More Car Seat info than You cared to Know!

this is a little bit jumbled...but maybe you'll follow my thought process.

We haven't exactly done things the "mainstream" way of doing stuff when it comes to parenting. Cloth diapers and delayed vaccinations probably put us up there with the "weirdos" when it comes to our parenting style. But we've also done something else that is a little out of the norm. Eden is officially 18 months old. And as of yesterday, she's officially a forward-facing little toddler in her car seat. (this is gonna be one of those parenting blogs that you non-parents have my permission to completely skip over)  :)

I'm not sure who decided that 1 year old is the official age kids should be turned in their car-seats but apparently there is a little bit of misinformation out there concerning this topic.

*disclaimer...I'm not trying to bash anyone's parenting choices here. We all do what we think is best for our kiddo.

After doing some research on car seats (when we had to buy one for Eden at 8 months old) I learned that most babies can be turned forward facing at 1 year old. That's to say that they are legal to be turned around at that age. However, if you'll read your handy dandy manual on your car seat you'll see that it recommends remaining rear-facing for as long as possible.  Kids out grow rear-facing requirements by height or weight eventually, but RARELY before their first birthday. So when choosing Eden's first car seat, we went with a convertible one that could be rear-facing for a long time.

I knew I wanted to make it at least until she was 18 months old before turning her around. Well just recently she passed that mark. And getting ready for another baby to share the back seat with, we went ahead and turned her around and moved her next to the window. Part of me still freaks out about it a little...she still has lots of room to grow in her car seat and still be rear-facing! But the girl has become quite the chatter box in the car now. She's never really been THAT quiet in the car anyways, but now that she can see stuff out the window, she loves it!! So there's not going back now!

We've been tempted many times to turn her around much sooner simply because she has HATED her car seat. We usually bribe her with a DVD, or snacks, or just hope that she falls asleep. But I'm so glad we stuck with it until now.

Anyways, I could go and post a whole bunch of links on statistics that prove it's much safer to leave them rear-facing, but I'll let you do that work. And if you do actually look into it, make sure you check the unbelievably frightening youtube crash test videos on that topic. :)  There are children that are still rear-facing that are 3 years old! Kudos to their parents! It can be done...just look into it and make sure you are doing what is best and safest for your kiddo! :)