Forward Facing Age?

[awallrising]

How is the age determined when you can move a child to forward facing? I have heard that 12 months is a minimum but 18 months is preferable. What do you do when you have a baby that is substantially older than his age (i.e. my 5th old is as big as a tall 12 month old). Is it a size thing? Development?

	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.

[SusanMae]

The current reccomendations are for children to remain RF until they reach the weight maximum for RF in their carseat. Rear Facing offers unmatched safety to young children. The longer the better. I know many parents who are sad when they are forced to turn their children forward facing. 12 months and 20 pounds are the minimums...but I'm sure all parents agree on this---our children are worth far more than the minimums.

The highest weight limit for RF is 35 pounds, the lowest 30.

Your 5th month old will likely slow down in growth as he becomes more mobile. Those first months have a lot of rapid growth.

It's a combination of development---skelatal included, weight, height---and poor RF choices here in the US that determine when to turn children FF. It's common in Sweden for children to remain RF to 4-5 yrs old, and their fatality rate for children in that age group is much lowers than our in car crashes.

Susan, CPST

	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.

[crunchierthanthou]

The AAP recommends rear facing to the limits of the carseat. The biggest improvement in safety is seen when the child is under age 2. A two year old child is 4-5 times less likely to die or be seriously injured in a crash when properly restrained in a rear facing carseat.

You need to keep an eye on both the weight and height limits. A rf carseat is outgrown when child reaches the weight limit or by height when there is less than 1" of hard shell above the child's head.

	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.

[MnMadhouse]

This is an email I find myself sending out more and more.

The absolute bare minimum is 1 year AND 20lbs. What is best practice? To keep your child rear facing for as long as possible. The AAP recommends keeping your child rfing until the weight limits of your seat which is either 30, 33 or 35lbs.

I am a Child Passenger Safety Technician and I all too often see the horrific aftermaths of children who were forward facing and were involved in a car accident. Most recently, we reviewed a case study of a 26 month old, 26lbs child who was in the middle of the backseat, ffing, in a 5 pt harness seat. A car came into their lane and they were in a head on collision at 45mph. This little girl suffered a broken C2 vertebrae. She was the LUCKIEST child. She was in a HALO for 3 months. She had to into temporary state custody b/c the mother couldn't care for her (due to the mother being in the hospital). Evidence shows that if she were still rear facing, she would not have sustained this life threatening injury.

I have had a broken neck before, my C1 and C2 vertebrae's were broken. This area controls breathing, movements, etc...Christopher Reeve is a prime example of having a broken C1 and C2 vertebra in his neck. It is NOT a nice injury and I would never wish that upon anyone...especially a child. It breaks my heart when I hear of parents ffing their child too soon. Because of this kind of mind set that it is a "milestone" to ff your child at 1 year AND 20lbs, many MANY children are needlessly injured.

When a child is in a frontal, head on 35mph crash and their car seat is NOT tethered and they are using a 5 point harness, they will go forward 32". When their seat is tethered, a child will be thrown forward 28". It is imperative that families recognize the NEED to keep their children rear facing for as long as possible.

Here are several links to support keeping your child rear facing for as long as possible.

http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/c...trics;109/3/550
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?...id=44503&page=2
http://www.carseat.org/Resources/633.pdf
CPSafety - Your online child passenger safety resource
Rear-Facing Carseats and Safety
CPSafety - Your online child passenger safety resource
http://www.thecarseatlady.com/car_seats/re...cing_seats.html
Rear facing in Rear end collisions
Keeping Kids Safe In The Car
AAP - Car Safety Seats: A Guide for Families - 2007
AAP - TIPP 1 to 2 Years
AAP - Travel Safety Tips

YouTube - Child Seat Safety

Child car seat advice questioned - Growing Up Healthy - MSNBC.com
Rear-Face Article

Here are a few crash test links to show you the difference in rear facing vs forward facing:

http://www.oeamtc.at/netautor/html_seiten/...icosipriori.mpg

YouTube - Car Crash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K62Ea8Fs4ng...relat...

For those who say their children were uncomfortable rfing, your child knows nothing different. In fact, their legs bending the way they do RFing is actually comfortable to a child. It may not be for an adult. A child is usually more uncomfortable with their legs dangling over the edge or close to the edge of the seat than they are all "squished" up. ALL children go through the kicking, screaming, yelling phase b/c they are active, crawling, walking, etc and would much rather be doing that than harnessed in their seat. They also WANT to see mom or dad in the car. They can hear you, but can't "see" you. They are all phases and they will pass. A child is TOO tall rfing when their head is 1" below the top of the SHELL of the seat OR (check your car seat manual) if you own an older Britax, it is when the tips of the ears are even with the shell of the seat rfing.
42% of accidents occur in rural settings. 25% of them occur within 5 minutes of your home.

Autopsy reports have shown that children under 2 years old are at 4 times the risk of Internal Decapitation when forward facing. What is Internal Decapitation??

Wikipedia says this:
Internal decapitation, atlantooccipital dislocation, describes the rare process by which the skull separates from the spinal column during severe head injury. This injury is nearly always fatal, since it usually involves nerve damage or severance of the spinal cord. Hanging relies on allowing the subject to break their neck under their own weight.


Here is a lady that actually survived Internal Decapitation

YouTube - Woman Survives Internal Decapitation

So, as you can tell, it has ZERO to do with neck STRENGTH. I was in a side impact crash where the drunk driver was going 65-70mph and it snapped my neck--I was 20 years old.

Did you know that if YOU are in a 30mph, one vehicle accident and your child weighs 20lbs, they turn into 600lbs of force. THAT is a LOT of force for a child.

Consider this: A car going 40mph would hit a tree with the same force as hitting the ground after falling off a 50 foot cliff. A person inside the car would hit the windshield (unrestrained, of course) with the same force as hitting the ground after a fall from a five-story building.

This shows spine development. You can see how the spine doesn't fuse together until they are quite older.



This diagram shows you how "top heavy" children are and how disproportioned they are.

	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.

	Britax - Click for more info Britax International has been producing reliable child safety products for over 30 years. Not only does Britax have decades of experience creating car seats and other children's safety equipment, Britax has a long standing reputation as an industry leader and innovator. Britax International is headquartered in the United Kingdom, but Britax car seats are designed and manufactured at facilities in Germany, Austria, and the United States. In the summer of 2002, Britax strengthened their commitment to creating the safest car seats with the opening of a brand new, state-of-the-art crash testing facility in North Carolina. Britax car seats have a reputation around the world for being some of the safest, most reliable, and best designed child safety seats ever made.

	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.

[rexybaby]

I just have my first child last month , and currently shopping for our first infant car seat. I was so confuse when researching into what type of seat is most suitable, there are just so many types of infant seats out there. I almost purchased a convertible seat on Amazon, but I found they are not the most suitable for infant. For other dads who are looking below are 2 sites I find helpful in choosing the right type of seat:

Which Type of Infant Seat to Buy?
http://pregnancy.about.com/od/babysa...ofcarseats.htm

	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.

	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]

Short answer to the original question: kids should remain rear-faing until reaching either the RF weight or height limit of a convertible carseat (as per the manual)

Originally Posted by rexybaby

. . .

It is indeed a lot to take in, however there are more accurate resources I've outlined steps to follow + links to referrence when Selecting & Using Child Safety Seats here

	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.