Why Rear-facing is Safest - our PSA of the day

People have been asking me when I would turn Tori around to rear-facing. Well, not any time soon. The whole 20lbs/one year old thing is really deceptive. That is a minimum and by far not the safest way to go.

The **safest** thing is to wait until your child outgrows the weight or height restrictions for their specific carseat. We have the Britax Marathon, so this means 33 lbs. and her head over the top of the carseat.

We didn't turn Delaney until 18 months and even then she barely met the weight limit. But we also had the ultra-crappy Eddie Bauer carseat at that time. That carseat drove me nuts with the twisty straps!

If I had the info then that I do now, she'd probably still be rear-facing. In fact I am going to check her head height in her seat tomorrow and I may just be changing her back for a while.

Rear-Facing Carseats and Safety: "When used properly, rear-facing carseats provide significant safety advantages in frontal, frontal offset and side impacts. These types of crashes are far more frequent and severe than rear-end crashes. For these reasons, rear-facing is the safest mode of travel, especially for infants. In the USA, this recommendation is valid through the 30, 33 or 35 pound maximum rear-facing weight limit of newer convertible carseats, or until the child outgrows their convertible carseat by height. The height limit of a rear-facing carseat may be listed in the owner's manual. A child is also considered too tall for a rear-facing seat if the top of their head is at the level of the top of the carseat shell. It is NOT considered a safety issue if a child's legs are bent at the knees in a rear-facing carseat, or if their feet can touch the vehicle's seat back. At a very minimum, children should remain rear-facing until AT LEAST one year of age AND 20 pounds in weight. In countries like Sweden, children are often kept rear-facing much longer, even to 3 or 4 years old. Auto related injury and death rates for rear-facing children in Sweden are near zero because of this." Posted by Melissa on 4/28/2004 07:44:00 PM :: Permalink   
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