New Car Seat Law Coming...

Sherry - posted on 04/13/2011

This is interesting. I've never heard about it before. I think I turned my daughter around when she was around age 1, though I can't remember exactly. I do remember that I did not like driving alone with her as she became an older baby because she wanted to keep an eye on what I was doing and would often cry because she couldn't see me or what was going on. It's hard to tell if your baby is okay when you can't see their face and make eye contact with them. I guess a mirror would solve that problem, though.

Sarah - posted on 04/13/2011

Rose, can you elaborate? Why do you think extended RF is crazy?

Crystal - posted on 04/13/2011

Rose why do you think it's crazy to keep kids as safe as possible in the car my daughter is 20 months 23lbs 32in and RF and will until she hits the 35lb RF weight limit or has less than 1in of seat above her head my friend RF all her kids till 4 and theres a story Joel's Journey he was 18 months and 30lbs FF they were in an accident and he suffered internal decapatation the paramedics and doctors said had he been RF he would not have been ok so no i dont think it's crazy and i dont understand why people do or why they turn there kids FF way before even 1yr but i guess to each there own at least i know mine are safe

Rose - posted on 04/13/2011

omgosh that's crazy to have them facing the back!

Kimberley - posted on 04/13/2011

I don't actually understand why everyone is talking about their baby's weight? It's about the size of a child under two's head in comparison to it's body, and about neck strength.
I am fascinated by people who are getting defensive and saying it is their right to choose when they turn their child, this conversation was not started as a criticism of people who turn their children front facing. I would have hoped people who DID turn their children around before they were two would stop and think "mm maybe these people have some valid reasons for suggesting this" and do some research THEN if you still want to make the decision to turn a baby front facing, that's up to you. It is not however a risk I would take.
For the record, I turned my now 4 year old son around at 1, simply because I didn't think about it! I just did what is recommended here in NZ, but when my daughter was little I saw a video made by a grandfather about his grandson's internal decapitation and near death, that could have been prevented had the boy been rear facing and it changed my perspective completely!
Also, my daughter is a big girl too, she was 4.5 kg ( 10lb) when born and has been big ever since, and I have had no issue with keeping her rear facing. she puts her feet up on the seat, or crosses them, and she has a far better view than my 4 year old in his booster has.And regardless, even if she did have scrunched legs, and no view, and got annoyed with being backwards, I wouldn't care. It's better than a broken neck. Just like she doesn't like brushing her teeth, or having her nappy changed, she does it anyway because I know best.

Morgan - posted on 04/12/2011

I know my friend tried to have her 1 year old's car seat installed forward facing and the car seat expert at the fire station almost REFUSED to do it--and told her that soon it would be law they have to remain rear-facing until age 2. That's all I know...

Mary - posted on 04/12/2011

there have never been any reported incidences of a properly used rear facing car seat causing a broken leg. meaning **if** it has happened it was because of incorrect car seat installation. you should always have your car seat installation check by a certified car seat technician. http://www.seatcheck.org/
most fire dept and police dept will host car seat inspections.
that being said. broken leg? cast it. broken neck? casket.
rear facing properly reduces the risk of head, spinal, brain, hip and neck injury up to 5 times what it would be if the child were forward facing. also since all car seats sold in stores in america have to be tested to maintain a minimum safety standard you can spend $40 on a cosco scenera which rear faces to 5-35lbs (eliminating need for a infant carrier) and be just as safe as spending $300 on a britax or sunshine kids.

http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/car...

I, personally, have my 30.5 month old (that's a little over 2 and a half) rear facing in a sunshine kids radian xt and she's 36 inches tall and 29 lbs. She has plenty of room to grow and will be rear facing until she has reached 40 lbs or 53 inches. I also have my 11.5 month old rear facing in the same seat and she will of course be rear facing for a long time. i drive a 2000 Chevy Malibu and a 2001 Isuzu rodeo.

http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac86/...

http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac86/...

Katie - posted on 04/11/2011

I heard the same thing. When I took my son to his 1 year appointment he didn't reach the length or weight for the recommendation for forwarding facing. My doctor told me to keep him in the rear facing as long as possible. He said to try to keep him that way until he's 2. It's better & safer for when an accident does happen. I just bought a bigger car seat. My son is 30 inches and 20 lbs and he fits just perfect rear facing. I guess it just depends on how big your baby is.

Bri - posted on 04/11/2011

i've heard of this new guideline, but i was unaware that it was becoming a law. do you know around when it will be law, & if it's for the entire country?
my daughter has been forward facing since her birthday. she's 18 months and 34inches tall, 25 or so pounds. if it's safer, & i can fit her in her seat rear facing, i will do it. another 6 months isn't going to bother her.

Lacey - posted on 04/11/2011

My son RF until he was 5. Before we knew better he was FF but as soon as we found out how important it was he was back RF at 2. Our now 4yr old who is 34lbs and 39" tall and is RF. And our 2 yr old is 31 lbs and 36 1/4" and is also RF. And of course our 9 month old is RF =)

Colleen - posted on 04/11/2011

My daughter 18 months old and is 35 inchs tall and is 27 1/2 lbs. I think if she had to cross her legs or have them propped up on the seat SHE WOULD NEVER want to go into the car, he legs would go numb going anywhere! We live in ME and you have to travel to go anywhere, so I can't picture me turning her back around. She is the size of a 2 year old and off the charts for her height so I think maybe the law she get more specific about weight and age. And not just say "until 2"

Megan - posted on 04/11/2011

and my daughter is 2 and is getting very close to 40 pounds..... all of the carseats that I have found that I can afford go to 35 pounds... I dont have alot of money.... so my only option in her situation is a booster seat...

Megan - posted on 04/11/2011

I did wait until both of my children were a year old to turn them FF but I believe I turned them around on their first birthdays.... just like with formula, I threw out all the formula on their first birthdays and gave them whole milk which was my parental decision... just like the car seat issue.. the law says one year old so as long as parents are following that law I believe its up to that family when they want to turn THEIR own child around.... I hear all this criticsm for what? you do what you want with your own child and let other parents do what they want with theirs....

Jessi - posted on 04/10/2011

this is a very hard question to ask. I will admit I am one who turned their child around before age 1; however by 1 he was just as large as his 3yr old brother and unfortunately the safest place in my vehicle is the front seat (with the airbags disabled of course). The law is the law but a child too large can be just as injured facing rear as a child too small facing forward (& yes, that is my own opinion)

Sarah - posted on 04/10/2011

@Christine - where are you from? what kind of car seat did you have & what do you have now? There are TONS of car seats out there that accomodate a bigger child & still allow them to sit rear-facing. My son's convertible car seat allows him to sit rear-facing up to 35lbs. There's even car seats out there that go up to 45lbs rear-facing (I believe).

Terri - posted on 04/10/2011

For all of you who like to turn the carseat around before a year try reading this...perhaps you'll think twice, not make excuses & make better choices. Believe it or not your child will survive with their legs crossed & tantrums do pass.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/health...

Christine - posted on 04/10/2011

They better come up with a newly designed car seat cuz there is no way my son would fit rear facing until he is 2. We switched him to front facing when he was like 10 months

Heather - posted on 04/10/2011

My son is three. We had to switch him from rear-facing to forward facing before he was a year because he always wanted to see where we were going and not where he has been.

Sarah - posted on 04/10/2011

"A 2007 study in the journal Injury Prevention found that children under age 2 are 75 percent less likely to die or to be severely injured in a crash if they are rear-facing. Another study found riding rear-facing to be five times safer than forward-facing."

"A rear-facing child safety seat does a better job of supporting the head, neck and spine of infants and toddlers in a crash, because it distributes the force of the collision over the entire body," said Dennis Durbin, M.D., F.A.A.P., a pediatric emergency physician and co-scientific director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and lead author of the policy statement and accompanying technical report.


http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/03/21/car...

I don't understand why parents are so quick to turn their child around when the research is SO CLEAR that rear-facing is safer! How much more obvious does it have to get for parents to listen?

Alecia - posted on 04/10/2011

oh, and my daughter can actually see more outside than if she were facing forward. holy crap with the excuses. when did parents start letting their kids decide whats best for them?????

Alecia - posted on 04/10/2011

my daughter is about 19 mnths. she is still RF. she weighs 25 lbs and is around 32'' tall. we got her the Graco MyRide65 a lil before her first birthday. she fits just fine RF and doesnt have a prblm with it. she doesnt even know FF is an option, so using her wanting to be FF would be a lame excuse. her seat RF until 45 lbs and we keep plan on keeping her RF until she hits either the weight or height restriction (height might come first) but she will make it to at leadt 2 yrs. it seriously only takes a little bit of research to find that its actually safer for everyone to face the rear. so i think this should be law and unless there is a real reason to turn ur child around (some kids with austim need to see their parents or can be violent), then shame on u for at least not keeping them RF until a yr...since it is the law. and ERF should be the norm.

Crystal - posted on 04/10/2011

vanessa, what state do you live in because where i live there is no way ever that a cop or a doctor would reccomend FF a 6month especialy not a cop considering most states the law is 1yr AND 20lbs i would just use a mirror to see the baby and most likely it's not from being backwards FF a 6 month old is very unsafe if in an accident the baby would be seriously injured if not worse

Vanessa - posted on 04/10/2011

our pediatrician and even the cops had no problem with me turning my oldest around to face forward at 6 months because she got sick when she sat backwards, I personally dont think that it is a good idea

Tressa - posted on 04/09/2011

Never heard of this..

Corrie - posted on 04/09/2011

Is this not an obvious conversation about the stability of cars and car seats in general?
How many crashes happen a year with children in the car, in a stable, well fitted and sitted car seat, when the child is a fatality.
A car seat purchased to fit a child, properly fitted in a car, should never be seriously injured unless the crash was responsible not the seat.
Follow the rules and drive carefully.
People can ride in a taxi with their child on their lap.
I don't know how that's legal.
Sigh.

Laura - posted on 04/09/2011

Ok, just to clarify, it is not law it is AAP recommendation. That's it. While I agree with the recommendation it is not law yet. the law is 1 year and 20 pounds. And I have not seen anything that a law is in the works yet.

ASHLEY - posted on 04/09/2011

@Chelsea
My son has a britax seat and he can see out the window fine RF or FF. Of course he can only see things as we pass RF but he still has plenty to look at. It sits a bit higher than most seats so you may want to look for that so they have a better view if you purchase a new seat for RF.

Chelsea - posted on 04/09/2011

my only concern with it , i have a two year, is she hated being backward and cried and kicked and fought to get in her seat rearfacing, it is much harder to put an interactive 2 year old facing backward then an infant because she wanted to see us and talk to us and be part of what was going on and thats hard for them when they are in a hudge rearfacing seat they cant see around or out the window, having saying that i agree that it is more safe and my daughter rear faced till 18 months and now at 2(last week) she has lost a little weight and is only at 21.5 pounds, i have considered turning her back around now because she is so close to that weight requirent that it seems like she should be seated that way, but mad i dont want to go there with the fight every time i get in the car, and we drive alot because i commute to work.

Shelby - posted on 04/08/2011

i agree w. this law %100%. my son will be in a rear facing car seat as long as possible for his safety, i am not rushing his safety.

Terri - posted on 04/08/2011

Here is the link for everyone that says they have never heard about the new law, it was on CNN & every news channel in the USA http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/03/21/car... or http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/03/21/chi...

Shauna - posted on 04/08/2011

i have not heard this before

Brittany - posted on 04/08/2011

I can't keep my daughter rear facing. Her legs are simply too long. They get all crunched up into her tummy.

Tyrae - posted on 04/08/2011

@Ashley
I agree about watching the videos on YouTube. People will definitely want to keep their kids rearfacing as much as possible. I saw a video on there about a 34 month old who was forward facing and got in an accident, the poor guy broke his neck and he had to learn to walk and everything all over again. He was extremely lucky that he didn't die.

A collision can cause a babies neck to stretch up to 2 inches, and the spinal cord itself can only stretch at most 1/4 of an inch, so you can imagine what would happen to your baby in an accident. I would rather have my child as safe as possible and have them put up with being rearfacing than have them dead because I let them see out the front window. It's not worth it. Save your kids and rear face as long as possible people.

Michelle - posted on 04/08/2011

Our doctor advised us not to put our son rear facing he is 19 months old 37 in tall and 32 lbs so he could technically be in the booster without his restraints. I do however still have him in the 5 point harness. he's always been a big boy he was 10 pounds when he was born and outgrew the infant seat at 7 months outgrew his convertible at 14 months. I live in north dakota and checked with the officers and officials both said because he is in a booster that cannot be backwards without folding up on him he is fine.

ASHLEY - posted on 04/08/2011

my youngest is 2 1/2 months and 17 lbs! Yes he will be able to remain rear facing until 2 because my oldest was just as heavy and he can still rearface at 20 months. Once they start walking their weight gain slows considerably. It surprises anyone is upset about this because its for the safety of your child. If you still arent sold go to YouTube and look up "car seat crash tests" once you watch these you will want to keep ur child RF for as long as possible. You can also watch a crash test with a RF child vs. FF child. It is very clear that at any age RF is way safer.



They actually make quite a few car seats that can be used for extended RFacing. I think most parents don't notice because they are eager to turn them around. I don't think most kids ever get to the weight or height limit before being changed to a booster or FF seat.

Karen - posted on 04/08/2011

@tyrae - i was in the same boat as you for a while...when my son was 5 months old he was 20lbs and i thought he was going to be huge...however, he suprised me and now at almost 19months he's only 23lbs (got very tall but didn't gain much more weight) so your daughter might do the same thing. and i agree, if you have a 3in1 as long as you extend rearface to the weight of your seat you're still doing your child a huge favor :)

Crystal - posted on 04/08/2011

my oldest is almost 6 and still in a 5 point harness at 45in and42lbs and my youngest 20 months 23lbs 32in still RF saftey first comfort and convience last

Tyrae - posted on 04/08/2011

Well that's all fine and dandy, but my daughter is already over 16lbs and she is only 4.5 months old. She won't be able to fit into her carseat facing backwards until she is two because she is going to be too heavy for it. I am not buying another carseat either. I just went and spent over $200 for a 3-in-1...



I will be leaving her backwards as long as I can, which I think is a weight of 30lbs, might be 35lbs. She will probably be out of the rearfacing at about 20 months if she follows her growth chart (she's in the 97th% for everything).



For the person who said that children won't sit backwards until they are two because they want to see what is going on, my carseat is high enough that my daughter can already see out the side windows, so a two year old won't have a problem with that. My friend also has her daughter facing backwards still (petite child) and she is 2.5 years old. They haven't had any problems. If the child never faces forwards they won't know what they are missing so they can't get angry about it IMHO.

AManda - posted on 04/08/2011

That sounds ridiculous to me. A 2 yr old child is not going to want to face the back of the care cause they like to see whats out in front and the sides. They want to be able to see mom and dad. wow! i hope this doesn't come to

Megan - posted on 04/08/2011

@ karen- My daughter now weighs 34 pounds and she will be 3 in August, this may make me sound like a horrible mom but she is in a booster seat now, It says 30 pounds and 30 inches on the booster seat.... she weighs 34 pounds and is 36 inches tall my 4 1/2 year old son is also in a booster now he weighs 36 pounds and is around 40 inches tall

Karen - posted on 04/08/2011

@megan - i'm assuming you're talking about a carrier seat because you can get rear facing convertable seats that will fit up to 45lbs....i'm sure your 1year old would not be too big for that. my seat is an evenflo and it rear faces to 35lbs but my son is pretty small so i didn't need one that went to a higher weight. we're still rear facing at almost 19 months and we have a long way to go before we need to switch around due to weight. unless he begins to rapidly gain all of the sudden i think we'll be able to rear face until he's 3

Megan - posted on 04/08/2011

I dont know about everyone else, but if they are gonna pass that law they need to make bigger carseats, my youngest is 2 1/2 now and she barely fit in her rear facing carseat until 1!!!

Sarah - posted on 04/08/2011

Well, it's about time the law caught up with the recommendations. My 18 month (who is pretty tall) is still rear-facing & I don't plan on turning him around anytime soon. Statistics clearly show that sitting rear-facing for as long as possible, is MUCH safer. As far as the argument about their legs being cramped or hitting the back of the seat, most children are more comfortable crossing their legs anyway rather than having them dangle in front. Plus, I'd rather deal with a broke leg (which is very rare) than an internal decapitation.

Pia - posted on 04/08/2011

God I WISH that was the law in Australia. Here we can turn them around at 6 months. It's absolutely ridiculous. I kept my son RF as long as possible but couldn't past a year because he's too damn tall and you can't get RF seats for toddlers here (as far as i am aware...).
My daughter will be kept RF as long as possible also, and I'm actually looking at whether it is possible to get a larger seat shipped over here.

Lady Heather - posted on 04/07/2011

@Brittany - if your convertible seat maxes out at that height, you need a different seat! Ours works for kids 4 feet tall and maybe more. I'm sure a kid under 2 is not going to get that tall!

I hope the car seat industry catches up with this stuff. There need to be more economical options for people looking to rear face longer. There shouldn't even be convertible seats that max out way early.

Nikki - posted on 04/07/2011

I think it's a little crazy! My daughter is going to be 2 and at her 18 month check up, she was 34 1/4 inches tall and weighed 31 pounds! I honestly turned her front facing when she was 10 months old. She was only in a carrier for a week and the car seat I have and use now is great. Is convertible and will hold up to 70lbs! Which is great! I think it really all depends on the child, if they saw 2 then they need to make some other adjustments to it. Like even if they are two, they need to be x amount weight and x amount height also.

Becca - posted on 04/07/2011

I've been advised to keep my child rear facing until at least 30lbs AND 2 years. My husband and I have agreed to follow this advice.

My son is only 23lbs and 20months right now and according to our doctor won't hit 30lbs till he's 3years 8months if he stays on his current growth curve. However, my husband and I have also discussed purchasing a carseat that rear faces until 40-45lbs should we get pregnant again so that we can keep him rear-facing even longer.

I believe that when it comes down to a matter of safety that is well-documented and proven there is no such thing as "Mother knows best" because not listening to that kind of clear scientific research would be foolish. I side with the experts on this one: keep your child rear-facing as long as you can find a car seat that will allow it.

Jennifer - posted on 04/07/2011

@ Kristen - The booster seat law is just here in Ohio. They also give it a height limit of 4'8'', but pretty much, the child will be 8 before ever being that tall. My oldest is 7 and is tall for his age. He is the tallest in his 1st grade class, and he is still 6'' to short.

Terri - posted on 04/07/2011

Mandy, I would of been one of those high school girls back when lol but 4'9 is the magic number & I think but I'm not totally sure that is more important than weight. The reason for that is seatbelts are made to accomidate a person of 4'9 or larger.

Terri - posted on 04/07/2011

http://www.nhtsa.gov/Safety/CPS