Varied Car Seat Laws - Traveling with young children

[VegasBella]

I follow a website dedicated to carseats and related issues. Yesterday they announced that California will become the third state to require that children age 2 and under are placed in carseats that are rear-facing. While the AAP recommendation has been to keep children rear-facing as long as possible, at least til age 2, most states legally allow children to be forward-facing at age 1. Additionally, travel in the EU requires that the seat be EU-approved. I think Sweden requires rear-facing up to age 4.

So.. my point of this thread is simply to discuss the various carseat laws parents may encounter when traveling.

 

[SMHarman]

We wanted to keep Middle child rear facing longer but found she was constantly car sick.
Forward visibility fixed that.
This was a choice between the limited driving we did and having to stop every 90m to her up. And the misery of trying to get her into the car.
Those to 4 yo seats in Sweden are also know as orphan makers they are so safe.

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[moonstone]

I understand that rear-facing car seats are the safest but I think keeping them in one until age 2 could be difficult. At age 2 our DGS was a way too tall to be in a rear facing seat. His knees would have been up at his ears or his legs up the seat back to the headrests! Even as an infant he was too tall for the baby seat (shoulders past the top strap setting) long before he reached the safe weight to graduate to the next size seat.

When ever we travelled with our young children (in the late 80's, early 90's) into the USA they were always properly buckled into their car seats no matter what the State laws were where we were visiting.

~Diane

 

[DeniseM]

I understand that rear-facing car seats are the safest but I think keeping them in one until age 2 could be difficult. At age 2 our DGS was a way too tall to be in a rear facing seat. His knees would have been up at his ears or his legs up the seat back to the headrests! Even as an infant he was too tall for the baby seat (shoulders past the top strap setting) long before he reached the safe weight to graduate to the next size seat.

They have car seats for larger children that can be rear facing now - you wouldn't use the baby buckets for an older child.

 

[SMHarman]

I understand that rear-facing car seats are the safest but I think keeping them in one until age 2 could be difficult. At age 2 our DGS was a way too tall to be in a rear facing seat. His knees would have been up at his ears or his legs up the seat back to the headrests! Even as an infant he was too tall for the baby seat (shoulders past the top strap setting) long before he reached the safe weight to graduate to the next size seat.

When ever we travelled with our young children (in the late 80's, early 90's) into the USA they were always properly buckled into their car seats no matter what the State laws were where we were visiting.

~Diane

The Britax Marathon we have is good from birth to over 5 years front or rear facing. Littlest has never been in a bucket type seat. Middle child handed this down to her and got the front facing 5 point britax.

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[Jason245]

Rear facing is the safest. Leg comfort is a misconseption. The best advise I have received from various sources is to keep child rear facing for as long as possible (car seat limits ). Last I read, the difference between injuries and or death rear facing vs Fwd facing is significant.

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[VegasBella]

I understand that rear-facing car seats are the safest but I think keeping them in one until age 2 could be difficult. At age 2 our DGS was a way too tall to be in a rear facing seat.

My son is 98th percentile for height and I kept him rear-facing til age 4. He just crossed his legs like he does in kindergarten circle time.

The Diono Radian RXT is one of the tallest car seats available and it allowed us to do that. I just set the rules with him and stayed consistent about it. Luckily I didn't have other family members interfering or older children taunting or anything that would make him want to face forward. We used mirrors so we could see one another.

(Please know that I'm not judging. I'm just giving an example of how it's possible to keep kids rear-facing for a long time.)

 

[csxjohn]

My daughter did not turn my youngest grandson around until he was 2, covered no matter where they went.

Did he like it? No. Did he do it? Yes.

 

[moonstone]

They have car seats for larger children that can be rear facing now - you wouldn't use the baby buckets for an older child.

Ahh well that makes sense! Our kids haven't been in a car seat for over 20 years & DGS is nearly 12 (but another grandbaby due in Feb. ). I had no idea they made larger rear facing child seats, I guess I am really our of touch with the child car seat world.

~Diane

 

[jehb2]

I'm just glad we're down to one booster seat. I was thinking where on earth would older kids put their legs if they're rear facing. I googled "Sweden rear facing car seat" images. I saw photos of older kids with their legs almost wrapped around the real/permenent car seat or their legs going up the back of the permenent car seat. Like what we call "legs up the wall" in yoga class. Weird.

We spent 35 days traveling in Europe this Summer. We rented cars in Scotland & Italy. We brought along our own backless booster. It didn't have a EU approved sticker but I figured that was one chance I would take. I considered buying one when we got there but the EU booster seats I saw on line I didn't like at all. & of course our American booster seats were bigger.

 

[jehb2]

One additional thought. We rented "full size" cars in Italy & Scotland. I simply can't imagine how we would have fit a rear-facing older kid car seat into our European rental car. Definitely something to keep in mind if traveling to Europe.

 

[VegasBella]

If anyone needs convincing that rear-facing is safest, here you go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sssIsceKd6U
and
http://www.joelsjourney.org/

In the future, if we have self-driving cars, all the seats may be rear-facing because it's safer for any age, really.

 

[SMHarman]

One additional thought. We rented "full size" cars in Italy & Scotland. I simply can't imagine how we would have fit a rear-facing older kid car seat into our European rental car. Definitely something to keep in mind if traveling to Europe.

It's a reason Saab and Volvo did not naturally make smaller cars.

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