Extended Rear-Facing Carseats

Hey everyone! I'm writing this post just because it's been nagging at me. I am not trying to tell anyone how to raise their children or what to do. I'm just passing along some information that I've learned that's not completely main-stream.

In addition, I want to explicitly state that I'm obviously not a professional. We have several men at Elston Family Church who are part of the Safety sector of our community. We have two city police officers, one sheriff's deputy, one fireman, and one state-certified childseat installation expert that I know of off the top of my head. I know that any one of these men would be MORE than happy to help you check your child's carseat requirments and make sure they are safe and secure in your vehicle. :)

We all know that our children are required by law to ride facing the rear of the vehicle until they are *at least* one year of age *and* 20 lbs. What many parents don't know is that these are the very minimum requirements for turning your child around to face the front of the vehicle. Many child safety professionals, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, encourage parents to leave their child's carseat in a rear-facing position until they grow out of the rear-facing height or weight limits (reference the first bullet point in the link provided). This is often long after the 1 year/20 lb. milestone.

A young man made a YouTube video to tell his sister about the importance of keeping his niece rear-facing until the limits of her seat. It's one of the better videos that does not use scare tactics. There's a point in the video where it shows crash tests performed with a child dummy in both rear-facing and forward-facing positions. The difference in protection is actually quite astounding. This is a link to the YouTube video. Or you can watch the video at the top of the post.

A young infant/toddler's head is disproportionately large and heavy for their bodies, and their neck muscles are not completely developed. Because of those two facts, it is more likely that a child will sustain a disabling or life-threatening spinal cord injury when riding forward-facing instead of rear-facing in the event of a collision.

Ruby reached 20 lbs. at 14 months of age and she was 27" in length. I could have turned her around at that point. However, Ruby has inherited her father's huge noggin, and I feel more comfortable leaving her rear-facing for a little while longer. Her specific carseat allows children to ride in the rear-facing position until they are 35 lbs. or there is less than 1" of hard carseat shell above the top of the child's head. I'm not sure that she will tolerate being rear-facing until she reaches those milestones (at this rate, she may be four years old before she reaches 35 lbs.). :) However, I'm going to try to keep her rear-facing until she simply won't allow it any longer.

Again, my only intent in posting this information is to inform. I swear that I do not judge anyone who turns their child around when the law allows. For one, I don't know your child's weight or height, so I could not make an accurate judgment anyway. :) I just wanted to post this so that anyone who didn't know this information could be aware and then make their decision with all the facts. I love each of you and your children so dearly, and I can't seem to get this issue out of my mind, so I decided to go ahead and post it.

Love you!!