The other day, Addison and I went to Hastings to rent a movie. As I was putting Addison into her carseat, the people next to me started to back out. Normally, I don't really pay that much attention to people as they back out of their parking spaces. However, as I saw these people back out, I noticed a little girl standing up between the two front seats of the car. She couldn't have been more than 2 years old and she wasn't even sitting in a seat, much less properly restrained in a carseat. I was pretty shocked to see this. Thus, a post on carseat safety.
Almost everybody knows that newborn babies have to ride in the carseat, rear-facing. And lots of people know that, legally (at least it's the law in many states) kids must stay rear-facing until they are at least 20lbs. and (not "or") 1 year old. However, most people (myself included until just a couple months ago) don't know that it is actually better to keep your child rear-facing until they reach the weight limit on their convertible carseat (usually about 30-35 lbs). And, the AAP is now recommending that children remain rear-facing until at least 2 years old....my pedi gave me this info at Addison's 1 year old appointment. Of course, Addison hasn't reached the legal 20 lbs, so this is not really an issue for us, but we do plan to keep her rear-facing until she is at least 2 years old and possibly even longer.
This information spurned more research into the carseat issue and this is what I found, but in a very condensed form (Please read the links to find out more!):
**Children should ride rear-facing until the maximum weight limit for the carseat is reached (30-35lbs.) as recommended by the manufacturer. The minimum requirement for rear-facing is 20 lbs. and 1 year old.
**Once a child has reached the maximum weight limit for rear-facing, the child should ride forward facing in a harness until at least 4 years of age. Ideally, they should remain in a harnessed seat until they exceed the maximum weight and height limit for the seat (generally 40-65 lbs).
**After a child has outgrown a forward-facing carseat, the child should sit in a booster seat. Booster seats were "designed to raise the child up so that the lap and shoulder seat belts fit properly." Children should remain in a booster seat until they reach 4'9" (usually between 8 & 12 years of age).
I know some of this might sound crazy, especially a 12 year-old sitting in a booster seat, but if you read about it and research it, it makes sense.
For more info, go to: http://www.aap.org/family/carseatguide.htm and http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html
::Off to take some pics outside in the fallen leaves:: Be back later to post them!
I just watched something along these lines on Good Morning America and was surprised to know they recommend keeping them rear-facing until the age of 2. Dustin hated when we went to pick out Kaleb's new carseat because I kept going to the store and then researching them on-line, but I wanted to make sure it was the right one!! On that same note, I had to meet a patient somewhere to get directions (I think you can guess where I was) and they drove with their 2 year old in the drivers seat and he was sticking his head out the window!!
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