carseats...the rear- vs front-facing debate
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carseats...the rear- vs front-facing debate
| Wed, 01-19-2011 - 10:29am |
here's the backstory for my question:
i was at my friends' place for the weekend for their son's 1st birthday party (his birthday was yesterday).
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Further if you never turn the baby to face the front, will they really know what they are missing? My friend couldnt wait to turn her baby front facing because "it would make their 40 minute drive together every day more pleasant because they could talk to each other." Different strokes I guess...not my kid like you say.
I plan to rear face Maxim until he is at least 2 as well and will help him cross his legs. I just ignore most people when they ask questions and just respond that he is the safest in the car when he is rear facing. The laws in Ontario are really strict...he will have to ride in a booster seat until he is 80 lbs or 4 feet 9 inches or can safely sit in the car with the knees bent over the seat. I know a 10 year old that is still in a booster seat because of this law.
I think that as far as comfort, it's more comfortable to sit with legs crossed in a rear-facing seat than to sit forward-facing with legs dangling, not touching anything. Think of the pressure that puts on the back of the legs.
I also think it's commendable you tried to educate your friends, even if they weren't willing. I have a friend who insisted on turning her son as soon as he turned 1, but won't leave him in the church nursery/daycare because she's scared of shaken baby syndrome. I think that a car crash is much more likely, and the whiplash is the same principle. To each his own. We can only protect our own kids. Peter will stay rear-facing until I can't find a seat to fit him in anymore.
Sig by Chrissy at SMFB! 
I think it's great that you're educating your friends -- I don't know who wouldn't be convinced when they look at the crash stats that have consistently shown that a child who is FFing is 5.3 times more likely to sustain serious injury than a RFing child.
I always direct people to this meta-analysis: http://www.hss.state.ak.us/DPH/ipems/injury_prevention/CPS/assets/M-BullonRFCar.pdf
We already have too-tall issues with James--his head is already level with the top of his cradle/swing, and I think he'll need to be in a convertible seat by 6 months, because he's already about 3 inches away from the top of his carseat . . .
With this seaid, he'll rear-face as long as possible.
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Thank you Dedi and Kelly for my
As for crazy, turning-forward stories, my next door neighbors turned their daughter forward at around 9 months, and the father is a police officer! In NC there is no rule regarding rear facing, so this is legal but you would think a police officer would have a general idea as to the safety of car seats.
The other ladies gave you great advice about rear facing and heights limits etc... but I wanted to add how your story reminded me of my SILs.
I have 2 SILs (DH's sister and my brothers wife)... their oldest children are DS's are age or a year younger... and neither SIL sits them in booster seats. It's the law in our state that children need to be in booster seats till they are at least 8 AND 4'7"... which neither of them are. It drives me batty that they just let them ride in the car without being in a proper restraint.
There has never actually been a confirmed case of a broken leg when rear-facing, there have been many when a child is forward facing.
Thank you for the sig Mary
We may need to turn him when Pippa arrives just to be able to fit both car seats in our back seat, but he will be 31 months at that point, and hopefully a little bigger. His seat can stay RF up to 35 lbs., and if at all possible, I'd like to leave him RF until that time.
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