Hello all. I felt compelled to post about this as I feel it is important for all parents to know about. As with most child issues in our society (length of breastfeeding, when baby should sleep on own, when to start solids, vaccine schedule, etc.), parents are bombarded with information that can sometimes be incorrect. Car seat safety is one of those issues. Eli has always been on the big side, so I immediately went to work researching car seat regulations when he was an infant so I knew when I should buy a new car seat, turn him around, etc. I was surprised to find that the current American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines to turn your child's car seat forward facing at 1 year AND 20 lbs. is actually the EARLIEST.....but not the SAFEST. Research has shown (I will list the research below) that keeping a child rear facing for as long as possible is the safest. There are several brands of carseats that are made to allow children to remain rear facing for longer than the 20 lbs. guideline. Eli's car seat, for example, is a Britax Boulevard, which allows the child to be rear facing up to 35 lbs. and up to 49 inches.
This morning while I was getting ready, I had Good Morning America on and a segment about this exact topic came on. I immediately listened and was happy to see that this information is becoming more "main stream" as more and more research is conducted. Here is the segment they had on this morning that gives more detailed information. Below are also some other research that supports this important issue:
http://aapnews.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/30/4/12-a
http://baby411.typepad.com/babybargains/2009/04/experts-toddlers-belong-in-rearfacing-car-seat-until-age-2.html
http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx
Here is a quick summary for those who don't have time to visit the sites:
"When a child is in a forward-facing seat, there is tremendous stress put on the child's neck, which must hold the large head back. The mass of the head of a small child is about 25% of the body mass whereas the mass of the adult head is only 6%! A small child's neck sustains massive amounts of force in a crash. The body is held back by the straps while the head is thrown forward - stressing, stretching or even breaking the spinal cord. The child's head is at greater risk in a forward-facing seat as well. In a crash, the head is thrown outside the confines of the seat and can make dangerous contact with other occupants, vehicle structures, and even intruding objects, like trees or other vehicles. Rear-facing seats do a phenomenal job of protecting children because there is little or no force applied to the head, neck and spine. When a child is in a rear-facing seat, the head, neck and spine are all kept fully aligned and the child is allowed to "ride down" the crash while the back of the child restraint absorbs the bulk of the crash force. The head is contained within the restraint, and the child is much less likely to come into contact with anything that might cause head injury."
"Frontal and side impacts are the most common type of crashes. They account for 96% of all crashes. They are also the most deadly type of crashes (especially side impacts) and rear-facing children have MUCH more protection in both types of crashes than forward-facing. In the 4% of rear impact crashes that a rear-facing child would be in, they have at least the same amount of protection that a FF child would have in a frontal impact, with the added benefit of less crash energy being transferred to them, and the fact that the rear impact is usually not as severe."
Hope this is helpful to new moms, moms with children about to turn 1 year/20 lbs., or even moms whose child is currently forward facing and decide to make the change back to rear facing. It's never too late!
This morning while I was getting ready, I had Good Morning America on and a segment about this exact topic came on. I immediately listened and was happy to see that this information is becoming more "main stream" as more and more research is conducted. Here is the segment they had on this morning that gives more detailed information. Below are also some other research that supports this important issue:
http://aapnews.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/30/4/12-a
http://baby411.typepad.com/babybargains/2009/04/experts-toddlers-belong-in-rearfacing-car-seat-until-age-2.html
http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx
Here is a quick summary for those who don't have time to visit the sites:
"When a child is in a forward-facing seat, there is tremendous stress put on the child's neck, which must hold the large head back. The mass of the head of a small child is about 25% of the body mass whereas the mass of the adult head is only 6%! A small child's neck sustains massive amounts of force in a crash. The body is held back by the straps while the head is thrown forward - stressing, stretching or even breaking the spinal cord. The child's head is at greater risk in a forward-facing seat as well. In a crash, the head is thrown outside the confines of the seat and can make dangerous contact with other occupants, vehicle structures, and even intruding objects, like trees or other vehicles. Rear-facing seats do a phenomenal job of protecting children because there is little or no force applied to the head, neck and spine. When a child is in a rear-facing seat, the head, neck and spine are all kept fully aligned and the child is allowed to "ride down" the crash while the back of the child restraint absorbs the bulk of the crash force. The head is contained within the restraint, and the child is much less likely to come into contact with anything that might cause head injury."
"Frontal and side impacts are the most common type of crashes. They account for 96% of all crashes. They are also the most deadly type of crashes (especially side impacts) and rear-facing children have MUCH more protection in both types of crashes than forward-facing. In the 4% of rear impact crashes that a rear-facing child would be in, they have at least the same amount of protection that a FF child would have in a frontal impact, with the added benefit of less crash energy being transferred to them, and the fact that the rear impact is usually not as severe."
Hope this is helpful to new moms, moms with children about to turn 1 year/20 lbs., or even moms whose child is currently forward facing and decide to make the change back to rear facing. It's never too late!
2 comments:
our pediatrician actually sent out a mass e-mail about this about 2 months ago and i was really surprised about it. i was looking forward to turning greta around, but i don't think she'll mind staying backwards, since she normally rides in scott's jeep and she can look out the big back window! thanks for posting this!
My husband worked in a government crash test lab while in grad school and also notes the following that is never mentioned in the media: The weight of the car seat makes a big difference in a crash. The heavier a seat the less likely it is to move on impact. One of the biggest complaints the Britax and Peg Perego seats get from online reviews is that they are so heavy compared to the less expensive seats. Duh!! They should be heavy. :o) Parents should always buy a heavier carseat when possible.
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