When to Front-Face the Car Seat
With Little Bug approaching a year, I’ve started thinking about front facing car seats.
Actually, I’ve been thinking more about when it is appropriate to change from rear-facing to front-facing.
I’ve mostly heard 20 pounds and 1 year old.
I came across this article and learned that the 20 pounds and 1 year criteria is just a minimum for front-facing your child in the car.
And, as the article states, who wants the minimum for their child?
This article suggests to rear face the child to the limits of the convertible car seat. It suggests to check the label of the convertible car seat for the rear facing weight limit and make sure there is one inch of car seat above the child’s head.
There are some very interesting “dummy crash” videos that show a child under the age of 2 is way safer rear facing than front facing.
In fact, children up to the age of 2 are more than five times safer riding rear-facing, according to the information given in this article.
I was planning on front facing Little Bug once she hit that 20 pound/1 year old criteria, but now I am rethinking things and am so glad I came across this information.
There is tons more car seat safety information in this article. Go check it out!
Labels: Good Stuff to Know
7 People have left comments on this post
I haven’t checked out the article (yet), but it’s interesting that you bring this up. My boss actually move her daughter forward facing when she hit the 20 pound mark, and I was pretty leery about it. Obviously, I’ve got some time before we’ll be ready to do it, but thanks for the info!
I have a 17 month old and she is still rear facing. I have heard several people say it is safer to keep them this way until age 2.
Rear facing as long as possible makes sense to me.
I heard something on TV about this. They mentioned an area of the world that keeps kids rear facing for a VERY LONG TIME … maybe Europe? They say it’s safer.
Same goes for the 5 point harness – my 6 year old still meets the weight requirements to use the five point harness and although many of her friends are in booster seats with the car seat belt – I figure why not be as safe as possible for as long as possible! Hannah was always so tiny I remember thinking it would take forever for her to reach the 20 pound mark and I’d have a 3 year old still rear facing.
We kept our boys rear facing between 13/14 months. Their little legs were so smushed that they screamed and bucked everytime we tried to put them in their carseats. We wanted to keep them in longer but just could not keep them in such discomfort any longer. They are so much happier front facing!
I switched my son at 1 year and 20+ lbs. Mainly because of his really long legs…but I have heard that rear facing as long a possible is safe. I think it depends on the child and the parent. I know he was much happier front facing and it meant I didn’t have to sit back there and entertain him on long trips anymore and that was a life saver since we travelled a lot that summer.
kd
My friend Laura, who I work with in the NICU, is also a certified car seat technician. She has taught me a lot and there have been several studies and crash tests that prove that it is way safer to stay rear facing as long as possible. Most convertible seats go up to 35lbs. Her 25 month old is 31lbs and she is keeping him rear-facing until he reaches that 35lb mark. A lot of people argue about the kids legs being too long to stay rear facing but when they are rear facing the car seat takes all of the impact in a crash, whereas their little bodies take all of the impact when they are facing forward. All of the carseat specialists at our children’s hospital teach the parents that broken legs are a lot easier to fix than broken necks. That is enough to make me an advocate for rear-facing as long as possible!
Hope this helps