Rear-Facing Car Seats

My mother-in-law has decided to help with my pregnancy by taking our little “Kicky Pants” out for daily fun and bonding to allow me to get some work done during the day. Which means time for car seat shopping! This car seat shopping has brought up a lot of questions about when you should turn your child to forward facing. Texas law requires a infant to stay rear facing in a car seat for at least one year of age and 20 pounds in weight. However, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, other child passenger safety organizations, and the nurses from the Baylor Frisco Hospital, it is safest to keep your child rear facing for as long as possible. Some convertible car seats will allow you to keep your child rear facing for up to 30-35 pounds, but the new line of Britax car seats allow you to keep your child rear facing for up to 40 pounds.

Here is a great summary of reasons why you should keep your child rear facing that I found on the Car-Safety.org website:

“-Rear-facing is safest for both adults and children, but especially for babies, who would face a greater risk of spinal cord injury in a front-facing car seat during a frontal crash.

-Rear-facing car seats spread frontal crash forces over the whole area of a child’s back, head and neck: they also prevent the head from snapping relative to the body in a frontal crash.

-Rear-facing car seats may not be quite as effective in a rear end crash, but severe frontal and frontal offset crashes are far more frequent and far more severe than rear end crashes.

-Rear-facing car seats are NOT a safety risk just because a child’s legs are bent at the knees or because they can touch/kick the vehicle seat.

-Rear-facing as long as possible is the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatricians, and can reduce injuries and deaths. Motor vehicle crashes are the #1 overall cause of death for children 14 and under.

Forces and Area: We know that frontal and frontal offset crashes are more frequent, more severe and usually have less ride-down time than rear-end crashes. In such a frontal crash, it is easy to see why a rear-facing car seat is a better choice. The entire shell of the car seat cradles the child’s back, neck and head. some seats even have foam protection in the shell to cushion the child even more. The crash forces are spread throughout the large area of the child’s back and head, reducing the pressure during the crash, and keeping the area of the child’s back and head, reducing the pressure during the crash, and keeping the head from snapping backward with respect to the body. Unlike this rear-facing car seat, a child’s legs and head are not restrained at all if they are turned front-facing. In a serious frontal crash with a front-facing car seat, the head and legs of the child are thrown forward like a rag doll, and serious forces are put on the child’s spinal cord. In a front-facing car seat, only the harness couples the energy to the child’s body. The smaller area of the harness means more pressure on the child. In the egg analogy, the egg is much less likely to break if it is caught using the whole padded area of your hand rather than with just a couple of bony fingers.”

Knowing that motor vehicle crashes are the number one overall cause of death for children 14 and under makes it important to ask questions and research a car seat before making such an important purchase. Our staff at Lone Star Baby & Kids are very knowledgeable in all things car seat safety and have the great gift of being able to explain the differences between the car seats without making you feel like you need a degree in car seat safety to understand, and we have the biggest car seat selection in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for you to choose from.

On Tuesday August 24th between 4 pm – 6:30 pm we’ll be offering a child car seat safety inspection, fitting, and recycling at the Lone Star Baby & Kids North Richland Hills location. Certified child passenger safety technicians and instructors will be onsite! Please call 817-281-6565 to make an appointment.

Tags: baby car seats, car seat safety, car seats, child car seat safety, infant car seats, rear-facing car seats