Rear Facing Car Seat

Hopefully this won't be controversial, but being that I work in a Trauma Unit at a hospital, a lot of us are trained on car seat safety (it's a LONG, multiple day class!). A lot of us here have LOs nearing 12 mos & the 'golden milestone' of turning our kiddos around, but hopefully this video will help make up your mind to keep them rear facing as long as possible. The ideal time frame is until the child outgrows the limits of the seat (weight & height) before turning them forward...and you'll see why if you check out the video!

I was sooo excited to turn my boys forward, but now they're gonna stay rear facing as long as they possibly can!!!!!! I just wanted to spread the word in efforts to try to keep other precious peanuts safe!!!!

Carseat Video

 

Thanks for the video -- we were already going to keep them rear-facing - but this re-inforces that decision. Always good to be well informed!!

 

Thanks for the video - this is so important for parents to know!

We kept our older DS rear-facing until he was over 2 years old and hit the 33lb limit for rear-facing in his seat. Our twin boys will also sit rear-facing until their weight hits that magic 33lb point. It is just SO much safer.

 

Thanks for the info. I too am a nurse (peds, infants/toddlers) and have seen everything from multiple fx to severe brain injury. It scares the heck out of me. I have a question though. What if your child is in a convertible car seat such as the models in the video. Is there anything special you have to do? We have the Britax roundabout and I thought that it was safer to turn them forward at a certain age? I'll look into it also but please let me know if you can. :winking0009: Thanks

 

I'm not a carseat tech, but I can tell you what we did with our DS rear-facing until he was 2. We have a Britax Marathon for him - and we just strapped him in rear-facing until he hit the weight limit on the seat (read your owner's manual to find out, but if you have the Roundabout, I bet it is also 33lbs). I think the only thing different with the straps for rear-facing is that the slots are supposed to be below the child's shoulders when they are rear-facing and above the child's shoulders when forward facing.

I think I even read that the AAP has revamped their statment on forward facing and they now recommend a child stays rear-facing through the limits of the seat.

Here's what I copied from their recommendations:

If a car safety seat accommodates children rear facing to higher weights, for optimal protection, the child should remain rear facing until reaching the maximum weight for the car safety seat, as long as the top of the head is below the top of the seat back.3

http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/c...trics;109/3/550

 

I am keeping my twins rear facing for as long as possible.
We have new neighfors who just mived in - they have their 8 month old (not a large baby) forward facing - scares me to death - and mom is a nurse!!!!

 

Mine were rear facing up to 15 months and about 25-26lbs. So technically I could have gone longer, but I had installation issues with 3 across, and I feel I got an even better (and therefore safer) fit with forward facing seats (first I had the 2 rear facing next to eachother, otherwise my oldest wouldn't be able to get in the middle). But I am happy they were well over the 20lbs and well over age 1.

 

We will also be leaving ours rear facing a while longer. Our seats only go to 30 pounds, so likely we will switch them as they get closer to that!

On another note, I saw a woman with a newborn forward facing, in a graco snugride without a base. When I asked her about it, she said she liked to be able to put the babies paci in.

I wanted to cry!

 

QUOTE(mstofko21 @ Jun 19 2008, 12:37 PM) [snapback]834656[/snapback]
Thanks for the info. I too am a nurse (peds, infants/toddlers) and have seen everything from multiple fx to severe brain injury. It scares the heck out of me. I have a question though. What if your child is in a convertible car seat such as the models in the video. Is there anything special you have to do? We have the Britax roundabout and I thought that it was safer to turn them forward at a certain age? I'll look into it also but please let me know if you can. :winking0009: Thanks


The Roundabout should have a tether that you can use rear-facing and that will keep the seat in place during an accident. With that addition, it is much safer than forward facing.

 

Thanks for sharing that. It's really scary to watch, but good to know.