Rus asked if there was another little one on the way. Alas, no, this isn't the reason why we're thinking about buying a more family-friendly car. The implication is that, unless there's another one on the way, eventually, Carson will be forward facing, assuming we can tough it out until we can turn him around.
The problem is that while the American Association of Pediatrics recommends that kids stay rear-facing at least until age 1 and 20 lbs., they also recommend to keep babies rear facing until they reach the height or weight limit of the car seat.
(For details, see this, this, or this)
The seat we have will work rear facing until he's 49" tall, or 35 lbs. Clearly he'll hit the weight limit first before we need to turn the seat around. By my calculation at 95 %tile, that might be as late as 36 months. (Then he can use that seat until he's 49" tall, or 60 lbs., which appears to be around age six)
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URL: http://rus.berrett.org/blog/
Title: I have both hands up and am backing away slowly...
Comment/Excerpt: My 3-yr-old doesn't weigh 30 lbs yet... and we switched her around probably 2 years ago. You. are. both. insane. Much love, --rus.
Name/Blog: Rus Berrett
URL: http://rus.berrett.org/blog/
Title: turned her around @ 9 months
Comment/Excerpt: http://rus.berrett.org/blog/daily_journal/2007/0329.html
Name/Blog: Rus Berrett
URL: http://rus.berrett.org/blog/
Title: wait... March 29 == 8 months.
Comment/Excerpt:
Name/Blog: Rus Berrett
URL: http://rus.berrett.org/blog/
Title: The verdict is in...
Comment/Excerpt: Dr. Kristy sez you aren't insane. So I take it all back. *grin* Just get the ML. Your concerns about your rear-facing car set bumping up against the ML's rear-seat DVD entertainment system seem somewhat moot since your son will not be in a position to watch the screen. cheers. --rus.
Name/Blog: Khan
URL:
Title: Are you suggesting...
Comment/Excerpt: The only way that would work is if we don't buy the rear-seat entertainment system, and add it later when he's forward-facing. I suppose that's one way to go, but I'm still pretty impressed with the R-class as a family car for other reasons (access to the rear seat, floor height, more spacious interior)...
Name/Blog: Rus Berrett
URL: http://rus.berrett.org/blog/
Title: How long are you keeping the car?
Comment/Excerpt: My presumption is that you aren't keeping the car for very long (3 maybe 4 years) based on your concerns about the car's resale value. So, therefore, you'll barely need the rear-seat entertainment system if you are keeping your child in a rear-facing position until he is 3-4 years of age. If you are buying the car for keeps (6 years or more), then resale values will all be so close (as measured by a percentage of the original purchase price) it hardly seems worth noting what those resale values are. Our philosophy about buying cars is to buy something that will last 20 years (or more)... so our concerns deal more with maintenance costs as opposed to resale values. But you haven't mentioned long-term maintenance costs in your blog entries, which leads me to believe that this is a short-term purchase. cheers. --rus.
Name/Blog: Khan Klatt
URL:
Title:
Comment/Excerpt: We haven't had a track record of keeping cars long, that is definitely true, but we're thinking of buying a keeper this time, hence the amount of research, and the desire for the rear-seat entertainment system. The research I've done shows that while resale value does narrow after five years, it's still significant. As far as maintenance, yes, this is part of my spreadsheet, which also includes gas and insurance. But long-term? No, the research I've found only goes out five years. Given that beyond a certain time horizon, it's all just guesswork, I'll have to be content with making the decision with the 1-5 years of data the industry generally provides.