Studies show that a child's spine is not developed enough to properly withstand impact forward facing in a vehicle until around age 4. American Academy of Pediatrics now recommend to keep your child rear facing until the child has maxed out the rear facing requirements for the specific seat they are riding in. Now car seats are being made to rear face children 50+ lbs and some have no hight max as long as when the seat headrest does not touch the seat in front of it.

I have learned so much from the Child Passenger Safety Expert Michelle as safeintheseat on Instagram or her website safeintheseat.com.

I purchased the Gracogrows4me convertible seat for my child when she was 6 months old and am still successfully rear facing her at 3.5 years old as she's still not maxed out the rear facing max requirements for the seat. I am really trying to reach the goal of 4 years. I am curious as to how many others are following the goal of at least 4 years to keep their child as safe as possible in the vehicle. I know so many people argue that once a child is so big they need to turn around due to leg room but if you do your research studies still show a child with long legs is still at the least risk of injury and death when riding in the rear facing position under the age of 4.

Most states only require a baby to be forward faced at only 2 years old still and I see most people trun their children forward facing before the age of 2. It's never too late to turn your kids back around if they are under the age of 4 or haven't maxed their seat in rear facing position yet.