A great video about why it is so important to keep your child rear facing...

for as long as possible in their car seats!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvyIv9QVRBE

omg i didnt even know you could keep them rear facing for longer than a year!  What a good video, thanks!

I am glad it helped! I am a nut about carseat saftey (as well as other things LOL), and the crash test video in there was enough to convince me that Matty needs to be rear facing until he is 14!

I said something to Tristan's Pedi about it since he's so big (like the size of a 12-18 month old) and he said to wait "until his knees are up his nose".... that's a mental picture I'll never forget! lol.

That's a good pedi! So many of them give out crappy information on carseat saftey, it makes me crazy.

 Thanks for the video!  I've shown my husband and he finally agrees with me about keeping Alex rear-facing.  Though, when should they come out of a "carrier" style carseat and go into a convertible?  Alex's carrier holds 32 lbs.  He'll be like 4 by the time he's 30 lbs! lol

While the weight on alot of the carriers is high, the HEIGHT is often much shorter, so that would be a good indicator, but really once you aren't really using the carrier as a carrier (usually because they are too darn heavy LOL) then it's probably time. Matty is very small, still under 20 lbs, but he is very long and we will be moving him into a convertable within the month because I just don't use the carrier anymore, and they are having a car seat instalation at our local firehouse so want to just make the change then to make life easier. One less thing to think about (or worry about LOL).

 Alex's carrier goes to 32" as well as 32 lbs.  He's still under 20lbs, and only 28 1/4", so I don't see us exceeding that anytime soon.  I have not carried the carrier since about April.  Darn carrier weighs almost as much as him, or so it feels!  I honestly could get away with the carrier for quite a bit longer.  I was just wondering if there are any issues with that?  I'm looking to probably replace his carrier seat with a convertible seat later in the fall.. well after his 1st birthday.  

 I have seen it that when their head is within an inch of the top of the seat, it's time to switch.

I wanted to do a little reading before I responded! The articles and advice I have read on this in the last couple of hours, says that as long as the seat is rated to a weight and height, then it is safe to use it unti your child exceeds one or the other! So I don't think there is any issue with you using it for a while longer.