The rule used to be 1 year/20lbs to turn your child forward facing in their carseat. Now the recommendation is to at least 2 years of age or longer. I personally, rear face to the maximum weight of the seat(which was 35lbs with the MyRide 65). My daughter had just turned 4 when we forward faced her. One year/20lbs is the bare minimum and in terms of your childs safety, why would you want to do the bare minimum?

A lot of parents ask “where will my baby puts his/her legs?” OR “won’t they get broken in the event of a crash?” Well kids are quite agile and they will often fold their legs Indian style, put them up the back of the seat, or hang them over the sides. And in the event of a crash that would break a baby’s legs, the possibility would be that forward facing, the baby would end up with a broken neck. I would strongly suggest keeping your child rear facing until the height/weight requirements of the seat you purchase. I realize a lot of parents think turning your child around at 1 year old is a milestone, but there is always that chance you end up in a crash and something horrible could happen–I know we all want to see our kids reach ALL their milestones.

Facts are:

- rear-facing child safety seat does a better job of supporting the head, neck and spine of infants and toddlers in a crash, because it distributes the force of the collision over the entire body.

-A 2007 study in the journal Injury Prevention showed that children under 2 are less likely to die or be severely injured in a crash if they are riding rear facing.

- In a front facing car seat, the force of a crash can jerk the child’s head causing spinal cord injuries.

Here are a list of seats that accomodate extended rear facing up to 45lbs:

1. Britax Marathon 70

2. Sunshine Kids Radian65SL (Sunshine Kids recently changed names, they are now Diono.)

3. Graco Smart Seat All-In-One

4. Cosco Scenera 40RF(BEST BUY at $64.99)

5. Orbit Baby Toddler Carseat

6. Britax Roundabout 55

7. Evenflo Triumph 65 LX

8. Recaro ProRIDE

9. Sunshine Kids Radian80SL

10. Graco MyRide 65

11. The First Years True Fit Recline

12. Britax Advocate 70 CS

13. Safety 1st Complete Air 65 LX

14. Evenflo Momentum 65 DLX

15. Sunshine Kids RadianXTSL

16. Britax Boulevard 70 CS

17. Britax Marathon Classic

I myself, just purchased the Graco Smart Seat today for my baby due the end of May. Yes, its $300, but I think it is well worth the price as it goes from 5lbs-100lbs. I easily spend that on an infant seat and a convertible seat. And until the 20th, if you take certain items to Babies R Us(check their site for specifics), you can get 25% off participating items. So I traded my youngest daughters MyRide 65(she’s in a Graco Nautilus now), for the Smart Seat and saved $75! I actually traded a stroller in last year for the Nauti. I’d definitely take advantage of the couple of times a year they do this. It makes some things a real bargain.

*And always remember, even if you have turned your child forward facing, you can turn them back:)