Help Me

[jrjohnson18]

I need help deciding when I can move my infant to a front facing carseat. And out of her baby infant carseat please help me !!!!

	Infant Car Seats Infant-only rear-facing seats are for babies up to about 22 to 30 pounds, depending on the specific car seat. You will need a new seat when your child gets bigger. Infant-only seats have handles that allow you to move the seat from the car to the house or other locations. Some have a base that you can leave installed in the car, so you can just click the car seat into place each time you use it.

[Papooses]

What is you child's age, weight & height or length?
What carseat brand & model are you currently using?
What vehicle years/makes/models does kiddo ride in?
What is your budget?

This is from my website (link in signature) -- copy/paste eliminated the pictures & links....

Children must sit rear-facing up to at least 12 months and (not or) 20 pounds.

American Academy of Pediatrics + National Highway Traffic Safety Administration state that toddlers & preschoolers should remain RF until the maximum limits of the convertible carseat.

Autopsy reports reveal that children under 2 years of age are at 4 times the risk of Internal Decapitation when forward-facing.

Infants & toddlers have a disproportionately large head-to-body size ratio. Young children also have poorly developed, fragile, flexible neck muscles, loose ligaments to allow for growth, small rib cages, undeveloped abdominal muscles, soft spinal columns and unprotected relatively larger abdominal organs. When a forward-facing child’s heavy head is thrust forward in a crash, the child suffers an enormous amount of stress on neck. Imagine that a child's head weighs 5 pounds. In a 30 MPH crash, the child suffers about 150 pounds of force upon the neck. If the spinal cord stretches too far in a crash (more than a mere 1/4 inch) the child suffers paralysis or death. The young child’s cervical vertebrae are not strong enough to protect the spinal cord adequately when forward-facing in a frontal crash. This is because the vertebrae are in pieces joined only by cartilage. The vertebral arch has not fused into a complete circle of bone, which will enclose and protect the spinal cord. Rear-facing spreads crash forces along the entire back instead of only where the harness touches the body.

Cervical spine developmental comparison : 2 year old (left) vs. 6 year old (right)
Thoracic spine development comparison : 2 year old (left) vs. 6 year old (right)
Lumbar spine developmental comparison : 2 year old (left) vs. 6 year old (right)

Over 90% of crashes are the front & sides of the vehicle. Frontal impacts are by far the most common type of crash, but side impacts are more often life-threatening, especially for rear seat occupants. Rear-facing carseats are safest for both frontal and side impacts.

Print the following AAP Policy Statement to share with your Pediatrician....

Selecting and Using the Most Appropriate Car Safety Seats for Growing Children: Guidelines for Counseling Parents

(PEDIATRICS Vol. 109 No. 3 March 2002, pp. 550-553)

MSNBC: "Babies Should Face the Rear Longer"
Front-Facing Too Soon (with crash test video comparison + Extended RF photo album)
Rear-Facing: Unmatched Safety
The Car Seat Lady: Rear-Facing
How Long Should Babies Ride Facing the Back of the Car?
Child Safety Seats: Rear-Face Until at Least One Year (Kathleen Webber, Director, Child Passenger Protection Research Program, University of Michigan Medical School)
Safety for the Growing Child: Experiences from Swedish Accident Data
The Car Seat Lady has a list of other printable materials for health care providors, too!

Another advantage is that kids are less likely to throw snacks or soft car toys towards the driver + kids cannot kick the driver's seatback ... all of which reduces driver distraction, the leading cause of crashes!

	Forward Facing Car Seats A forward-facing car seat is one in which the child sits facing the front of the car. The seat should be installed in the back seat of your vehicle. Most forward-facing only seats are for children above 20 pounds.

	Rear Facing Car Seats A rear-facing seat is one in which the infant faces the back of the car. Always install a rear-facing seat in the back seat of your car. This is the safest position for an infant. NEVER place a rear-facing seat in the front seat of a vehicle with passenger airbags.

	Convertible Car Seats Convertible seats are for infants and toddlers. The seat can be used as a rear-facing seats for younger children, and switched to a forward-facing seat on the child's first birthday if the child weighs at least 20 pounds. However, experts recommend keeping the child in a rear-facing position until he or she outgrows the weight or height allowed by the safety seat.