What's Wrong With the Rear-Facing Position?by Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger 08 Sep 2009 11:39 PM Earlier this year the American Academy of Pediatrics debuted a new safety campaign, which recommended that young children should ride rear-facing in a car safety seat up to their second birthday. Five months later, parents with toddlers and babies are still upset with the AAP for issuing what some call, "unnecessary" recommendations. Huh? Why get mad at an organization that's trying to preserve the health and well being of your child? New research indicates that toddlers are more than five times safer riding rear-facing in a car safety seat until they have reached the maximum height and weight recommended for the model, or at least the age of 2. What's so bad about that? Listen, I have a kid who still rides in a car seat. I can relate to parents, who are anxious for their child to hit the 20-pound mark, so they can turn her car seat around, especially if her legs look like they're being squished up against the back seat or she's growing crankier by the day because she can't see the driver. However, as the AAP points out, rear-facing toddlers are 75 percent less likely to be killed or seriously injured in an accident than their front-facing counterparts. And to parents who argue that sitting backwards increases the likelihood of leg injury to their tot, experts retort by saying, "It is far better to send children to orthopedic specialists to have lower extremities treated, than to send them to neurological specialists to have cervical spine injuries treated." Bottom line: If your child is using an infant car seat, she should be switched to a rear-facing convertible car seat once the maximum height (when your child's head is within 1 inch of the top of the seat) and weight (usually 22 pounds to 32 pounds) have been reached for that infant seat as suggested by the car seat manufacturer. Kids should then remain in a rear-facing convertible car seat until at least the age of 2. Related Articles: Why You Shouldn't Slide With Your Toddler Encouraging Your Toddler to Talk Simple Ways to Bond with Your Toddler Teaching Your Toddler to Lose Gracefully Learn more about Michele Cheplic  Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism. Relevanttoddlers tags Toddlers | child safety | toddler | discipline | GPS | baby products | parents | babies | boys names | baby names User Comments  drnewmom (307) 14 Sep 2009 01:57 PMI have read the reasons to keep them rear-facing and my biggest trouble is this: how the heck does one tighten the straps on a rear-facing toddler (convertible) seat? I have 3 different ones and cannot get it (and I'm a patient woman). The toggle is so far in the crease between the car seat and the car's seat back that it is nearly impossible to pull the strap down to snug it on the child (loose + rear-facing probably defeats the point). Anyhow, I have even called the company that says their seats are rear-facing to ask for tips, they were NO help! For now, I keep the straps snug and just work his arms through, but that's not going to work with winter layers!! Anybody figure out how to get them to work?  Michele Cheplic |
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