At 4 years old, and 40 pounds, my son faces forward. But, my daughter, at 16 months and 18 pounds, remains rear facing.
In the three years between when I had my first born to second born, a lot had changed. New strollers, joggers with front swivel wheels, a whole new array of toddler snacks, and one of the most important things–recommendations on car seats. When my son turned one, I was so excited to have him face forward that I switched the car seat around on the day of his first birthday. Then, I had my daughter and I was hearing that parents should wait to turn them from rear-facing to forward-facing. But wait for what? A certain age? A weight milestone? Breezy Mama turned to Pediatrician Dr. Jon Conti for some answers. –Alex
Four years ago, the thing to do was to turn your child from rear-facing to forward-facing on their first birthday–this is no longer so? What is the new recommendation?
Although the official recommendation remains (once a child is 1 year old AND at least 20 pounds they may be turned around), compelling new data is emerging. In April 2009, the official news magazine of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) declared that rear-facing car seats are safer for children. The article cited that toddlers between the ages of 12 & 23 months who ride rear facing are 5 times safer and 75% less likely to experience serious injury or die than their forward-facing peers. More telling perhaps is the 2005 Swedish study detailing 17 years of accident data showing that the highest injury-reducing effect was found in rearward-facing child restraints up to 4 years of age. That’s correct: 4 years of age, not 1 year of age!
Why? Car seats are designed to absorb forces and spread these forces across a larger area of the body (the entire back, ribs, neck and head), putting less stress on any one part of the body. For adults, seat belts distribute deceleration and impact forces to the strongest parts of the body: the hips and shoulders. Infants, on the other hand, don’t have many body parts that are strong enough to withstand crash forces. Additionally, small children have proportionately larger heads and weaker neck muscles than older children and adults.
Therefore, during an accident, rear-facing seats can distribute the force of a rapid deceleration/crash more evenly to the strongest parts of their small bodies while more likely supporting the head and neck. Perhaps a video at this point will drive the point home. . .
The take home message: turning a child’s car seat around to the facing forward position may actually be a step backwards. So what’s the hurry?
If the child is rear-facing because they do not meet the weight requirement to turn around, but they are tall and their legs are scrunched against the back seat, is this a concern?
According to the AAP, a child should be fit to a car seat so that their heads are within an inch of the top of the seat. However many parents worry that if the child is rear-facing, their feet will touch the seat back, resulting in broken legs in a crash. Yet if a crash is severe enough to break a rear-facing toddler’s legs, then there would also be enough forward force to cause severe neck injuries for a forward-facing toddler. While it’s dreadful to hypothetically choose between injuries, the chance of full recovery is greater for broken legs than broken necks.
Similarly many parents also comment that their child appears cramped when rear-facing. Regardless of the direction, some children never like sitting in a car seat, and they may cry. Although it is easy to turn the toddler around to keep him or her happy, you are choosing fussing over potentially severe head, neck and spine injuries. Being properly restrained makes it more likely that a baby or toddler will survive a crash to cry another day.
Which car seat brands can support a heavier child facing rear?
The good news is that many new convertible car seats have a rear-facing weight limit of 35 pounds. For those of you who already have one, check your car seat’s instruction booklet for its rear-facing weight limit, and under no circumstances exceed this limit.
For those of you in the market for a toddler car seat, at present there are three car seats that accommodate children up to 40 lbs rear-facing:
Graco My Ride 65 Car Seat (For Amazon’s price of $149.99, click here to order.)
Safety 1st Complete Air (For Amazon’s price of $167.26, click here to order.)
Sunshine Kids Radian (For Amazon’s price of $225.54, click here to order.)
Periodically check car seat makers websites for updates.
I believe a child can legally be in a booster seat when they weigh 35 pounds–what would you recommend?
Presently the law is that children may transfer to a booster seat when they are over 40 lbs. This is because a toddler’s pelvic bones are not fully developed and cannot withstand such great forces. A booster seat raises the child so that the lap part of the seat belt can be positioned low and tight across the thighs, to prevent abdominal injury. Further the booster seat makes it possible that the shoulder belt crosses at the collar bone and center of the chest, not across the neck. Until it’s time for the booster seat, remaining rear-facing maybe the safest way go.
When the child is big enough to be facing forward, how long should they stay in a seat with a 5 point harness?
When they can properly fit in a booster seat.
My son is always asking me when he can sit in the front seat–obviously, since he’s 4, this is a long way off. What is the legal weight limit to sit in the front? Or in the back without any kind of seat?
For everyone, in almost any frontal crash, the rear seats are the safest in the car. In fact, the NHTSA recommends that ALL children 12-years-old and under should be in the back seat. And according to California state law, all children under 6 years old AND under 60 pounds MUST be properly restrained in an appropriate child passenger restraint system (car safety or booster seat) in the rear of a motor vehicle.
If you are tempted to put your toddler or young child in the front seat, consider this: deployment of front air bags standard in all new cars can be very dangerous to toddlers–particularly those riding in rear-facing car safety seats–as well as those young school-aged children not properly restrained. Even in a relatively low-speed crash, the air bag can inflate, strike the car safety seat, and cause serious brain and neck injury and death.
If you have no choice but to put your infant or small child in the front seat, check the vehicle owner’s manual to see if the air bag can be turned off.
Do you know of any common mistakes when installing car seats?
There are plenty of them, and they vary among your chosen car seat and the automobile that it is placed in. Thus, it is highly recommended to have a professional check your car seat installation. If you have questions or need help installing your car safety seat, find a certified CPS Technician. Lists of certified CPS Technicians and Child Seat Fitting Stations are available on the NHTSA Web site or at www.seatcheck.org, or by calling the NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at 888/327-4236 or Seat Check at 1-866-SEATCHECK. Here in California, the CHP as well as the county sheriff provide this service free of charge.
There are “services” that come and install your car seat correctly. Is it really worth it to hire these people? It seems so easy to do yourself. . .
Why pay for something that you can have the police do for free?
Anything you’d like to add?
The bottom line: based on new studies, experts say that children are safer if they remain in a rear-facing car seat well beyond a year of life, up till 4 years old! Thanks to higher rear-facing weight limits on newer car seats, nearly all toddlers should remain rear-facing until they reach 40 lbs. (or the weight & height limits of your car seat). The safety advantages far outweigh any inconvenience.
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About Jon Robert Conti, MD FAAP: Dr. Conti earned both a BA in Psychology and a BS in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Irvine. He went to medical school in Michigan, and completed his pediatric residency from the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles in 2001—consistently ranked by US News-‘Nation’s Best Hospitals’ since the 1990’s. Dr. Conti is Board Certified in Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine and presently cares for patients & their families at Sea View Pediatrics in Laguna Hills & San Clemente. He can be reached for consultation at Sea View Pediatrics: (949) 951-KIDS (5437)
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We have a Graco Convertible for Leesi and even after having the fire dpt install it in the back seat (both rear and forward facing on two sep occs) of our extended cab F250 the seat tipped over when I turned!! Imagine my horror when this happened after spending so much on it and having spent the effort to have it installed correctly due to my insecurity and lack of confidence in my own skill! I have since put her back in her Chicco rear-facing seat (exceeding limit by two pounds) because I do not know what else to do. We have had it long enough not to be able to return it (I think) having bought well in advance for budgeting concerns. Any suggestions would be great! I hate to sell it to some one else because I am afraid it would happen to them as well but I cannot afford one without first doing something to recuperating something from this one! HELP!!
I am super paranoid about safety seats! I have an 8 yo and a 6 yo and they are both in a Britax Regent (http://www.pishposhbaby.com/e9l3969.html). It’s a huge five point harness seat/booster. The kids love them because they are more comfortable than the standard booster seat (they can also safely & comfortably sleep in them for those LONG car rides). And I love it because I feel they are so much more secure and safe than the regular booster that uses just the car seat belt.
Great article. I have also heard that the middle is the safest place in the back seat. Of course, if you have one child, this is easy to do. But, you may want to check this out – I recently heard that if you have 2 kids…. infant rear facing on the passenger side, and the safest place for your toddler (or any age) is the middle (next to the infant seat.) Apparently, the reason for this, is driver seats are designed to push back (to prevent whiplash) and can hit the toddler. I still need to research this, and haven’t changed my seat configuration yet. It does seem a little more inconvenient, but if the research says it’s safer….Again, you may want to check this info. out.
I get the reasoning, but am having a hard time picturing a 4 year old rear-facing. TI think they’d have to fold up like a pretzel. ?? And is it me or do the weights and ages always seem a little off. I know my six year old is on the small side (always has been), but he’s only 40 pounds and there’s no way he could face backwards unless they cut a section out of the seat.
I’m so glad I found this article! I was just telling my younger sister about keeping her son (who is 6 months old) rear facing because she was just talking the other day about a new car seat for him. She had no idea that by law he has to be 1, she just thought he had to weigh 20lbs (he is already 19lbs at 6 months old). Even though I do not have any of my own kids I’m a huge advocate of keeping kids rear facing for as long as possible.
I always see these kinds of statistics cited : doing x-and-so decreases your chance of ___ by X%!” But I have never been able to find reliable information about the risk posed by the original behavior. I mean, if the chance of a child getting hurt in a crash is 1 in 100 for forward-facing but 1 in 1000 when rear-facing, then maybe it’s worth it. But if the chance of a kid in a carseat being seriously injured or killed is already infinitismally small, then reducing that risk by 75% isn’t so impressive.
Does anyone have the complete stats?
Thanks to everyone for the great questions. Dr. Conti is going to try and get on here tonight to answer them. In the meantime, a couple things I have learned:
1) Make sure you check out your current car seat to see what the rear-facing weight limit is. Unless it’s brand new, it will most likely be 20 pounds. Chelsea was just getting ready to switch her 22 month old back to rear facing, when she read the manual and it said that it had a 20 pound limit. This was for a Britax Roundabout.
2) Brenda–with your Graco, are you using the LATCH system or seat belt? If you’re using the seat belt, make sure you install the metal clip that locks the seat belt in place–so it doesn’t move. Otherwise, when you turn a corner, the seat belt will “give” and your seat turns over (yes, I found this out the hard way).
3) Malia–you’re right, the middle is safest, but make sure your car doesn’t have a “hump” in the middle of the seat, so the car seat lays flat.
Ras, I don’t have any comparison statistics on hand right now but it doesn’t take a lot of thought to consider rearfacing, even if we ignore the compelling argument of physics.
In 2008, over 250,000 children were seriously injured in car accidents. (NCSA) That comes out to about 700 children a day. Ultimately, an average of 2,000 children die from these injuries. In fact, for children ages 2-14, car accidents are the top killer.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), at least 72% of the 3,500 observed child vehicle safety restraints were being used incorrectly. When that happens, the risk that the child will suffer an injury or more severe injury rises even more. NHTSA estimates that a properly installed and used child safety seat lowers a child’s risk of death by 71% for infants and by 54% for toddlers ages 1 to 4.
So I would gather that continuing to rearface the seat, install it properly and restrain the child properly should DRASTICALLY change the odds in your child’s favor.
Also in regards to the comment about having a police officer “do it for free” please do NOT allow a non-certified person, professional or not, to install your carseat or approve your installation. Make sure they are certified safety techs!
I have three children under the age of 5. My four-year-old is over 40lbs and in a booster seat. My 10-month old is in a rear-facing infant carrier car seat, but weighs 22lbs. My almost 3-year-old, at 34lbs, is in a forward facing seat. I tried to install my infant’s car seat -not the carrier – rear-facing. It has the horizontal lines that need to be parallel to the ground. When I do this, in my Toyota Matrix, my seat is at the closest position to the stearing wheel. I honestly felt claustrophobic while driving. So, I ripped it out and threw the infant carrier back in. I’m all for sacrificing comfort, but my knees were pushed up against the dashboard. I want to keep my youngest rear-facing, but how do I do that? I can’t buy another car! And the configuration has to work so that all 3 seats fit in the back of my car. Oh, how I miss the days of sitting on the floor in the back of my parent’s wood-paneled stationwagon!
If you could compile a list of forward-facing seats with high weight limits (preferably over 60lbs) it would be helpful.
(Also if you could mark which ones are available in Canada that would help to *lol* )
thank you for such a great article. I wish articles with information like this one would get out in the mainstream media because it is SO important. For those of you who don’t understand how it can be comfortable to rear face an older child, I can tell you my two very tall 3 year old twins still rear face and never once have they complained. They sit indian style, or drop their legs over the side. It’s never been a problem! I just wish when I had bought their very expensive seats (Britax Marathons) that the 40 lb. limit seats had existed at the time. I hate that I have to turn them around at 33 lbs. Thanks again for putting the word out!!
THANK YOU so much for posting this. Not that many parents about about Extended Rear Facing!! My son rode RF until he hit the 35lb on his car seat. My daughter is 14 months and will remain RF until the 40lb limit on her car seat.
Thank you for informing parents!
Erica – check your manual, but most seats allow you to install at less of a recline when using the seat for an older infant. The lines that are parallel to the ground install the seat at a 45degree angle which is important for a newborn, but not your 10month old (unless he has low-muscle tone or another medical issue). So, you could try installing it at a 35-40degree angle and see if that gives you engouh room. OR, put the baby behind the passenger?? OR If the weight limit on your carrier is greater than 22lbs, then you could just leave that seat in the car and not carry it around!
@ Jodi–My 38 inch tall 2.5 year old still rear-faces. He usually bends his legs in a criss-cross shape (think of how much preschoolers like to sit criss-cross applesause at circle time), but he sometimes hangs them over the sides of the seat or straightens them and kicks at the headrest. He is all legs and still has no problems fitting. He actually prefers rear-facing to forward facing. I have heard that the legs dangling over the edge forward facing of the child restraint is actually less comfortable than bending them b/c the pressure causes the legs to go numb.
@ RAS–I am pretty sure car accidents are the #1 or 2 killer of children so anything that increases the safety during car accidents will help dramatically.
Great artcile. My 38 inch 30 pound almost 3 year old is still rear-facing and much prefers it to forward facing (which I do in the rare instance someone else has to transport him). His 12 month old little brother is not even 19 pounds so I imagine he’ll be rear-facing for quite some time.
About the Roundabout and old seats….
The current Roundabout rear faces to 35lbs. I think the manual says something about never installing it forward facing for a child under 20 lbs. Maybe the manual was misread? But the seat currently rear faces to 35lbs. I’m not knowledgable about it’s history so I’m not sure if this is a recent thing. I doubt it’s THAT recent. If the seat was purchased new in the last two years, then I’m nearly certain it rear faces to 35lbs. Info is here: http://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/roundabout
Also pay attention to the 1″ rule. My daughter won’t make it to 35lbs in her Boulevard rear facing as she’s nearly outgrown it at about 26lbs. I’ve got a taller seat for her to move into though. Seats have different shell heights and harness heights….
Which reminds me, don’t forget the rules about the harness. It must be at or below the shoulders rear facing. And the chest clip is at arm pit level. I see sooooooo much misuse of chest clips. You’ll also have to make sure that the harness is tightened properly each time and you don’t want to put your kids in bulky clothing in a carseat. The clothing can compress in an accident and the child could then pop out of the seat.
About older seats…. Car seats have expirations dates. I think it has to do with a break down of materials (think of a plastic slide cracking in the sun). So please pay attention this. I believe most seats have a date stamped on them, though some can be hard to find because they are embossed in the plastic. Each seat has a different life. I currently have one convertible with a 6 year life and one with a 7 year life. So check that out on your seats.
Sorry for the ramble. This is a great article, and I’m happy to see a doctor advocating this. I’ve been fighting with my daughter’s large, national medical provider over them telling parents to turn their 1 year olds around. *sigh*
Q: When the child is big enough to be facing forward, how long should they stay in a seat with a 5 point harness?
A: When they can properly fit in a booster seat.
*sigh*
FAIL!
They should stay in a harness for as long as they possibly can. Mortality rates would probably drop across the board if harness seatbelts were standard in all vehicles (not feasible, I know).
Pay the extra money for the seats that harness longer…it’s worth it in the long run. Our kids will harness until they hit 80lbs (the weight limit for their seats) or until they hit the height limit…or, until they are over the age of 10. Whichever comes first.
@Jodi see the picture here for an example: http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/StayRearFacing.aspx
don’t you remember how much fun it was as a kid, when you used to twist into small places and hide? not saying the carseat is gonna be fun, but it’s obvious they CAN do it.
My Nissan Rogue says to not put a baby seat in the middle since the LATCH anchors are not spaced correctly. So how can the middle be the safest place? I have a Graco MyRide 65 and we love it! My little guy was over 20 pounds at his 1st birthday but I am not about to turn him around any time soon! Rear facing all the way!
According to the California highway patrol website the law is 6 OR 60 not and. If I had to abide by 60 lbs I would have been in a booster seat until 8th grade. I’m all for keeping kids safe in the car, but I had to correct the misinformation in this article.
Katie: You’re right–some cars don’t have LATCH anchors in the middle. (You can’t use the one LATCH anchor from each side, as you said.) If this is so, then I’ve read that it’s safer for them to be on a side, with the LATCH, rather than in the middle, with the seat belt.
Great article. A few comments…
I wish the article had mentioned that carseats do expire (as well as the reasons for this). Usually they last 5-7 years- but check- it is usually stamped on the carseat somewhere.
I wish I could pay for a car seat technician to help. That service is not available and virtually no police, fire or other services do it (some used to). There are some volunteers that do the checks, but it has been impossible to connect with them (and they can’t take payment)
Regarding the latch and the center seat. Latch is not safer than a properly installed seat belt- it is just easier to install and a convenience. Center is the safest place. I’d rather use the center position and a seat belt than move to a sideboard position just because the center didn’t have latch.
And yes, you are SO right, you cannot use one latch from the driver side and one from the passenger side.
Cars in Canada (past a certain year) are all required to have center latch (all 3 seats have latch). To bad the US doesn’t mandate that.
For those that need 3 across– I sure wish some manufacturers would produce more narrow seats.
I also wish more manufactures would offer toddler and child boosters with 5 point harnesses. Not all of us are looking for the cheapie car seats just because our kids are older.
I’d love to see more information like this that I can present to my doctor. He had mentioned the 1 year birthday things, so it is not just the parents that are pushing for this- many doctors just don’t know.
Also, parents should have more information relating to the laws, the limits, and the expiration. More parents might be able to plan their purchase if they have this information upfront since nowadays most states laws are going to require the purchase of at least 2 seats per child. (I say 2 because the law in MA is that children must be in a car seat till age 7 and I’m not aware of any carseat that lasts that long, maybe parents should be investing in a carseat from birth to about 4 years of age and then a 2nd one for age 4 and older).
For a narrow seat 3 across options the Radian is often a good choice. We have that rear facing on the passenger side so the front seat can be forward a bit.
Happy travelling!
Thanks to Crystal G. for pointing out what jumped out at me: **don’t** move your child to a booster seat “A: When they can properly fit in a booster seat.” Keep them in a 5 point harness as long as possible. We’d all be safer if we had 5 point harness seatbelts! It’s a better investment to buy a convertible seat that has higher weight and height limits in the first place, so you don’t have to switch to a booster when your child is young.
My car seats (Britax Marathon and Britax Boulevard) are for up to 65lbs and 49″. And Britax makes a combination harness/booster that goes up to 85 pounds and 65″. I’ll probably purchase that when my kids outgrow their convertible seats.
Just wanted to add that some of the new Radians actually RF to *45* pounds.
For those of you wondering how a four year old can be Rear facing, I will show you a picture of my daughter in her seat, she still rides rear facing at 4years 3mon old and my son still rides rear facing at 2yrs 11mon old.
Sorry but their seats are not installed, just showing them in the seat. I can take pictures tomorrow of them installed and add them later too.
My 4yr old daughter
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll244/swtgi1982/th_DSC_0002.jpg
My almost three year old son
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll244/swtgi1982/th_DSC_0001-1.jpg
Both who have tons of room left to grow rear facing in this seat
Jessica, go to safekids.org and you can find a tech locally on there, very few actually charge to check your seat, and you can also find an event near you. The ones who charge are usually professional services (most who are not techs, some are though)Most of the techs are volunteers and do what they do for the safety of the children.
FYI the police and fire do not do it for free anymore in many areas. We had a hard time finding someone to check the seat for my 2nd child for my mom’s car. Hospitals had huge waits and police and fire said no. We ended up paying a professional service.
My wife sent me this blog to read and would advise that you fact check before you post such information. The chance of serious injury for a child in a forward facing seat is 0.38%. Children under 1 have been shown to stastically decrease serious injury in rear facing seats. There is a trend towards decreased serious injury in children 1-2 yrs but it is not stastically significant. After the age 2 there is no real data showing decreased injury rate. Here are the actually sources cited in the articles that are referenced in this blog.
Henary B, Sherwood CP, Crandall JR, et al.
Car safety seats for children: rear facing for
best protection. Inj Prev. 2007;13(6):398-402.
Issaksson-Hellman I, Jakobsson L, Gustafsson
D, et al. Trends and effects of child restraint
systems based on Volvo’s Swedish
accident Database. SAE-973299. In proceedings
of child occupant protections 2nd symposium,
P-316, 1997. Society of Automotive
Engineers, Inc. Warrendale, PA.
Arbogast KB, Durbin DR, Cornejo RA, Kallan
MJ, Winston FK. An evaluation of the effectiveness
of forward facing child restraint systems.
Accid Anal Prev. 2004;36(4):585-589.
Hi there,
First off I wanted to say that this is a great article and it is great to see the word getting around about the safety of rear-facing, and on the issue of car safety for kids in general.
The comments that follow have nothing to do with the blog post, but are about some of the comments I have read. I am a certified Children’s Restrain System Technician in Canada, and I’d like to clear up a few things (that others haven’t already cleared up) for people that might be reading the comments. I’m not going to reference who made each comment I’m addressing – I don’t have that much time!
- For a list of what car seats are available in Canada, go to car-seat.org. There is a Canadian forum on there that has sticky threads at the top that list all of the seats available here.
- Not very many convertible (rear facing/forward facing) car seats actually say in the manual that it is OK to install the seat more upright than 45 degrees for an older infant, but it is OK. Basically they need good neck control; around 6 months is a good guideline, but it varies for each child. Most seats can be as upright as 30 degrees; the First Years True Fit can be at 35 degrees.
- A child is ready for a booster seat when they fit properly in a booster seat (i.e. meet the minimum height and weight requirements and the seat belt actually fits them properly when in the booster) AND when they are mature enough to sit properly in the seat at all times. If they are squirmy or are constantly reaching for things and putting the seat belt out of position or they fall over when they are sleeping, then they are not ready for a booster. Let me be clear – a 3 year old is not mature enough for a booster. Neither are most 4 year olds. 5 is a good age to *consider* a booster. It really depends on the child. All a booster does is make the seat belt fit properly. The belt has to be in the right place at all times for the child to be protected. That goes for adults too.
- Keeping your child in a harnessed seat for as long as possible is not necessarily any safer than having them in a booster seat when they are physically and mentally mature enough to do so. There are no harnessed seats (other than special needs seats) that harness beyond 65 lbs in Canada, and that isn’t because we love our children less than Americans. It is at least in part because there is reason to believe that beyond a certain point a harnessed seat can actually do more harm than good. When the body is being held back by a harness the head is still free to go whipping forward. With a seat belt there is a little more give so the body moves with the head more. People often point to the fact that race car drivers wear 5-point harnesses, but what they don’t realize is that they also wear a device (HANS device) that prevents this forward motion of the head. Seat belts work when they are used properly. BUT YOU STILL NEED TO BE BIG ENOUGH AND MATURE ENOUGH TO DO AWAY WITH THE HARNESS AND USE THE SEAT BELT. See points made above.
- Cars in Canada are not required to have 3 sets of UAS/LATCH in a vehicle that only has two rows of seats (front seat/back seat). There may be exceptions that I am unaware of, but I’m pretty certain that the UAS/LATCH anchors are the same in all vehicles in the US and Canada. This is not something car manufacturers do differently for regulations in each country. (UAS=Univeral Anchorage System=Canadian term; LATCH=Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHild restraints=US term)
Thanks for reading!
Ugh, with the moving out of 5-point harness gaffe! After getting the first part right, it’s the very same logic. Don’t switch from RF to FF as soon as they technically CAN, wait until it’s actually safe to do so. Wait until they CAN’T be RF anymore. Same for the harness… don’t switch out of a 5-point harness to a booster as soon as they technically CAN. Wait until they CAN’T use their 5-point harness anymore.
In other words, if they still fit within the limits of their seat, then why stop using it?
For those having trouble fitting a RF seat in their car due to comfort in the front seat… Try a TrueFit. They have a great design that makes them significantly shorter than most other convertible seats, giving MUCH more room for the front passengers.
It’s not at all uncommon for babies to outgrow the size/weight limit of a bucket seat before they’re at even the MINIMUM age for turning to FF, so most families who even plan to turn FF at 1 year old will need to RF a convertible at some point. So it’s worth finding one that fits well in your car, and once you’ve got it, just keep it that way. We never bothered with a bucket seat at all in the first place…
DD is now 3.5yo, 32-33 pounds. Currently FF in her TrueFit because it was easier in the winter, but now that it’s spring we will probably turn it back to RF until she hits the weight limit. We have always gone back and forth RF and FF depending on which seat (our seat in our other car is a Radian, which is HUGE of course) and which car (for instance if it’s going in grandma’s car, there may or may not be room for it to be RF), or we’d rather have a solid FF installation than a weak RF one. But she was NEVER FF before age 2 and we always try to default to RF, only FF in situations where RF will not work.
Oh, and I also meant to mention that as I recall, the FF limit on the TrueFit and the Radian is 65 pounds. So she’ll be able to fit in there for many years still. The Radian is especially tall as well. Rather than a bucket, then a convertible, then a big 5-point harness seat, then a booster, we’ll have used just one seat from birth to, say, age 6 or 7, then into a little booster until they’re legal/safe for just the seatbelt. In that respect it was WELL worth the “more expensive” seats that we chose — in the end we saved money, really.
Ok…I have to address the notation that a harness might do more harm than good.
Really?
Whether a rider has a harness or a lap/shoulder belt (fitted properly), the rider’s head will still slam forward in a collision. Neither the harness or lap/shoulder belt will prevent this or mitigate this or cause the forward movement of the head to be worse or better.
The harness is not intended to prevent head whiplash…but it IS better at keeping a rider restrained in the event of a collision. Yes, a lap/shoulder belt, when used properly, will also restrain a rider. The problem is that they are harder to use correctly (particularly with kids). With more room for error, there is a greater likelihood for the lap/shoulder belt to fail.
The HANS device is a pretty recent NASCAR development that came into play after Dale Earnhardt died in a not very violent wreck at Daytona. Mr. Earnhardt’s head slammed forward causing him to hit the steering wheel (actually, the hit on the steering wheel is alleged, they never did say for sure if he did strike the wheel or not) but the force of his head’s momentum caused a brain injury.
You’ll note that NASCAR drivers use the HANS device to prevent their heads from slamming forward in such collisions…and there hasn’t been a death since (that I’m aware of). But you’ll also notice that NASCAR drivers are also still using the five point harness. Why? Because it’s safer than the lap/shoulder belt for other reasons than the whiplash issue.
That said…I stand by my assertion…keep them in a harness for as long as you can.
Lots of good information in this report. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends keeping babies rear facing until they reach the maximum height or weight limits of the child restraint. Age 1 and 20 lbs is a minimum! Please check out our website, twitter and facebook pages. Go to http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov
the video is pretty misleading…the child in the FF seat is actually in a booster seat while the RR child is a 5-point harness car seat. I’d like to see a more equal comparison; of course the booster seat does not hold the child as well, this is why we don’t move our kids to booster seats until they are much older and larger than this crash-dummy child.
My 4 year old is almost 4 feet tall, if her 5-pt harness seat is rear-facing, she’s got nowhere to put her legs.
Unfortunately, our car did not fit the convertible car seat rear facing. We bought a Volvo XC90 thinking it would be a great and safe car. But after shopping around the only models that fit are the Recaro car seats that only fit fwd facing.
@Crystal G. – I don’t want to get into a debate about whether harnessing for as long as physically possible is safer than a booster (when a child is big enough and mature enough for a booster), but I did feel the need to clarify a couple of things.
- First the issue of seat belt failure. I’m not sure if you meant actual failure of the seat belt – as in it doesn’t work at all – or “failure” in the sense that if the seat belt isn’t positioned properly it won’t do it’s job. Seatbelts do – rarely – fail to work, but this would be an issue with a high-weight harness anyway because there is a limit on the weight LATCH anchors can support. A harnessed seat for a 50 lb child (for example) would have to be installed with the seat belt, so if the seat belt fails the whole restraint will separate from the vehicle seat. If we are talking about failure because the seat belt isn’t positioned properly on the child before a collision, then we are back into the issue where to be sitting in a booster in the first place the child must be mature enough to stay put and have the belt positioned correctly at all times. It isn’t “hard” to use a seat belt correctly. You just need a child that is truly ready for a booster, a booster that fits your child and your car correctly (not all boosters work for all children or all vehicles, same as harnessed car seats) and you need to teach them to stay put. Please know that I’m using “you” in the large sense here – not you personally.
- Second, the fact is there ARE issues with what happens to the head and also in the crotch area when a heavier child is in a collision in a harnessed seat. Higher weight seats are available because there are now lots of young, heavy children that aren’t mature enough for a booster. Not because kids should be harnessed until they are 10 years old. For the heavier kids that need the high weight seats, any potential concerns are outweighed by the fact that they would certainly be more seriously injured in a booster if they aren’t yet capable of sitting properly at all times. In Sweden, where they have the best record for motor vehicle child safety, most kids ride rear-facing until they are 4 or 5 years old (they have different seats over there), then they go straight into a booster.
- Finally, the HANS device is not a NASCAR invention, NASCAR merely came on board with using it after the Earnhardt incident. Yes, race car drivers still use harnesses (which are actually more than 5 point), but we are not comparing apples and oranges comparing race cars with driving in the family van, unless there are several laws being broken. I only brought up the HANS as a way of explaining the head movement issue, and because people often assume that if race car drivers wear harnesses, then that is automatically safer in all situations. Apples and oranges.
As a last thought I did want to mention that I think the minimum weight for using a booster in most states (all states?) in the US is 30 lbs. I wholeheartedly agree that that is way too low; a child shouldn’t be in a booster until they are at least 40 lbs. Luckily that is the minimum up here in Canada. Even with that we still have lots of people putting kids in boosters before they are ready. It’s a balancing act!
Oh my gosh, that was really long – sorry!
Just wanted to let you know that while researching I found out the new Sunshine Kids Radian XTSL and Radian 80SL are both rear facing to 45lbs! Also they are forward facing to 80lbs! One of them is going to be our next car seat.
“A recent analysis of the protection provided in rear-facing compared with forward-facing car safety seats has revealed that children under the age of 2 years are 75% less likely to die or sustain serious injury when they are in a rear-facing seat.2 This finding was true regardless of direction of the crash, even those crashes with side impact, which typically are the most severe.
Although the study could not provide data dividing the ages by individual months, it is notable that rear-facing car safety seats were more effective than forward-facing car safety seats for both infants under 1 year and children aged 12 to 23 months. The odds of severe injury for forward-facing infants under 12 months of age were 1.79 times higher than for rear-facing infants; for children 12 to 23 months old, the odds were 5.32 times higher.
This information is additionally supported by data from Sweden, where children have ridden in rear-facing seats up to 4 years of age for many years, and very low death and injury rates have been documented3.”
This from “Rear facing car safety seats: getting the message right” by Marilyn Bull, PEDIATRICS Vol. 121 No. 3 March 2008, pp. 619-620
To those who are having problems fitting a rear-facing convertible seat into their car, keep in mind that once a baby has adequate head control (usually at 4-6 months), the car seat can be installed more upright. Most manufacturers allow installation between 30 and 45* from vertical (the exception is The First Years, who requires an angle between 35* and 45*). This not only gives the front seats more leg room, but also is more comfortable for the child, and provides better crash protection.
“The back surface of a rear-facing CR should be between 30° and 45° from vertical, starting with the most reclined angle for a newborn and becoming more upright as the baby grows. This recommendation is a balance between crash protection and comfort. If the CR is too upright, the head could flop forward uncomfortably and possibly pinch off the airway, especially for a newborn. If the CR is too reclined during a frontal crash, the infant could slide toward the top of the restraint, exposing the head to injury, especially for the larger, heavier baby.”
This from the Child Passenger Safety Technical Encyclopedia, found here: http://www.carseat.org/Technical/tech_update.htm#angleRF
A recent story on rear facing car seats from National Public Radio (NPR):
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/09/131918000/facing-backward-keeping-kids-safe-in-cars
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=131918000&m=131926404
Check out the lastest update from the AAP:
http://www.scpr.org/programs/patt-morrison/2011/03/21/car-seats/?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d87b39c85dd589c%2C0
I find it really ridiculous that this article uses a video of a rear facing seat installed in the front seat of a car to demonstrate that rear facing keeps a child’s head and neck more stable in a crash. If your whole article is about car seat safety and specifically mentions NEVER putting a rear facing seat, or any child carseat, in the front seat, why would you feature a video that favourably shows a rear facing car seat installed in the front seat as safer than a front facing seat in the back?????? I don’t care if you think it is just for demo purposes. What is someone just watches the video and doesn’t read the article or anything else out there. That video is incredibly misinforming and really an irresponsible mistake. Film it twice with both car seat positions shown installed in the back seat or don’t show it. If it is from a country that permits carseats in the front, don’t show it here. Completely ridiculous video if your goal is helping people make safer car seat installation choices.