PSA - Extended Rear-facing ROCKS!

This is my public service annoucement about car seat safety. I've been dubbed the "Obsessed Carseat Nazi" and it's a term that I bear proudly! Well, maybe not the nazi part. It's been estimated that approximately 80-85% of all carseats are installed improperly or are improperly used (that's not including all the children whose parents don't even put them in a carseat!). That is a scary statistic considering that car accidents are the number #1 killer of children aged 1-14. The solution? Education on car seat safety.

Sweden is the country that leads the world in car seat safety and innovation. The US would do good to follow suit. In Sweden, children are placed in rearfacing carseats until the age of 4-5 years old. The AAP's current recommendation is that a child may forward face when one year AND 20 pounds. Though it is important to remember that this is just the BARE MINIMUM. Most convertible car seats can accomodate a child rear facing to 33-35 pounds. It is actually very dangerous to place a 12 month old child forward facing because the bones in their neck are not strong enough to withstand the forces of even a relatively minor crash. A child can literally have their head ripped from their spine (called internal decapitation, not a nice thing to think about). The best practice is to keep your child rear facing to the upper limits of the car seat in which he/she is sitting. The following video from youtube gives an excellent explanation about rear facing. It also includes many pictures of older child sitting in rear facing car seats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2DVfqFhseo&feature=related
http://www.car-seat.org/ is another great site where you can get great car seat related info and questions answered. Many of the members are certified passenger saftey technicians.
I just found a great blog entry that also emphasizes the importance of rear facing for as long as possible http://carseatblog.com/?p=323

Gambit (who will be two on Sept. 25) is perfectly comfortable in his rearfacing carseat and I have no intention of switching him anytime soon. He can see out all windows (except the front one) and his legs are perfectly fine resting on the seat. If he needs to stretch them he'll move them to the outside of the car seat (kind of like doing the splits). Just a friendly reminder because we all want our kids to be as safe as possible. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any specific car seat questions.