Rear Facing vs. Forward Facing?

Today I was involved in a pretty heated debate with some co workers about when you turn your child front facing in their car seat. A co worker had just switched his 9 month old from her infant seat to her convertible seat- and because she is still less then 20 pounds and not a year old yet she must stay rear facing. He said it was such a pain to get her in and out of the seat rear facing and he cannot wait until he can turn her around in 3 months, when she is a year old.

I quickly said that really she should stay rear facing until she exceeds the rear facing weight limit for her convertible car seat, which is most likely 35 pounds. He said oh hell no, it's one year old and 20 pounds, that they can go forward facing.

Now yes you've probably heard the one year/20 pounds advice from many sources, including your pediatrician, the car seat company and possibly your state's car seat law. But that's the old standard, and it is a bare minimum standard. All children are safer if they remain in a rear-facing car seat beyond a year. Thanks to higher rear-facing weight limits on car seats, nearly all toddlers can remain rear-facing for quite a while.

In Europe they keep their children rear facing until the age of 4, due to it being so much safer. Again, looks like the Europeans got it right once again! They know how to design cars and they know how to keep our kids safe in those cars!

Now, another co worker whose son is 13 months old chimes in that her child is so upset rear facing- and he is not comfortable rear facing and he is so much happier facing forward and it's such a pain in the butt to get a child in and out of a rear facing car seat.

Now all I hear when someone says this to me, BLAH BLAH BLAH- I don't care about my child's safety I care more about my convenience and giving in to all my kids desires. I don't give a crap if your kid doesn't like to be rear facing, I don't care if they can't watch the TV that is in the car, I don't care if it takes you an extra 5 minutes to put your child in their car seat properly- it's safer!! According to NHTSA, a rear-facing car seat is 71 percent safer then a forward facing car seat, hello 71% that is a big difference, it's safer!!!

Many parents worry that their baby will suffer broken legs in a crash because baby's legs touch the seat back or look cramped when rear-facing. It's important to remember, though, that in a crash severe enough to break baby's legs, there would also be enough force to cause severe neck injuries if your baby or toddler was forward-facing. While it's never fun to choose between injuries, the chance of full recovery is greater for broken legs than broken necks.