Rear-Facing Car Seats Should Be Used Longer

 

The experts advise parents to keep babies using rear-facing car seats for absolutely as long as possible, even tto the weight and size limits of their rear-facing car seat. Beyond one year and 20 pounds, extended rear-facing type seats have big safety advantages that parents should especially consider. The most current research data on this subject shows that toddlers that remain rear-facing until age two are up to five times safer in a vehicle. It isn’t a milestone to rush to turning around baby's car seat. Parents are advised not be in a hurry to make the big switch around because it is definitely a big step down in safety.

You'll probably recall well-meaning advice that says one year/20 pounds. That is a bare minimum standard as well as an old standard. Children are much safer if they remain in a rear-facing car seat longer than a year. Because of higher rear-facing weight limits on car seats, most all toddlers can remain rear-facing upt to age 2 and many times beyond.



Why Rear-Facing? Car seats are structured to take in some crash energy and spread remaining crash forces over a bigger area of the body. For adults, seat belts distribute force to the strongest parts of the body, the hips and shoulders. Infants and toddlers don't have many body parts that are strong enough to withstand crash forces, so the rear-facing car seat distributes the crash force along the entire back, neck and head, putting less stress on any one part of the body. The infant's head, which is large and heavy for a still delicate neck to support, is also better supported with a rear-facing car seat. The amount of traumatic head and neck injuries for babies and toddlers is hugely reduced in rear-facing car seats. The infant’s "ride-down time," the time it takes to come to a complete stop, is also made longer, which reduces injuries by reducing the body trauma from a sudden stop.



Infants are given the best chance for survival and less chance of injury because the rear-facing car seat provided the best  “ride down” times in a crash. The best way to estimate crash force is weight times speed. A 10-pound baby in a 30 mph crash would experience an estimated 300 pounds of force. A rear-facing car seat spreads that 300 pounds of force over a greater body area, causing less injury to the baby.



So You Think Your Baby Wants to Be Front-Facing! Even if your baby cries when rear-facing, and their legs are touching the seat back, the experts would tell you that you should still keep baby rear-facing until he or she reaches the rear-facing weight or height limit of the car seat. The large majority of convertible car seats have rear-facing weight limits of 35-40 pounds currently, so you should be able to keep your toddler rear-facing at least to age 2, or longer. Some children will never like sitting in a car seat, so they may fuss or cry. Although, being properly restrained makes a greater likelyhood that a baby or toddler will survive a crash to cry another day.



Some parents are concerned that their baby will get broken legs in a crash because baby's legs touch the seat back or look cramped when rear-facing. However, it's important to remember that in a severe enough crash that might break baby's legs, there would also be enough force to cause severe neck injuries if your baby or toddler was forward-facing. It's never fun to choose between various injuries, the chance of full recovery is much better for broken legs than broken necks. Similarly, if your baby fusses while in a rear-facing car seat, it may seem easy to turn baby around to keep him or her happy. Again, though, you're choosing between a fussing baby or the chance of severe head, neck and spine injuries.



What If Baby Is One Year Old and Weighs 20 Pounds? Safety advocates for car seats recommend that babies stay in a rear-facing car seat to the weight limit of the seat or at least until age 2. Presently, the American Academy of Pediatrics has revised their car seat policy and now recommends rear-facing should be used to age 2. In fact, a number of car seat manufacturers today have rear-facing weight limits up to 40 pounds, which would accommodate most children through age 3 as well as some older. Make sure you check the manufacturer's rear-facing height limit in case baby might be too tall to safely remain rear-facing to the maximum limit of weight. Most experts advise to simply leave your baby rear-facing at this point. This is because there are greater advantages as far as safety which far outweigh any convenience.



The best recommendations that I can make is to choose a car seat with a high rear-facing weight limit and tall shell. Then you should use it rear-facing as long as possible. This would keep many toddlers rear-facing beyond age two. In my daughter’s experience, she was three before she reached the rear-facing limits for her car seat.



What are the advantages of keeping your toddler rear-facing? Data compiled from crash testing reveals that anybody is safer in a crash when riding rear-facing for the reasons outlined above. Though your baby's neck may now be strong enough to withstand certain types of forward-facing crash energy, they are still much better protected in a rear-facing car seat because that seat will distributes the energy over a much greater body mass area and will give better support to their developing head and neck.



It is very, very vital to emphasis again that rear-facing car seats offer the greatest protection for babies, toddlers and young children. Rear-facing safety seats should be used for as long as possible, even to the of the car seat’s weight and height limits. Crash experts no longer recommended to turn your baby around immediately upon reaching one year and 20 pounds. This is back up overwhelmingly by new research that reveals the safety advantages of extended rear-facing. A study done in 2007 revealed in the Journal of Injury Prevention demonstrated that rear-facing toddlers under age 2 are more than 75 percent less likely to die or be seriously injured in a crash. Statistics from NHTSA, a rear-facing car saftey seat is 71 percent safer than no restraint at all, while a forward-facing car seat is 54 percent safer than no restraint at all. The conclusion is that keeping your baby rear-facing to the limit of the seat is absolutely the safest and smartest choice. Do check your car seat instruction book or the manufacturers labels usually found on the sides of the car seat to find the rear-facing weight and height limits.