Rear Facing Vs. Forward Facing???

Rear facing as long as possible - it is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, safer for the child. Many car seat techs have their children rear facing until 3 y.o. or older.

Oh my, please keep her rear-facing! My daughter is 17 months and over 25 pounds. I intend to keep her rear-facing as long as her carseat will allow - 35 pounds. Please keep her rear-facing!

The AAP recently updated their recommendations to say that children should be rear-facing until age 2. They don't necessarily need to be in an "infant" car seat, but should be rear facing.

http://www.aap.org/advocacy/ncpsw.htm

Keep her rear facing. It's worth buying another car seat for her safety and your peace of mind. God forbid anything happen, but if you were in an accident, you would want to know that you put her in the safest situation possible. Maybe someone else has mentioned this already, but maybe you could exchange the carseat. Explain to Grandma and Grandpa that you found out that she needs a different style of carseat due to how little she is. I had to do this with my in-laws a couple of years ago and they were understanding about it. They just had wanted to help us out by buying a carseat for us, but didn't understand the newer guidlines...often for them, the fact that kids have to ride in a carseat ALWAYS is a new thing for them, LOL :)

Hi M.,
You should keep her rear facing until she is at least 2. Check out this website http://800bucklup.org/

They are located in Kirkland. Give them a call and ask to talk to Sue. She is full of wonderful information and is loves to educate. I have stopped by their office 2 times to have them look at my carseat to make sure everything was ok. Sue even came out to my house when I was pregnant and made sure the carseat was installed correctly.
Hope this helps.
Y.

I would keep your child rear facing till closer to age two. That is what I did with my son and that is what I plan to do with my daughter. It is MUCH safer for them that way as I see others gave you the info and websites on the topic. If you watched the crash test videos it would freak you out and you'd want your kid rear facing till she is 10 LOL, seriously though, the crash test videos have me scared enough to keep mine rear facing till age 2 or later.

The new car seat you have should be a rear/forward facing seat. There are tons of seats out there that go from like 5lbs up to 60+lbs and some even up to 100lbs so you should really only have to get one seat. I don't know what type of new car seat you guys have but it should be one that can go both rear and forward.

Sorry that I don't have the actual website or research. But there is lots of research that kids should actually be rear facing longer due to the majority of crash impacts and the direction they would be that rear facing is best. Rear facing, even if tall, they would be most likely to break a leg. Forward facing could be more serious head/neck injuries.
My daughter didn't reach 20lbs till 18 months and she was just fine rear facing. My son was 20lbs at 9 months and I haven't decided when I will turn him around...he's 11 months now and seems happy rear facing.

You have a lot of consistent advice from other moms. I will concur with them as well. Keep her rearfacing for as long as you can. She doesn't know the difference so it won't make any difference to her as a birthday gift. But if you want her to see more things while driving or you want to see her better (not sure if these are considerations or why you want to switch her sooner than neeeded) then you can install a large baby mirror on the seat of the car for her to gaze into/gaze around. I also mounted my daughter in the center seat for better visibility, safety, etc.

As for the car seat type. We switched our daughter into a convertible car seat when the time came (after 1 year and 20 lbs and after she outgrew the seat height wise). She was very tall, but didn't max out the seat until that time anyhow. However, you can put her into a convertible car seat, such as the Britax Marathon, and install it rear-facing until the time comes to go forward facing.

Please keep her rear facing. Here's three articles about the safety of kids staying rear facing. Is the seat from grandma convertible? Can it be both rear and forward facing? If not, can it be exchanged for one that is? My 2 year old is 36" and 30 pounds and will probably be rear facing for at least another year.

Here's a great article about keeping kids rear facing until at least 2. It's from http://baby411.typepad.com/babybargains/car_seats/

Experts: Toddlers belong in rear-facing car seat until age 2
The American Academy of Pediatrics is now recommending toddlers stay rear-facing in car seats until age 2, according to a report released today. (See below for full report).

The AAP reports:
Recent data shows why toddlers between ages 12 and 23 months who ride rear-facing in a car safety seat are more than five times safer than those riding forward-facing in a seat.

This replaces a previous recommendation that toddlers be rear-facing until age one. Other safety experts recommend rear-facing for "as long as possible"---this is the first report that specifies age 2.

The only hitch to this recommendation: some car seats won't be able to safely hold a two-year-old rear-facing. Why? According to CDC growth charts, the average weight of a 24 month old baby is 28 pounds (boys) and 26.5 pounds (girls). (FYI: We corrected these figures after a reader below pointed out our initial post overstated these numbers---we apologize for that).

While most convertible car seats work to 35 pounds rear-facing, a few models still only go to 30 or 33. Example: Combi's new Cocorro convertible seat only goes to 33 pounds. And the Combi Zeus is only 22 pounds rear facing. Most Britax seats, however, are 35 pounds rear-facing.

And remember that the 27-28 pound weight of a 2 year old is the MEDIAN figure---or 50th percentile weight. The biggest babies (100th percentile) would be close to 34 pounds by the time they hit their 2nd birthdays.

Bottom line: be sure you get a car seat that works rear-facing to at least 35 pounds.

---

Above, we posted a link to a summary of this report that is on the AAP web site. The actual article in the AAP news is on their subscription-only part of their web site (that is, not viewable by the public). Since we've received so many queries about this today, we are reprinting the entire report below:

New advice: Rear-facing car seats safer for children until they are 2

by Lori O’Keefe • Correspondent

Toddlers between the ages of 12 and 23 months who ride rear-facing in a car safety seat are more than five times safer than toddlers in that same age group who ride forward-facing in a car seat.

Overall, children under the age of 2 are 75% less likely to die or experience a serious injury when they ride in a rear-facing car seat, according to the first U.S. data to substantiate the benefits of toddlers riding rear-facing until they are almost 2 years old (Henary B, et al. Inj Prev. 2007;13:398-402).

There is a common myth that rear-facing toddlers whose feet reach the back of the vehicle seat are more likely to suffer injuries to the lower extremities in a car accident, according to a commentary co-written by Marilyn J. Bull, M.D., FAAP, AAP District V chair and one of the co-authors of the study. However, lower extremity injuries are rare with rear-facing seats, Dr. Bull wrote in the commentary (Bull MJ, Durbin DR. Pediatrics. 2008;121:619-620).

Rear-facing seats are more likely to support the back, neck, head and pelvis because the force of a crash is distributed evenly over the entire body. Forward-facing children are more likely to be injured because the force of the crash is concentrated on seat belt contact points, and younger children’s heads are disproportionately large for their small, weak necks, according to the study.

“I teach my medical students that parents worry about leg injuries but that it is far better to send children to orthopedic specialists to have lower extremities treated than to send them to neurological specialists to have cervical spine injuries treated,” said Dr. Bull. “I put it into the context of rehabilitation potential: fracture vs. paralysis.”

In Sweden, children ride in rear-facing seats until the age of 4, which has been proven to be 90% effective compared to children who ride unrestrained. However, car seats are engineered differently in Sweden to allow older toddlers to remain rear-facing longer.

“Since motor vehicle injuries are the leading cause of death in children, the Academy must do whatever it can to educate our members and the general public about the safest ways for children to ride in motor vehicles,” said AAP President David T. Tayloe Jr., M.D., FAAP. “We should make sure all of our members know to encourage parents to keep their children in rear-facing car seats as long as they do not exceed the size limits of the car seats.”

Dr. Bull noted that it takes less than 30 seconds to tell parents that children are five times safer riding rear-facing until their second birthday — a statistic that is likely to stick with parents.

Two more articles confirming that this is the new AAP recommendation:

http://askdrsears.com/news/headlines0809.asp
http://aapnews.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/30/4/...

The rule is 1 year AND 20 lbs. The advice is to keep your toddler rear-facing for longer of possible. There is not magic flip that suddenly makes it safer to ride forward facing when your child hits 20 lbs. As your child grows her proportions change and so does the strength of her neck muscles.
Just like yours, my child is tall and lean, but fortunately our infant seat was one of the larger ones and she was able to ride it until she was about 14 months, after that she spent another 2 months or so backward in the convertible.
After twenty pounds it was a toss up for us. We have a small car and the convertible seat will fit in the middle (the safest place) only forward facing, or on the side if facing backwards. So we chose the middle over the side position, if our car would accommodate a backward facing seat in the middle, she would still be facing backwards.
I would not turn her around before she is at least 20 lbs.
If the seat was purchased but not used yet, find out whether you can return it for a convertible.

There was just a notice that went out from oregon public health division regarding this very matter. What's interesting is that in europe they keep their children rear facing until around the age of four. You might be able to access the report at http://oregon.gov/dhs/ph/cdsummary it would have been the second to the most recent issue. My daughter is 2 and after reading that I wish we had access to more rear facing car seats for older kids. I would recommend you keep your little one in the rear facing car seat based on weight rather than height for as long as you can. One of the things this article talks about is that many fear that in an accident when a child is rear facing that they could get a broken leg in an accident but apparently that rarely happens, what is more important is the potential for head trauma. The forces are such when they are rear facing that their head and spine is significantly better protected this way than forward facing. Even if you have to buy another car seat your child's safety is worth it. And the risk of injury has nothing to to with a child's strength as you mention..the risk of spinal cord injury is solely based on when the vertebra are fully ossified (turned into bone) to protect the spinal cord, it has nothing to do with strength and everything to do with when bones become solid and therefore able to protect the spinal cord.

M.,

I'm not sure if the American Acadamy of Pediatrics has changed their recommendation about forward facing yet, but the recent data is that a kiddo should remain rear facing until they are 35 pounds. (the max rear facing capacity of most seats.) The data shows that head on collisions are the worst, and the most frequent type of collision. A child is safest in a head on collision if they are rear facing.
I hope that helps, and doesn't complicate things more. Good luck.
K.

M.-

I am a former Certified Professional Nanny, a ACPI Certified Coach for Parents & Families and as soon as the class is offered again, I will receive my certification as a child car safety seat installer.

I STRONGLY suggest you not turn the carseat around until your daughter is 1 year AND 20 pounds. This rule is in place due to organ development and core body strength. In an accident a child younger & smaller than that will become more injured than one facing backwards.

I also want to warn you about the straps. If they go behind the shoulders, they could snap they colarbone in an accident.

Many carseats which face forward, called convertable seats should be able to face rear too.

http://www.actsoregon.org
Acts Oregon can help you with more information.

Good Luck-

R. Magby

Rear-facing is ALWAYS safer. It would be safer for adults, too, if they built cars that way. Whiplash and spinal cord injuries are of much less concern when rear-facing.

Toddlers do not need to be turned at 1 year/20lbs. Safety experts say they should stay rear-facing until they have reached the rear-facing weight limit of the seat.

We purchased a seat with a RF limit of 35 lbs. so that our son could continue to sit this way. He is 26 months now, and still sits rear-facing. Given his rate of growth, I expect he'll sit this way for another several months.

KEEP HER REAR-FACING!! She will be safer that way for a long time. Forget abou the weight vs. age thing. The bottom line is that the longer you keep a child rear facing, the safer they are, period! It is so much better for their neck/head movements in the event of a collision.

We lost a 6 year old in a car accident, she was not properly restrained in a booster seat. Dad had a seizure while driving, ALL of her injuries were to her head and face. If she had been restrained properly, this would have been avoided. PLEASE don't turn your baby around yet. I actually had my 4 year old son ride rear-facing until he was over 2 1/2 years old, because of this. (If he wasn't so tall now, I still would!) I have no plans of turning my now 9 month old son around until the same age, even longer if possible.

What kind of seat did your parents buy? If it is a carseat that can be strapped in either rear or forward facing, by all means use it -- just use it REAR facing!! I have already taken my baby out of the carrier - he is on the lighter side as well (he was 16 pounds at 8 mos) but he got too hefty to lug around in the infant carrier! He rides rear facing in the same seat that he will now use for the next several years. It can be used facing either way.

Kim

Many of the car seats are made to be used in both directions, that they have liners to make the seat fit smaller infants and babies. Safety first!!! Keep your seat facing the rear until she has the weight and body development. It's about the force at impact and how that is absorbed or mitigated by the placement of the seat. Her chest area, her neck and shoulders are of concern. A reward for turning 1? No, you want her to see 2. Sound more like this is your reward and you want to have an interactive conversation with her while driving. Get a non-breakable mirror to put on the seat where her seat is fastened. That way she'll be able to see you and you her.

Both of my girls (very tall and big for their ages) sat rear-facing in a convertible seat long past the one year and 20 lb mark, my oldest was 20 months before we turned her around! They have changed their recommendation to 2 years and 35lbs now. It is SO much safer to sit backwards. I've been in two really bad accidents with my oldest and would let them sit backward until they were 18 if I could!

i would always go rear facing no matter how old the child is until the have outgrown the weight for rear facing in the car seat. our daughter is almost 2 years old 33 inches long and 28 pounds, she is still rear facing. utube.com has videos comparing rear facing with forward facing, thats how we became convinced that until our daughter is 35 pounds she must stay rear facing. we get comments about her car seat from a lot of our family, but studies show its the safest option. good luck :)

I strongly urge you to keep her rear facing until she is 20 lbs. I am not sure who told you its more about strength than weight, but they are mistaken. The guidelines for shild safety restrants are very strick, for a reason. Your Childs safety is #1. I am not insinuating that you feel otherwise, I only suggest that you trust the labels. Visit www.nhtsa.gov for all the information on child safety regulations, laws, recommendations. They rate Child Safety restrants and have some great information. The weight and age restrictions are the most important to follow.
Have you checked with the forward-facing carseat to see if it can also face backwards? Many of them do. I urge you to consider returning it for a proper one if you are not satisfied with the safety of it. I know your parents would understand your concerns. I hope I have been able to help.

you do not need to get a new car seat. use the new one that the gparents bought but put it rear facing. Also they now say to keep them r rear facing as long as possible. i left my daughter rear facing till she was 15 months.

rear facing is always the safest
in europe they rear face until age 4 75 percent less chance of spinal injury that way
Rear-facing is the safest position the child can ride in. It is strongly recommended that all children stay rear-facing beyond the minimum requirements of 1 year and 20 lbs. Children should not be turned forward-facing until they reach the maximum rear-facing limits of a convertible seat (that allows rear-facing to at least 30 lbs). These limits are either the maximum rear-facing weight limit or when the top of their head is within one inch of the top of the seat shell, whichever comes first. While most parents are aware that they must keep their children rear-facing "until they are AT LEAST 1 year old AND 20 lbs", very few are told that there are significant safety benefits when a child remains rear-facing as long as the seat allows. For most children, rear-facing can and should continue well into the second year of life.

Sorry to say but she should be rear facing until at least TWO. Checkout carseat.org and learn more about this. Her legs will be fine even if they're bunched up a little, but the difference in outcome in a crash can be quite dramatic between rear and front facing. In fact, I thought I had read that the American Academy of Pediatrics just changed their official recommendation from one-two and even three if you can do it.

Keep her rear facing as long as you can. I turned my daughter at 16 months then later found research that made me wish I had kept her rear facing MUCH longer. Rear facing reduces the risk of internal decapitation if you are in a wreck. Strength has nothing to do with it.
Does your new car seat able to rear face? Many car seats are both rear and forward facing.

Our pediatrician told us rear facing was best until our little guy was two! He was very blunt that it was just plain safer. It isn’t overall strength that is the concern, but the strength of their heads and necks. We have a convertible car seat (a Britax Marathon), so were able to keep our guy rear facing for a pretty long time. Would the grandparents consider exchanging the car seat for a convertible one? This is a safety issue, not something you are making an arbitrary choice about. I know how you feel. It was really inconvenient for us to keep our guy rear facing for longer (our front passenger seat was really squished to accommodate the car seat in the back), but we knew we couldn't stand it if we made the choice to turn him early and he was hurt in an accident.

I would keep her rearfacing until she is 20 pounds. If something happened to her and she was forward facing, you would never forgive yourself.

I would keep her rear facing as long as you can. My 15 mo old is still rear facing (I think she may have be just about 20 lbs now) Her pediatrician told me that the new reccommendations are to keep them rear facing as long as the weight limit on the car seat will allow for it, and to try to get as close to age 2 as possible. She said this is based on new research of accidents and the impact on head/neck injuries. Also said that in Sweden they are making car seats to keep kids rear facing until age 4! (Can you imagine a 4 year old who wouldn't put up a stink about that?!)

Most laws and all car seat manufacturers say that a child needs to be BOTH 12 months AND 20 lbs to face forward. You might consider switching the gift for a convertable car seat. Evenflo makes one (I have one) that is rear facing to 30 lbs and then forward facing to 40 lbs. This will eliminate the need of a 3rd seat.

The American Pediatrics Association has issued new guidelines suggesting that babies be kept rear facing until they are two years old.

Our Pediatrician (and the APA in general) is now saying 18 months or more for rear facing, if possible, I believe - which is more than previously advised. We do know many families who DO have to make the switch earlier, though, because their cars can't fit new seat backwards.. I was really glad we were able to "test fit" our new seat at Babies R Us before we bought it. Good luck!

T Beeman, Shoreline

I don't have a definite answer for you, but the other big issue (besides weight and strength) is the ratio of head to body size. In my understanding, by the time they're a year old, they're not quite so top-heavy (their bodies have grown into their heads) and they have developed the muscles to control their heads better, so it's alright to turn them forward, even if they may be a little under the optimum weight. You might want to check with your pediatrician, just to be sure, though.

Maybe the car seat they bought is a convertible car seat but if not, try and exchange it for one. They can go both backward and forward. It is so important to leave them rear facing as long as possible. I think I finally turned my daughter around at 20 months and she was well over the weight limit by that time. I probably would have left her that way longer but her legs were too cramped up, which isn't good.
Britax makes a lot of convertible seats that go up to 65lbs now, so the invest is worth the money in the long run. They are kind of pricey, but honestly, they are awesome car seats.
I think the NHTSC(traffic safety people) are saying that under 4 is best to stay rear facing. But it is hard because by a certain age your kid wants to face forward. And most car seats have a rear facing weight limit.
But try as hard as you can to leave her backwards for as long as possible.

I have recently heard that doctors would prefer that kids stay rearfacing longer anyway because it is so much safer. What I would do if I were you would be to buy a Britax car seat that can be rear facing and then you can also turn it around when she is big enough. This will be a bigger carseat so she will fit but she will also be safe. Other brands than Britax might be versitile like this but I dont know - I just know that ours can go backward or forward.

I would see if your parents car exchange their gift car seat for one that will accommodate her size. It is recommended that you leave a child rear facing for as long as possible. The year mark should not be an indication as leaving them rear facing is the safest. My son was rear facing until 15 months, and the Britax Roundabout or Marathon is the way to go. It can go rear and forward facing and has a long use either way.

http://babyproducts.about.com/od/carseats/qt/rear_facing.htm

I think we accepted the fact that we'd need 3 seats if we used an infant carrier. Not cheap if you want to do it well, but probably the best route to take...

I'm really short, so with both my girls, I was happy to stop using the infant carrier. We did a Britax Roundabout with our oldest, rear-facing until she hit around 24 pounds, which was about 15-16 months. We did note that she was a much happier traveler when we did turn her around because she could stretch her legs out finally! When we had a second child, we decided to put her in the Britax rear-facing at around 4 months... which meant we had to buy a new seat for the toddler. We went with a Graco Nautilus because she's not quite 3, and it has harnesses for front facing until 65 pounds and then it can be a high back booster, and eventually a backless booster. It's pretty cool.

We put our daughter in a forward-facing car seat when she was 11 months old. She wasn't 20lbs yet, but definitely hit the hight limit for the backwards-facing car seat. And she was so happy to be able to sit and look out of the window rather than sitting reclined in her other car seat. I think it depends on personal preference of the child. If you notice that she's unhappy with her current car seat, it's probably time to put her in a forward-facing seat.

The recommendation from safety experts and the American Academy of Pediatrics is to rearface (RF) to the limits of the seat which is 30-35lbs on all convertible car seats sold in the US. My daughter rode RF until she was 3 ½ and would love it if she still could, but she reached the weight limit on her Britax Marathons and had to be turned FF.

I have included several links with great pictures and videos of what happens to children’s necks when they are FF in a crash.

Most people are concerned about their child's legs being scrunched or broken in a crash. There is absolutely no evidence that shows a child's legs are in danger and I would much rather deal with a broken leg, than a broken neck.

Highly recommended convertible carseats are the Britax Decathalon, Boulevard and Marathon; Sunshine Kids Radian; Evenflo Triumph ADVANCE; Cosco Scenera; Graco MyRide; and Safety First Uptown.

Stay away from the Alpha Omega 3-in-1 seats only harness to 40lbs and most 40lb weight limit seats are outgrown before a child is mature enough for a booster seat. They also have very low top harness slots, so are outgrown by height at around 2 or 3 years old. The Graco Comfortsport also has very low top slots.

Great Message Boards:
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&...
http://car-seat.org/
http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/main.asp?webtag=Carseats...

General Info:
http://www.thecarseatlady.com/car_seats/rear-facing_seats...
http://www.aap.org/family/carseatguide.htm
http://www.tribstar.com/news/local_story_343205333.html
http://www1.freewebs.com/sacredjourneys/newbornpreschool.htm
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4144421a10.html

Videos that show Importance of RF:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qef1TXZ05Dg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMFPSStXfqE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2DVfqFhseo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRP7ynNI8mI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3BBv78HV6I&feature=re...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y2DVfqFhseo&feature=related

I've always heard that it is safer to keep them rear-facing and that you should do it until it becomes uncomfortable for them to remain in a rear-facing position. The 20 lbs is the minimum she should weigh before moving her to forward-facing. Especially, since she is small-ish at 1, you should keep her rear-facing. She won't mind!

I would exchange the carseat for one that rf's to 35-40lbs. My daughter is 7 months old and we have a Truefit, which rf's to 35lbs and FF's to 65lbs. The AAP now recommends keeping your child rfing up to age two or the weight of the carseat rfing(35-40lbs). The 1 year and 20 pound rule is a bare minimum. The MyRide65 rf's to 40lbs and the Evenflo Triumph Advance is another great seat that rf's to 35lbs & FF's to 50lbs. Rear-facing really is the safest mode of transportation.

it depends on what kind of car seat she got a the gift. A lot of the car seats for 20+ lbs can be rear facing as well. Look it over or do some research online.

My research has said that waiting till they are one year old AND over 20 lbs. not 19 or 18 lbs but 21+. If the car seat is still new and in the box you may be able to return it for one that can be rear facing as well.

Good luck
C.

Can this new forward facing carseat go rear facing as well? I have a 14 month old baby girl, 22 lbs now and 31 inches. At her 12 month check up our pediatrician told us that the new national recommendation is that she be rear facing until she is at least 18 months old and ideally until 30 lbs. I questioned her on the height issue and she said that it was easier to fix broken legs than it was to fix a neck or brain injury. Made sense to me so my little girl is still rear facing. I might be over cautious so take my advice for what it is worth. Good luck.

Your daughter is safer facing backward and should stay that way until she weighs 20 lbs. You should only be concerned about the measurements if her head is over the edge of the carseat. If her legs are over the edge, the infant seat is just fine. Don't sacrafice your daughter's safety for a few months in the infant carrier.