Car Seat Safety

You may or may not know that I'm pretty anal about car seat safety. I wiggle Isabella's car seat regularly to make sure it is secure and doesn't move more than an inch in any direction, I re-adjust the straps every time I buckle her in, and I always ensure that the chest clip is at armpit level.  I don't use additional car seat accessories and she never wears her bulky coat in the car seat.  She has also always been rear-facing and will remain so as long as her car seat allows (35 lbs and until her head is within an inch from the top of her seat). 

Children are proven to be safer when rear-facing.  Even adults would be safer rear-facing, but it's obviously not an option for us. The AAP recently revised it's recommendations on car seats to the following:

"The AAP advises parents to keep their toddlers in rear-facing car seats until age 2, or until they reach the maximum height and weight for their seat. It also advises that most children will need to ride in a belt-positioning booster seat until they have reached 4 feet 9 inches tall and are between 8 and 12 years of age."

I found a great, albeit sad, video on Youtube that demonstrates the difference in impact on rear-facing vs forward-facing seats.  I encourage all parents to watch it before switching their child to a forward-facing seat.



To read the full release from the AAP visit this link.