Extended Rear Facing & Car Seat Safety

I can’t tell you how often a friend or family member goes to help put my kids in our van and is surprised to see that Jackson, at over 2.5 years old, is still rear facing in his car seat. I believe a parent always wants what is best for their child and I know my kids are safest while rear facing in their car seats. 

I have wanted to talk about extended rear facing for a while now because it is something I am passionate about, but it always seems to be such a controversial topic. The longest Facebook discussions seem to be about car seat safety and why people decided to turn their kids around at 9 months or 1 year. Parents get defensive about their decisions and I’ve heard many reasons; their legs look uncomfortable, my kid is too big to sit backwards or they get angry not being able to see out the windshield, etc. I don’t want to argue with anybody but I’d like to share my reasons for keeping my kids rear facing for as long as possible- hopefully until their car seat allows, which is 45lbs in the case of our car seats (Sunshine Kids/Diono Radian XTSL)

Just last year, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) updated their policy on car seat safety:

• All infants and toddlers should ride in a rear facing car safety seat (CSS) until they are 2 years of age or until they reach the highest weight or height allowed by the manufacturer of their CSS.
• All children 2 years or older, or those younger than 2 years who have outgrown the rear facing weight or height limit for their CSS, should use a forward-facing CSS with a harness for as long as possible, up to the highest weight or height allowed by the manufacturer of their CSS.
• All children whose weight or height is above the forward-facing limit for their CSS should use a belt-positioning booster seat until the vehicle lap-and-shoulder seat belt fits properly, typically when they have reached 4 feet 9 inches in height and are between 8 and 12 years of age.
• When children are old enough and large enough to use the vehicle seat belt alone, they should always use lap-and-shoulder seat belts for optimal protection.
• All children younger than 13 years should be restrained in the rear seats of vehicles for optimal protection.

• Rear facing is safest for both adults and children, but especially for babies, who would face a greater risk of spinal cord injury in a front-facing carseat during a frontal crash.
• Rear facing car seats spread frontal crash forces over the whole area of a child’s back, head and neck; they also prevent the head from snapping relative to the body in a frontal crash.
• Rear facing carseats may not be quite as effective in a rear end crash, but severe frontal and frontal offset crashes are far more frequent and far more severe than severe rear end crashes.
• Rear facing carseats are NOT a safety risk just because a child’s legs are bent at the knees or because they can touch/kick the vehicle seat.
• Rear facing as long as possible is the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatricians, and can reduce injuries and deaths.   Motor vehicle crashes are the #1 overall cause of death for children 14 and under.

• JoelsJourney.org | his story {this little boy’s story is heartbreaking}
• Rear Facing vs. Forward Facing | CarSeatSite.com
• Rear Facing – Unmatched Safety | CPSafety.com
• Why Rear Facing is Safest | Car-Safety.org

Did you know that you can get your car seat inspected by a Child Passenger Safety (CPS) technician in your area, for FREE? Visit SeatCheck.org to find your local CPS technician. I’ve had my seats checked out a couple of times by a local Safe Kids car seat check at a local department store and both times I saw them giving car seats to families who didn’t have safe ones.  Safety should never be compromised, so if there are budgetary reasons why your kids aren’t in safe seats, please know that there are people out there willing to help you out.

I hope our families never get in a car crash. I hope my children’s car seats never have to be put to the test.  I want my kids to be as safe as possible and that’s why I’ve made the decision to “extended rear face” them in their car seats.