Looking Back: Don't Rush Switching Your Child to a Forward-Facing Car Seat
In the world of parenting, we're conditioned to treat anticipated transitions as cause for celebration -- like when a child reaches a new developmental milestone or advances to the next grade. And we're led to believe that sooner is usually better (think potty training).
But this way of thinking has its limits and it's particularly problematic when it comes to car seats, where the safest approach is to take time with each transition. Whether you're moving a child from a rear-facing seat to one that's forward-facing or a child is "graduating" from a five-point harness to a booster seat and ultimately to vehicle seat belt use -- it's best to make these changes as late as possible. The same holds true, by the way, for moving older children from the back seat to the front -- which, in case you're wondering, isn't generally recommended before age 13.
[Read: Car Seat Safety: Avoid These Common Mistakes.]
With respect to transitioning from rear-facing to forward-facing, the consensus of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Safe Kids Worldwide and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is that children are safest when kept rear-facing as long as possible within the height and weight limits of their rear-facing car seat, which typically translates to age 2 if not older. As with most aspects of parenting, however, actually committing to keep toddlers rear-facing longer and following through is easier said than done.
I was recently reminded of the additional practical challenges involved when a senator in my home state of Nebraska introduced new and improved car seat legislation requiring appropriate child safety seat use up until the age of 8 (instead of 6), rear-facing until the age of 2, and keeping children under the age of 13 in the back seat. In the spirit of helping this important bill become law, I made my way to the state capitol a couple of weeks ago armed with nearly two decades worth of professional insights and information about the life-saving benefits of the proposed changes.
[See: The 11 Most Dangerous Places in Your Home for Babies and Small Kids.]
Road injuries continue to be the leading cause of preventable deaths and injuries to children in the U.S., while correctly used child safety seats can reduce the risk of death by as much as 71 percent. And keeping kids rear-facing as long as possible is critically important, since young children are especially vulnerable to serious and life-threatening injuries when they are turned face-forward too soon.
Certainly some legislators -- and parents -- are sitting up and taking notice. Yet time and again, the rear-facing-until-2 discussion inevitably turns to the impracticality of having a toddler facing backwards in the car. It always boils down to two overriding concerns: that the toddler's legs uncomfortably push up against the back seat, and that one can't see or reach a rear-facing toddler while driving.
[See: 10 Concerns Parents Have About Their Kids' Health.]
As both a pediatrician and a parent, I sympathize with practical concerns such as these. I also happen to know that when not addressed, these concerns have a way of taking precedence over more pressing safety considerations. So it's important that parents know research tells us that injuries to the legs of rear-facing toddlers are, in fact, reassuringly uncommon. What's more, kids in rear-facing seats have better protection of the head, neck and body in the event of an accident. As for not being able to see or tend to your toddler while driving, I would just point out that there's really nothing that can be done safely to tend to one's toddler that involves turning around or looking backwards while driving.
Laura A. Jana, M.D. is an Omaha-based pediatrician, media spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics and award-winning parenting and children's book author who holds a faculty appointment at Penn State's Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center. In addition to "Heading Home With Your Newborn" and "Food Fights," as well as three children's books, her newest books are "The Toddler Brain: Nurture the Skills Today that Will Shape Your Child's Tomorrow" and "Jumping Into Kindergarten."
