James isn't crazy about riding in his car seat, but he's become pretty chill about it as he can entertain himself with his toys and mirror and sippy cups. I'm excited for him to be forward-facing, but I don't want to compromise his safety for a little less fussiness. He's still rear-facing and it looks like we're going to stay that way for a while.
In April 2009, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP - you know, they're the "They" in "They say...") declared that rear-facing car seats are safer for infants and toddlers. They say that toddlers ages 12-23 months are 75% less likely to experience serious injury or die than forward facing peers. Um, that's a big percentage. And it makes sense. Rear-facing seats are designed to absorb the impact of a crash and distribute it to the strongest parts of a small person's body.
Some say, "Well, I don't want their little legs to be crushed."
Actually, that's unlikely to happen. And, as horrible as it sounds, if I had to choose between broken legs or massive neck and/or head injury, well...... ok, then.
Or, "He'd be so much happier if he could see where he's going forward-facing."
Again. I'd trade a little fussiness any day for a safer ride.
Here's a great ABC News article about it, too.
But, I'll just let the crash test dummies do the talking:
**Update: Just to be clear, the rear-facing seat in this video is in the front seat for a comparison shot only. Also, the video stops before you see the inevitable whiplash of the dummy in the rear-facing seat (an unfortunate editing choice). Of course whiplash can happen in rear-facing, but it's secondary to the impact and not nearly as forceful as forward-facing whiplash**
3 comments:
I had actually briefly heard about this but had no actual research to back it uo. It does make sense, though. I hope to keep Ri rear-facing as long as possible.
I would also be curious about placement of the carseat. Right now, Ri's seat can fit in the middle of the backseat. While this is quite inconvienent, I just felt it was safer but don't really know if that's true. Plus I'm not sure if the carseats for older kids that are rear-facing can even be put in the middle. Her seat now only goes to 22 pounds so we're looking for a good seat to replace the one she has now.
Lots to consider I guess. :) Thanks for the info!
Thanks for this, Sara. Made me reconsider also. You are so smart :)
At what age are they suggesting forward facing?? Both of my kids would have nowhere to put their legs.. My pediatrician was mentioning this to me when we were there in Dec. Our carseats rear facing are all the way against the back of the seat.. I just don't know what they are supposed to do with their legs because rear facing they would be completely squished! Humm...
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