Carseats

The past few times I've taken my daughter, L, to the pediatrician, he's asked if she was still rear facing. Although L has been growing lots, she's still smaller than many kids her age. She still fits in (with a fair amount of room to grow) and uses her infant carseat. Our pediatrician has talked to us about keeping her rear-facing for as long as possible. Things he's talked to us about:

*The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that children remain rear facing until AT LEAST 2 but preferably until the child reaches the weight or height limit of a convertible carseat.

*It's expected that many states will change the law for forward facing carseats to match the AAP's recommendation.

*When a young child is in a crash and their head is thrown forward, their skull can be detached from their spine. This is called internal decapitation. A child’s head makes up about 25% of their body weight, while in an adult it is only about 6%. So much weight being thrust forward is a factor in internal decapitation. When a child is rear facing, the car seat cradles the head in a crash. When forward facing, there is nothing in front of the child’s head to restrain it.

*Rear facing is 75% less likely to die or incur a serious injury in a car crash than forward facing.

Before our pediatrician talked to us, I really had no idea. It seemed normal to switch an infant to forward facing when they outgrew the infant carseat or reached the state minimum of at least 1 and 20 lbs.

I thought this video provided a good visualization of the difference between forward and rear facing in a crash.



Quick Reminders when using any carseat:
*Choose a good seat. There is no “best” seat for everyone. The best seat for you is the one that fits well and is installed correctly EVERY time in your car. To get help with your install, type your zip code into this website.

*Don’t use aftermarket products in your seat. Anything that was not manufactured by the company who manufactured your car seat is not necessarily safe. It will void your warranty and has not been crash tested with the seat. There are no federal regulations or standards for these products.

*Don’t use bulky coats in the car seat. More info here.

*Make sure the straps are very snug and secure and that the chest clip is at armpit level.

For those of you that are wondering (which is probably very few), this is the carseat I've decided to buy when L outgrows her infant seat. Two things I really like about it are its very high weight and height limits (it's the only other car seat I'll need to buy) and its narrow enough to fit 3 seats across (or 1 seat and 2 passengers, 2 seats and 1 passenger, etc.) the backseat of my Ford Focus.

Sunshine Kids Radian XTSL