met in rear to put them forward. She was weighed today and is 37lbs. Should we turn her forward when she turns 2yo since she is 3lbs less than the maximum on rear?

Answer

**Personally, I would buy a new seat with a 50lb rear facing maximum. There’s NO WAY I would forward face a 2 year old, it’s simply not safe. The Graco Extend2Fit (not the 4Ever Extend2Fit) is reasonably priced (currently $145 on Amazon but it you watch sales will often go lower.)**
The best practice (from a safety standpoint) is to keep them rear facing until they max out the upper rear facing height or weight limit of their seat. Chances are they will max out one before the other, but once one limit is maxed out the seat is no longer safe rear facing. Rear facing is ALWAYS SAFER no matter the age; it is even a safer position for adults if only cars were built with rear facing passenger seats. 
Until a child’s vertebrae have fully matured they are at risk of internal decapitation; this is when the spinal cord is severed inside the body, resulting in either paralysis or death. The maturation and ossification of the vertebrae is something that happens with AGE, not with SIZE, which is why extended rear facing (rear facing for as long as possible rather than just until age 2) is so important. Quoting from csftl.org:
“Toddlers are not just small adults; their bodies are still developing and those developmental changes make them more vulnerable than an adult. A toddler’s vertebrae are connected via cartilage rather than ossified bone. Those connections are called synchondroses, which are slowly closing over time. There are three major points of ossification, each with two synchondroses. According to a study published in the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, the first station to close is the C3, second is the axis, and third is the atlas. The results of the study show:
🔴 50% probability that the primary closure of the C3 is complete at age 2 and the secondary at age 3.
🟠 50% probability that the primary closure of the axis is complete at age 5 and the secondary at age 6.
🟡 50% probability that the primary closure of the atlas is complete at age 7 and the secondary at age 8 (Yoganandan, Pintar, Lew, Rao & Rangarajan, 2011).

This image to the right shows the cervical (top), thoracic (middle), and lumbar (bottom) vertebrae of a one year old (left, each photo) and six year old (right, each photo). Note the easily visible synchondroses in each. These findings show that before age two, none of the cartilaginous spaces have completed ossification. Those pieces of cartilage have the ability to stretch up to two inches. Yet only 1/4″ stretch is enough to rupture the spinal column, resulting in paralysis or death  (McCall, Fassett & Brockmeyer 2004).”
What this means is that a child’s vertebrae do not finish fully ossifying until ages 8-9 years old, no matter how “big for their age” they are. In fact, a child that is large for their age is actually at a higher risk forward facing than a smaller child of the same age because their head is a larger percentage of their overall weight and will exert more force on their neck in a forward facing collision. Statistics show that riders of ANY age (even adults) are safer riding rear facing. 
Many parents cite concerns of their child being “too cramped” in a rear facing car seat once their feet touch the seat back in front of them and their legs are required to bend when seated. Statistically, there are more leg and hip injuries reported in children who are FORWARD FACING because their legs swing up and hit the back of the front seats in a frontal collision. In contrast, in a rear facing frontal impact all of the momentum is absorbed into the back of the car seat rather than between their legs and the seat back in front of them. 
Kids with longer legs will find ways to sit comfortably that may not look comfortable to adults; whether by bending their knees, crossing their legs, stretching them up the seat back in front of them, hanging them over the sides of the car seat. Remember they are much more flexible than we are! The fact remains that rear facing is safer so long as the child fits within the maximum rear facing limits of the car seat. Even if a leg injury was to occur in an accident, I would ALWAYS rather a broken leg than a broken neck. Spacious leg room is not a necessity!
Every child will outgrow their car seat at a different rate than another. You should base your car seat choice on the growth trend of your specific child. Some kids are taller and skinnier, so ideally you would choose a seat with a higher rear facing height limit. Others are shorting and heavier, so a seat with a higher rear facing weight limit would be better. Both of my kids are mostly middle of the road on both height and weight. The goal should always be to rear face them for as long as possible. Once they have legitimately outgrown their seat (not just that they “look cramped”) they need to either be moved to a different seat with higher limits or switched to forward facing. For some higher percentile kids, that might really be 3 years old; for others, they might be able to remain rear facing until age 7 or 8. 
My oldest (boy) is 5 and is still rear facing comfortably in a Graco Extend2Fit (50lb rear facing limit.) Youngest (girl) is 3 and rear facing in a Graco 4Ever (40lb rear facing limit.)  My vehicle is a 2017 Ford Edge SUV.  Photos taken 5/27/21.

Answer

Rear face for as long as possible. Its actually safest to have them rear facing until age 4 if you can. Follow @safeintheseat on Instagram.

Answer

I would personally buy a new car seat that rear faces longer. It's worth the peace of mind that she's as safe as possible for me

Answer

Or get a convertible car seat with a higher rear facing weight limit.

Answer

I do what’s safest and turning them at 2 is not the safest for them unless they have completely maxed out the weight or height limits. Even then we’ve decided to get a car seat that does extended rear facing, we got the extend2fit and it goes up to 50 lbs for rear facing.

Answer

I would buy a new carseat that has a higher mex rearfacing weight. And if you can't afford it, I would at the very least, wait until she is 41 lbs before flipping. 
My car seats are also max 40 lbs for rearfacing. My kids were huge until they started walking but dramatically slowed down weight gain at that point and they're all still rearfacing at 4.5, almost 3, and 14 months. 
At this point, my 4.5 y/o isn't going to hit 40 lbs for quite a while (he's been 34 lbs for a year). And if either of my other two hit the max weight limit (they're 30 lbs and 25 lbs) before 5, I'll be buying them a new carseat so they can rearface until at least 5, but hopefully longer.

Answer

Keep rear facing until 40 lbs.  those last 3 Pounds could take several months.  My son has been hovering around 35 lbs for months because he’s stretching upwards now.   So he may still be good for his rear facing for a while.

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I'm keeping my kids rear facing until as close to age 5 as possible. In the event of an accident you want to prevent head/spinal cord injuries as much as possible since the vertabrae of the spine do not begin to fuse until age 3-6. My 3 year old is tall and he sits cross legged now but he is fine with it.

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I always say rear face as long as possible. It’s just the safest. My daughter is 2.5 and going strong rear facing. However, she’s also only 27 lbs.

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I forgot to mention that her car seats are for multiple life stages. Infant➡️Toddler➡️Child.

Should we change her to forward facing?

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