Well, she's under one for a couple more days so rear-facing, obviously. We will be doing extended rear-facing because you can't ignore basic physics when it comes to safety.

My other children were turned early because I was ignorant back then. I just did what other mothers around me were doing and never questioned it or did any research of my own. Thankfully we were never any accidents.

My son is 17 months old and still happily rear facing. I have no intention of turning him any time soon, and hope to keep him rear facing until the RF limits of his seat. The research is a no brainer in that it's SO much safer rear facing (really, even adults should ride RF if it were possible). Even if his legs are a bit bent or have to be crossed, it's much better to suffer a leg injury than a neck or spine injury. I'm not taking any chances.

That's a good point about the feet being up by their ears. My daughter was turned around after she reached the weight limit. Our car is small and it was very difficult to buckle her in rear-facing I almost had a concussion from knocking my head buckling her in once. I did keep her in the middle though up until her 3rd birthday, but had to switch her to the side cause it was too hard to buckle her in again with a growing belly.

There is NO way i could have left my daughter rear facing.. she reached the height limit (and then some, i tried to wait) and simply had absolutely no room for her legs long before the age or weight limit. she has always been very long and skinny (2 and 3x the height of her peers) and after a few scream fests on 1 1/2 hour drives, i finally gave in. She has happily been facing forward in the middle seat since then.

Its a nice thought to keep them in rear as long as possible, but you simply cant expect children to sit in a seat so scrunched they are pratically in the fetal position. It's not good for their limbs or organs to be compressed like that.

Until 4? I don't think any carseats sold in the US have rear facing weight limits higher than 35 lbs, so unless you have a really small four-year-old, that's just not possible here. We turned our daughter around right before she turned two.

And Babysugar, you misquoted the AAP's recommendation a bit. They are supposed to stay rear facing until they turn 1 AND weight at least 20 lbs.

Chouette is absolutely right - they may be safest until 4 in the rear-facing position but if they've reached their weight limit, they're no longer safe. My kids have stayed rear-facing until the weight limit, although in one case the carseat expired and the new one we bought could only go forward, so she was just under two when she turned.

There is no added risk with their legs being folded, though, not to their legs or to internal organs. However, especially if you're driving longer, the comfort level does have to come into play. You simply have to weigh the risks and benefits and decide what's best for yourself.

And yes, the current recommendation is one year AND 20 lbs. They have to reach both milestones before turning, not just one.

My kids would never have been able to sit in rear facing car seats past one. My daughter barely made it until her first birthday and my son was a month or so shy when we turned him. They both had long limbs and were incredibly uncomfortable.

I kept our first 2 rear facing as long as we could and plan to do the same with our 3rd, however that varied greatly between our first 2. Our son would get motions sickness and scream every time we went in the car until he was forward facing. I kept him rearfacing until we all couldn't handle it any longer.

yeah, the long legged babies can't face rear much longer than 18 months. can you believe that car seats didn't even exist a few years ago?

"can you believe that car seats didn't even exist a few years ago?"

Car seats have been pretty mainstream since the late 70s.

i don't get people who claim their kid was too tall or uncomfortable rear facing. it is safer. period. my girls were both over the 100% for height and rear faced until the limit for their seats (which at the time was 33 pounds). now the britax marathon rear faces to 35 pounds and graco is coming out with a seat that rear faces to 40 pounds. any next baby of mine would be riding in the graco and rear facing to 40 pounds.

I do really wish babysugar would edit the story to correct the recommendation for a year AND 20 lbs, as has been pointed out to her. Her article is misleading.

Actually,
AAP's current recommendation is to the limit of the seat, not just 1 and 20: "The AAP recommends keeping children rear-facing to the highest weight or height allowed by their car safety seat's manufacturer."
(http://www.aap.org/advocacy/ncpsw.htm)

My 33 inch, 27 lb. 18 month old is still rear-facing, and is comfortable and happy. He crosses his legs in his seat, like toddlers like to sit anyway, and doesn't know any different.

Besides, even if it was an issue, I'll take safety over comfort any day of the week. Sometimes we have to do what's best for our children, safety wise, regardless of whether they like it or not. We are the parent, it is our job.

It's important to note that most seats that you buy after the infant seat are 'convertible' and can be used both rear-facing and forward-facing. Rear-facing is not limited to the infant bucket seats.

I turned my son when he was a year and 20 pounds, but I won't with the second. I agree that broken limbs are better than a broken neck and that they should absolutely be in the
That said, my goddaughter shrieked in the car until her parents turned her around at 9 months. Very illegal and very dangerous. I absolutely disagreed with their decision. However, I can see that her screaming was likely to cause an accident. It was terrible- not something I would ask of any parent.