Spinoff on turning the car seats around

My SIL turned around our nephew when he was 9 months old (he'd grown out of the infant seat). I'd say he was 9 months and maybe 24 pounds?

Anyways, I told her that the law said he had to be one year old and 20 pounds, but her seat could be installed facing the rear for now. She works at a restaurant and told me the state police that eat in the restaurant told her he just had to be 20 pounds, the age didn't matter. Plus most troopers don't know the law anyways, so they'd not think to ask his age.

So where does that 20 pounds and a year thing come in? I tried finding the actual law on it for my state, but I could find nothing that said "20 pounds and one year old".

My DD's weren't 24 pounds when we turned them around 19 months!

 

QUOTE(Babies4Susan @ Aug 4 2008, 09:23 AM) [snapback]912462[/snapback]
My SIL turned around our nephew when he was 9 months old (he'd grown out of the infant seat). I'd say he was 9 months and maybe 24 pounds?

Anyways, I told her that the law said he had to be one year old and 20 pounds, but her seat could be installed facing the rear for now. She works at a restaurant and told me the state police that eat in the restaurant told her he just had to be 20 pounds, the age didn't matter. Plus most troopers don't know the law anyways, so they'd not think to ask his age.

So where does that 20 pounds and a year thing come in? I tried finding the actual law on it for my state, but I could find nothing that said "20 pounds and one year old".

My DD's weren't 24 pounds when we turned them around 19 months!


The laws actually vary by state. Here's a link to a basic summary of the laws. http://www.iihs.org/laws/ChildRestraint.aspx As you will see, not every state explicitly details when to move a child to front facing.

 

I guess I never realized it was a law! Learn something new every day! I always thought the law was just that a child was IN a car seat, not how the car seat was placed.

The weight, age, height, etc recommendations I always thought came from the AAP & all the studies that surrounded carseats in crash tests?!?!

 

Just a reminder to everyone that the laws don't tell you when you SHOULD turn the child to face front, they tell you when is the soonest that you CAN. It's generally advised to keep them rear-facing for as long as you (and they) can possibly stand it. I've read that in some countries (I think Sweden was one) kids ride facing backwards until they're 5! It's much safer. In fact, it would be safer for everyone, adults included, to face backwards (except the driver I suppose).

We turned ours front facing shortly before age 2. I wanted to keep them rear-facing longer, but DH wanted to turn them around. It did make rides more pleasant, as they were happier that way, but I was still worried about safety.

I understand that people don't like being told what they must do, but at the same time, I don't understand why some people don't want to make their children as safe as possible, especially when there is really no downside.

Rachel

 

Totally agree with pp. Why turn them around when it is not safe. Until they are one year old, their neck muscles are not developed enough to withstand a crash. They would likely get the same injuries as are seem in shaken baby syndrome. Why would anyone even chance it? My girls are 12.5 months and only 17 pounds so are still in the rear facing infant seats anyway ... and I plan to keep them that way for a while! I know they will likely be happier in the car if they are front facing and not reclined so much ... but I feel like they can't want what they don't even know is possible (at this age). As far as they know, if you get in the car, you get in the infant seat facing backwards!

 

Just like pps...most States do not have very detailed laws regarding car seats and restraining children. Most recommendations come from organizations but the laws are quite vague.

http://www.iihs.org/laws/ChildRestraint.aspx

http://www.saferchild.org/carseat.htm