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Old 10-19-2016, 08:28 AM
 
Location: Bergen County, NJ
4,029 posts, read 3,640,995 times
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Last year NJ passed a law requiring children under 2 years old and 30 lbs to be in a rear facing car seat. Most pediatricians say it's ok to have the car seat facing forward after age 1. My daughter is currently a little over 10 months and is pretty tall. I don't see any way she will fit comfortably while facing backwards on the car seat even a couple of months from now. Have any of you guys with babies had any problems with having a child under 2 face forward? Are police officers really enforcing this in your experience?

For reference, this law went into effect Sept 1, 2015.
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Old 10-19-2016, 08:56 AM
 
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its significantly safer to have the child rear racing. my daughter is almost 3 and i JUST swapped her. i dont know about police enforcement, but the law in NJ which just passed is 2 and under are rear facing only.
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Old 10-19-2016, 09:01 AM
 
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Try be a better driver. Don't tailgate, don't multi-task and your kids will be a lot safety regardless if they are front or back facing.
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Old 10-19-2016, 09:03 AM
 
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Prior to the law going into effect we kept our son rear facing until 23 months and he in the 90th percentile for height/weight. I wonder if maybe there's something odd about the seat? We have a Mini Countryman, so it's not like we have the world's most spacious car.

Rear facing is definitely much safer, and with car travel as relatively unsafe as it is I'd definitely think twice before moving the seat front facing so early. We do know of a crazy neighbor that kept her kids rear facing until they were almost four. I'll admit that does seem a little extreme, but going (almost) to the age of two wasn't bad for us.
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Old 10-19-2016, 09:07 AM
 
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Kids are very flexible. In Europe, they rear seat till 4. Kids are 5x safer in a rear facing seat, the newest car seats support rear facing to 50 lbs now.

Check out CarseatBlog: The Most Trusted Source for Car Seat Reviews, Ratings, Deals & News
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Old 10-19-2016, 09:22 AM
 
Location: Bergen County, NJ
4,029 posts, read 3,640,995 times
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Thank you to everyone for the feedback.

Is it really that much safer? Since other states don't have this rear facing requirement, I thought that maybe the safety was being overstated and it was really a ploy by NJ to issue fines. She fits ok now but I don't know how much longer.
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Old 10-19-2016, 09:41 AM
 
538 posts, read 733,616 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HudsonCoNJ View Post
Thank you to everyone for the feedback.

Is it really that much safer? Since other states don't have this rear facing requirement, I thought that maybe the safety was being overstated and it was really a ploy by NJ to issue fines. She fits ok now but I don't know how much longer.
It's quite a bit safer because you have a lot more support (the back of the seat) in the direction that the force would be applied in the case of a sudden stop (i.e. crash). This makes the biggest difference with the head/neck.

I think 2 years is sort of the currently generally accepted advice. I don't think too many people that actually look into it think it's considered over the top (3 or 4 would be seen as that).
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Old 10-19-2016, 09:43 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HudsonCoNJ View Post
Thank you to everyone for the feedback.

Is it really that much safer? Since other states don't have this rear facing requirement, I thought that maybe the safety was being overstated and it was really a ploy by NJ to issue fines. She fits ok now but I don't know how much longer.
Yes, it is way safer.

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Old 10-19-2016, 09:52 AM
 
3,305 posts, read 3,869,313 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HudsonCoNJ View Post
it was really a ploy by NJ to issue fines.
The fine is only $75. It's a lot for a lot of parents, but the state of NJ would make a lot more money going after other fines. I doubt anyone is going to be pulled over for this only to be charged the $75 when you can go after a speeder, get $200 and then tack this sort of thing on.

Rear facing is much, much safer, as are five point harnesses. We kept our rear facing as long as they fit and only begrudgingly moved to a booster when one of them complained around the age of six. Kids literally don't have enough mass to not prevent from being around inside a vehicle during an accident and seat belts aren't built for their lower shoulders, anything you can do to secure them is going to help everyone walk away.
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Old 10-19-2016, 09:54 AM
 
595 posts, read 677,358 times
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I was just having this conversation with a friend 10 minutes ago. It is significantly safer to keep your child rear facing for as long as possible. She will be plenty comfortable. I think as parents, we think, gee, I wouldn't want to be scrunched up like that. But their legs are light and little and they're way more flexible than we are. Both my daughters remained rear facing until they were nearly 2 1/2. They were both in the 95% percentile.
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