Child seat practices aren’t safe enough
Baby Bodyguards, our Safety Expert, had a really interesting post on their blog this week. They found an article by Stephen Dubner in the New York Times. In a nutshell Volvo has done independent crash tests and claims to have found several shortcomings with existing car seat practices. Volvo argues that:
1-Young children are much safer facing the rear of the car and should ride that way until age three or four (as they commonly do in Sweden), rather than facing forward starting at six months or one year.
2-“[C]hildren should be in booster seats until at least age 10 to ensure seatbelts are positioned correctly across their chests without riding up to their necks.”
3-“Current child seats require feeding the seatbelt and attaching a top tether, something that takes time and is often not performed properly. An RACV report in 2004 estimated that child seats were incorrectly fitted as much as 70 per cent of the time.”
Does this inspire you to win a free car installation by Baby Bodyguards ? If yes, join them on Facebook and become a fan. One winner will be picked by random on February 8th and announced on their Facebook Page.
Related Posts:
- Booster Seat Tests: Best and Worst (December 22nd, 2009)
- Car Seat Expiration (October 14th, 2008)
- Is YOUR car seat installed correctly? (March 28th, 2008)
- Car Seat Rear or Front? (July 30th, 2007)
- Car Seat Check (July 26th, 2007)
Hi Bonnie
good question- I have been wondering the same thing for awhile now. From a lot of reading, I gather the comfort factor is all about a car seat with a good shell with adjustable harnesses, the child getting used to being RFacing and you deciding that you are definitive about doing this- despite the whining (on their part!). I know it’s hard to do this- I am going to have to move our very comfortable FFacing 18 month old to a RF seat….arghhh……but writing all of this has FINALLY convinced me to change our car seat now- in a nutshell:
“children are five times safer riding rear-facing until their second birthday”
Here is what I found from the internet from people about how they helped their toddlers to stay RFing:
One reader:
Legs touching the seat is no big deal. A child generally prefers to sit cross-legged than to have their legs dangling anyway. my son’s torso length was such that the straps of his Comfort Sport or his Touriva didn’t fit. I wish we could’ve afforded a Britax for each car, they have better positioned strap levels to accommodate taller toddlers..
Another reader:
My littlest is very big for her age, and she outgrew her Britax Roundabout at about 15 months (her head was already clearing the top). But instead of turning her around, I bought the First Years True Fit, and it is awesome. She is 30 months old, 38 inches tall, and 31 pounds. She has always been over the 100th percentile, until just recently when she fell to the 98th. Big kids can still face back!! She still has TONS of headspace, and the True Fit sits the toddler’s bottom really low, to allow for longer riding and larger kids.
Another:
My daughter’s very happily RF in her Sunshine Kids Radian 80. She will stay that way until she hits the limit of 45 pounds. And she is ALSO very tall for her age. And skinny.
another reader:
My daughter will be rear facing again soon. She is 4 years old and 35 lbs, the max of all the seats we own, but by the beginning of the year, she’ll be in a 40 or 45 lbs rearfacing seat. Saftey comes first!!! When she was rearfacing this summer at 3 1/2 on a 5+ hour trip, we still interacted with her by doing I Spy, Counting Games, singing songs, etc….I rather her be around to play those games than not to have her there because of a choice I made for her. She is not uncomfortable rear facing and even says it’s easier for her to fall asleep and do things because she can prop her legs up to play. She sits with either her legs crissed crossed, proped up on the back of the seat or with her knees bent up….she’s never complained of comfort. Me, I couldn’t sit like that for 10 mins., but kids are comfortable in some of the weirdest positions (look how some of them can fall asleep sitting at a table, half way proped up on a bed, etc…).
Just out of curious, how does one keep their child rear facing when their child is so big that they can’t put their legs forward anymore? I don’t understand. My 16 mos. old is so long that he had to put his legs in the air and lean them against the backseat because he could not lay them forward. We felt forced to turn the car seat forward. Am I missing something? I keep seeing articles stating that kids should be rearfacing until age 3 but my kid is just too big. Please advise.