Will you be following the new car sear guidelines?

My 27 month old is still rearfacing. He's 27 lbs. and has 3-6" above his head in his seats (he has 3 car seats, for the various cars he rides in regularly.)

My 5 year old rearfaced to 2 years old when he outgrew his car seat RF by height. I would have done it longer if there had been seats available to do so at that time. He's in a high backed booster now and will stay in a booster until the vehicle seatbelt fits him correctly and he passes the "5 step test."

This isn't new information, but the guidelines were just revised. 1 year olds are 5x more likely to be seriously injured or killed in a crash if they are forward facing. In a collision, if the child is RF, the seat absorbs the impact and the child "ramps up" the seat, and their head and neck are supported by the seat during that continued foward movement. A forward facing child's head will be thrown forward while their body is kept in place by the harnessed car seat. At this age, the spine can only stretch 1/4" before it's snapped. This is whiplash in an adult; in a young child (both because of their less mature spines-- the spine does not ossify (harden) until 4-5 years of age-- and because of the size of their head compared with their body) "whiplash" can actually become internal decapitation. It's just not worth the risk.

I'm sure many are wondering "what about their legs?" There have been no documented cases of feet, legs, or hips being injured as a result of rearfacing. In a crash, the rearfacing child's legs will fly up and away from the back of the vehicle seat. Conversely, broken legs are a common injury for forward facing children in collisions. Their feet will fly forward and into the back of the seat in front of them. Really, it isn't even a comfort issue, usually. Watch kids play, sit to watch tv, etc. They are like pretzels! Kids will put their feet on the vehicle seat back, hang their legs over the sides of the car seat, sit criss-cross applesauce or "froggy legged"-- and generally, they're perfectly comfortable. I never have had any complaints from my children about it. Often kids don't like their feet hanging forward facing, actually!

Check out www.joelsjourney.org. Joel is a child who was 18 months old and 33 lbs. when the vehicle he was riding in was in a crash. He was internally decapitated and, miraculously, survived. Usually internal decapitation will result in death.

Don't do the minimum when it comes to your children's safety. They deserve more than that. Car crashes are the leading cause of children ages 1-14. The best way to protect your toddler from serious injury or death in a car crash is to keep them rearfacing and use the seat correctly every single time!

My godson is 30 pounds now at 18 months- and he's happily rear facing. He will stay like that until he reaches the 40 pound weight limit.

Every time I strap him in it runs through my head "if we were to crash on this trip, would he be safe?" and the answer is yes, because the seat is installed tightly, he doesn't have a poofy winter coat on, the straps are snug, and the chest clip is at armpit level. There's nothing more than that that I could possibly do to keep him safe in an accident, so I have done my job.

Usually the people turning their child forward at or before 1 are the same people that don't make sure the straps are now at or above the shoulders, the straps are snug and the chest clip is at armpit level- so not only are they putting their too-young child forward facing, they're not even making sure they wouldn't fly right out of the seat in an accident.

I think it's great that parents will no longer be able to cop out with "well 1 year and 20 pounds is what's recommended"

As far as booster seats, I think it's great that people are now being encourage to keep a child boostered until the seat belt fits them correctly. The 8th birthday laws we have now- that just tells parents that it's OK to toss out the booster on the child's 8th birthday. The most important thing about leaving a booster is that the adult seat belt alone will properly restrain the child in a crash. If a seat belt doesn't fit a 9 year old, I'd say it's much more important they are on a booster so in a crash they aren't injured from not fitting in the seat belt properly.

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Eta @ cathrl69- did you have your child in an infant seat or a convertible? Many rear facing problems that parents experience go away when the child is put in a convertible. I'm pretty sure you're getting TD for saying that you would blatantly disregard the new advice, instead of saying that you had a hard time with your child but would still have looked at alternate seats for him

I kept my Son rear facing until probably 3.5 and my other 2 kids until at least 2 years of age. I am the only person I know that did this FOR my children and caught a whole lot of heck for it from my whole family. My Son is 9 and is really small for his age, and is still, and will be for a while, riding in a Britax Regent 5 point car seat in my van. In my Husbands truck my 6 year old rides in a Sunshine Kids 5 point harnessed car seat and my 9 year old in a Recaro high back booster seat. My children don't know any different and really don't complain about it and quite frankly even if they did I would still do what is best for them and keep them harnessed or boostered for as long as I feel they need to be based on their size and maturity level.

Mine RF to ages 3 and 4. I don't know about the new booster regs. Our 7 grew out of her car seat harnessed when she was 6 height-wise. She is now using a backless booster, but she is 4'9"! The state says booster seats to age 8! Our 4 yr old is in a Sunshine Kids Radian, and in the other car a Evenflo generations booster (in the harness still). He is only 35 pounds, but he too will be in this seat to at least age 6, then will use the seat belt with the seat. The 14 month old is RF in an Evenflo Triumph 65. No plans to FF anytime soon. I'll keep him that way to around three, he is the biggest of the bunch.

i think of the parents could seem at the two and make the purely precise determination. And the a million 300 and sixty 5 days/20 lb training is somewhat previous, the AAP now recommends conserving childrens rear dealing with till a minimum of two years the guidelines purely have not caught up. And maximum seats are basically waiting to rear face till 30 lbs precise now. My son is two years 3 months, weighs approximately 22-23 lbs and continues to be rear dealing with, i don't supply a crap if everybody else thinks i'm overprotective, he will stay that way till he's 30 lbs or its turns right into a extensive war to rear face. His ft touch the lower back of the seat and it doens't subject him. I additionally sense sorry approximately following rules with solids, my medical doctors pushed toddler meals swifter than i presumed my son necessary it and the exchange in his weight-alleviation plan introduced approximately damaging constipation that replaced right into a vicious cycle, so with y 2d baby i will have confidence myself greater i wish

My daughter is 2 and i will continue to keep her rear facing. Everyone should follow the car seat guidelines for the safety of their children.

Well I'm already in compliance with the guidelines. My 3 and 1 year old are both rear facing in their car seats. These guidelines have been around for years. This is not news to me.

My 2 and 1/2 year old was rear-facing until this weekend. I'm not sure I'll keep her forward-facing, though.

My niece is in a FF at 20 months and was when she was in a car crash but came out of it without even a bruise. If I did have kids I would never keep them into a booster seet until age 12 it would cause them to be mocked so much. I'm in my teens now and stopped sitting in a booster seet by 4th grade.

I didn't, and to be honest I wouldn't have anyway. By the time I turned my son round (and he's 11 now, so this was before he was 1) he was already throwing up on almost every car journey. It stopped when I turned him round.

Travel sickness is utterly miserable. No way I'd have put him through another 15 months of it.

High backed booster? Sure. He's still in a booster because he's not very tall for his age.

Edit: Well, there's a shock - TD from a coward who hasn't dared comment.

Sweetie, sometimes you have to choose the lesser of two evils for your kid. It's called parenting. When you've dealt with a shaky, miserable child who's covered in vomit every time you get out of the car for a month, maybe you'll understand.