Car seat safety - Rear Facing is Safer!

I have ten car seats... it's insane.  When my fourth child was born, the oldest was only five years old - so everyone needed a car seat.  And of course, my husband needed to have car seats for his car so that we wouldn't be moving them around all the time.  Then as the kids grew, we had to move to booster seats for the older ones.  Thus... ten car seats..

"When can I turn the car seat around?"  It's one of the most common questions I get from parents.  If your child is a big baby, then you may be anxious to turn him around to give him more space.  Several times, parents have told me that their child seems to "squished" in the car seat facing backwards, and that their child's legs seem cramped.  If your toddler is a picky eater and seems to be stuck at the 18-pound mark forever (like my daughter was), then you wonder if you child will be three years old before you can turn her around!

Many parents (including me) look forward to the day that they can finally turn their child around to be forward-facing in the car seat.  It's a milestone of sorts.  Your child can turn around like a "big boy" or "big girl."  Finally, you can see what your baby is doing (although you shouldn't be doing this while you are driving!). 

Studies have shown that rear-facing is much safer for young children.  They are disproportionately top-heavy, with their heads being big relative to their necks and bodies.  Therefore in a front-on impact, the rapid forward and back motion that a child's neck and head sustain can result in severe injury and even death.  In some European countries, it is even recommended that children stay rear-facing until 4 years of age!  I imagine that they much have a different type of car seat than what we have in the U.S. that allows larger kids to be comfortable.

It is recommended that you keep your child rear-facing as long as possible, up to age two years if you can.  Many states have laws that require rear-facing positions for children under 20 pounds and/or under one year of age.  This is good, but please realize that even longer is better.

Take a look at this video that shows the dramatic difference between forward and rear-facing car seats.



In addition to staying rear-facing as long as possible, studies have shown that five-point harnesses are safer.  Once you move your child from an infant seat to a toddler/convertible seat, look for those that have five-point harnesses.  There are also booster seats that have these as well.