New Rear-Facing Car Seat Guidelines Spark Discussion

You have probably heard that the American Academy of Pediatrics recently changed their recommendations regarding rear-facing car seats for children under the age of two. The old recommendation was that children could be turned facing forward when they had reached the age of 12 months or 20 pounds. Now the academy recommends leaving the child rear-facing until at least the age of two, according to this article published by the New York Times. 

Personally, I think the AAP’s recommendation should have come sooner as I had been aware of the research that supported these recommendations for several years now.  

As stated by the New York Times, a 2007 study from the University of Virginia found that children under two-years-old are 75 percent less likely to suffer severe or fatal injuries if they are rear-facing.

Those are some pretty convincing numbers and I would think enough incentive to want to leave your child rear-facing for as long as the car seat limits would allow.

It is unfortunate if many parents thought the previous recommendations meant that once your kid hits the one-year mark, he or she should be turned around immediately. That was just the minimum recommendation.

I think what surprised me most about this article was not the research or subject matter, but rather the huge number of comments in response to the article with a large number of them appearing to be parents stating their case for why this doesn’t work for them.

A quick scroll through the comments provided just about every reason I could imagine for why parents would turn their one-year-old child’s car seat to the forward facing position. 

Everything from the car being too small, to the position appearing uncomfortable for the child, to the child’s view and lack of social engagement in that position, to the screaming child who hates car rides were among the many passionate reasons some parents would not be following the recommendations.

At first glance, I was thinking it’s intriguing really that in this day and age given research and numbers concerning child safety, so many people would continue to not heed the advice.

But then I thought a little more about the question of when I would turn the car seat around for my children and I realize it’s not always as easy as just following the advice without taking other matters into account.

We kept my daughter rear-facing until she was over two-years-old.  Having said that, I wanted to keep her rear-facing for as long as the weight and height limits of her seat allowed, as I knew it was much safer for her to be riding rear-facing. 

However, there reached a point when she discovered how to talk and clearly communicate her desires and she would be yelling back there for things that she dropped and promptly start flipping out. 

It made me a nervous and stressed driver and often there was no safe place to pull over and get out to quiet her down or retrieve whatever object had fallen on the ground. I simply felt that I would be a safer driver if she could see me and I could easily hand things to her.

It was with a heavy heart that I turned her forward-facing, but for me, it felt safer than my distracted driving with a screaming child. She was a much better companion once she was facing forward.

Similarly, I plan to leave my son rear-facing as long as his seat allows as well. He is now 17 months and still seems pretty content despite his long legs crossed in the frog position. It also helps having my daughter back there to retrieve things he drops on the seat for him and to provide a bit of entertainment so he does not get crabby.

I am glad that American Academy of Pediatrics changed their recommendations. If it means more people are made aware of what is the safest way for their child to ride in their car seat, then it is a good thing to spread the knowledge and have pediatricians nation-wide recommending the same. 

At this stage, it is still a recommendation and not the law.