One Year and 20 Pounds is the Old Standard for Rear-Facing Car Seats
By Heather Corley, About.com Guide
This baby should stay rear-facing to the limits of his car seat. Experts now recommend a longer rear-facing time.
Heather Corley
Babies should be in rear-facing car seats for as long as possible, to
the limits of their rear-facing car seat. Extended rear-facing, beyond
one year and 20 pounds, has big safety advantages that parents should
strongly consider. In fact, the most recent study on this subject shows that toddlers are up to five times safer if they remain rear-facing until age two.
Turning baby's car seat around isn't a milestone to rush on. It's
actually a step down in safety, so don't be in a hurry to make the big
switch.
You've probably heard the one year/20 pounds advice from many
sources, including your pediatrician, the car seat company and possibly
your state's car seat law. That's the old standard, though, and it is a
bare minimum standard. All children are safer if they remain in a
rear-facing car seat beyond a year. Thanks to higher rear-facing weight
limits on car seats, nearly all toddlers can remain rear-facing for
quite a while.
Why Rear-Facing? Car seats are designed to absorb some
crash forces and spread remaining crash forces over a larger area of the
body. For adults, seat belts distribute force to the strongest parts of
the body, the hips and shoulders. Infants don't have many body parts
that are strong enough to withstand crash forces, so the rear-facing car
seat distributes the crash force along the entire back, neck and head,
putting less stress on any one part of the body. The infant's head,
which is large and heavy for a still delicate neck to support, is also
better supported with a rear-facing car seat. The incidence of severe
head and neck injuries for babies and toddlers is greatly reduced in
rear-facing car seats. The baby's "ride-down time," or the time it takes
to come to a complete stop, is also lengthened, which reduces injuries
by reducing the body trauma from a sudden stop.
The additional support plus the manner in which a rear-facing car
seat "rides down" in a crash gives your baby the best chance for
survival and less chance of injury in a crash. The simple way to
estimate crash force is weight times speed. A 10-pound baby in a 30 mph
crash would experience an estimated 300 pounds of force. A rear-facing
car seat spreads that 300 pounds of force over a greater body area,
causing less injury to the baby.
My Baby Wants to Be Front-Facing! Even if your baby's legs
are touching the seat back, or the baby cries when rear-facing, you
should still keep baby rear-facing until he or she reaches the
rear-facing weight or height limit of the car seat. Most convertible car
seats have a rear-facing weight limit of 35 pounds now, so you should
be able to keep your toddler rear-facing to age two, if not longer. Some
children never like sitting in a car seat, and they may cry. However,
being properly restrained makes it more likely that a baby or toddler
will survive a crash to cry another day.
Many parents worry that their baby will suffer broken legs in a
crash because baby's legs touch the seat back or look cramped when
rear-facing. It's important to remember, though, that in a crash severe
enough to break baby's legs, there would also be enough force to cause
severe neck injuries if your baby or toddler was forward-facing. While
it's never fun to choose between injuries, the chance of full recovery
is greater for broken legs than broken necks. Similarly, if your baby
fusses while in a rear-facing car seat, it may seem easy to turn baby
around to keep him or her happy. Again, though, you're choosing between a
fussing baby or the chance of severe head, neck and spine injuries.
My Baby is One Year Old and 20 Pounds! Now What?
Car seat safety advocates and the American Academy of Pediatrics
now recommend that babies stay in a rear-facing car seat to the weight
limit of the seat or as long as possible. If your baby's car seat has a
rear-facing weight limit of 30 pounds, these groups say you should keep
baby rear-facing to 30 pounds. Some car seats have rear-facing weight
limits up to 40 pounds, which might accommodate the average child
through age 3 and maybe beyond. You should also check the manufacturer's
rear-facing height limit to be sure baby is not too tall to safely stay
rear-facing to the weight limit. My advice is to simply leave your baby
rear-facing at this point. The safety advantages far outweigh any
convenience.
AAP is expected to change their recommendation soon to say that
parents should keep toddlers rear-facing to age two. I think this
recommendation is far better than any that indicates that it's safe to
turn a baby forward-facing at one year, but my personal recommendation
is still to choose a car seat with a high rear-facing weight limit and
tall shell, and then to use it rear-facing as long as possible. For many
toddlers, that would keep them rear-facing beyond age two. My own daughter was three before she reached the rear-facing weight limit on her car seat.
Why would you want to keep your child rear-facing? Crash data
shows us that anybody is safer in a crash when riding rear-facing for
the reasons we outlined above. Even though your baby's neck may now be
strong enough to withstand some types of forward-facing crash forces, he
or she is still better protected in a rear-facing car seat because that
seat still distributes the force over a greater body area and still
gives better support to their young head and neck.
A rear-facing car seat offers the best protection for babies
and toddlers, and should be used for as long as possible, to the limits
of the car seat. It is no longer recommended to turn your baby
around immediately at one year and 20 pounds, thanks to new research
that shows the safety advantages of extended rear-facing. According to
NHTSA, a rear-facing car seat is 71 percent safer than no restraint at
all, and a forward-facing car seat is 54 percent safer than no restraint
at all. Keeping your baby rear-facing to the limit of the seat is the
safest choice. You can check your car seat instruction book or the
labels on the car seat sides to find the rear-facing weight and height
limits.
Heather Corley is a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician.
Resources
- CPSafety.com - Stay Rear-Facing
- Car-Safety.org - Rear-Facing Car Seats
- Safe Kids USA - Rear-Facing Car Seat Questions
Resources: http://babyproducts.about.com/od/carseats/qt/rear_facing.htm
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