Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Car seat question

I have been asked why the babies have not been turned to forward facing.
Why would I turn them forward facing? Is it because they have reached the minimum for weight of 20 pounds? Is it because they have reached the minimum age of 1 year? They have done both but there is no way I am turning them around until I feel comfortable that they are ready.
I have read lots of articles and watched lots of videos comparing forward facing to rear facing crash tests. After seeing those videos anyone that has young children will keep them rear facing as long as they can. In Sweden children are kept rear facing until they are 3. I am not saying I will keep my babies rear facing until then I am just saying it is possible to do so. There are even tether straps you can buy to tether the rear facing seat to the floor of the vehicle since the seats do have a tendency to move upwards.
I am not trying to scare anyone I am just explaining my decision to keep my babies rear facing. It scares me to drive in Houston, in rain and especially in snow hopefully if we do have a crash we will all be safe.



7 comments:

Robyn said...

Wow. Thanks for this post. My twins will be a year on Saturday, but I still haven't switched them to forward facing yet either. All of my friends with small kiddos switched their littles at 9 months or so. My boys were 20 lbs at 6 months and I considered it for about 5 minutes. Then I did some research. Thanks for making all of the information public for others to view. We need more moms like you to remind others about general easy safety tips.
:) Robyn

Freckles Fotography said...

I am with you. Here is another link: http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/StayRearFacing.aspx
There have been many studies that suggest the safest way for a toddler to travel is rear facing. 20lbs and 1year is the manufactures recommended but that is not what is the safest.

Esther said...

Good for you! As a parent you do what you feel is right for your children. :-)

Mama Scrapper said...

Good for you. We waited to turn Kiera until she was 25+ pounds are over 18 months and the only reason we turned her is because it was too hot and the air wasn't circulating properly in our clunker. I got many looks and questions for my decision.

Anonymous said...

Okay now I think I will turn them back around to rear facing...It is one of those things I just never thought of. Thank you for the info and videos.
Trisa

Maria M. said...

I did the research too. My boys are also still rear facing. It it safer for them if we are in a front end crash. A rear end crash is another story. But front end crashes are more likely statistically. Not sure the same statistics apply here in the Las Vegas area. Seems like a rear end hit would be very likely with all the crazy (often drunk) drivers. Makes me angry! Anyway, my boys will be rear facing for a few more months at least.

Amy said...

I kept mine rear-facing for about 18 months. Of course, Brayden probably didn't weigh 20 pounds until then. I definitely think it's safer and had read the same thing as you about Sweden...

However, if you have a really tall (long)baby, their legs can start getting cramped up when rear-facing. Thankfully, that was definitely not the case with mine...