Introduction
The safety of baby car seats is vital. For parents, the decision to change their kid from a rear-facing to a forward-facing car seat is a top priority. The returns of this decision may be tempting, yet evidence very clearly points to keeping your child in a rear-facing position for an extended period as being the premium choice. But why is this the case? Here we will look at this issue in-depth and at how keeping your baby in a rear-facing position for as long as possible can reduce the risk of harm in a car accident.
Comprehending the Science Behind Rear-Facing
When a car crashes, the forces exerted on a child’s body can be huge. From the moment of impact, the car seat’s shell absorbs and is intended to distribute the forces, using the principles of crumple zones and the incompressibility of materials. The rear-facing shell does a better job of this than a forward-facing one, mainly because the forces in most collisions are directed mostly toward the front of the car. Inside a rear-facing seat, the kinds of forces that can cause severe injuries to a child’s spinal cord are more likely to be absorbed and redirected through the shell. The head and the parts of the body that are the fullest and mostly likely to come in contact with the car seat shell (think the back of the head, the upper back, and the upper arms) are more likely to dissipate the forces and, thus, reduce the chances of injury. In the frontal and frontal-angled impacts that make up the vast majority of all crashes, the rear-facing seat does a better job of keeping a child’s head and body away from the deforming and often hard-to-see parts of the car cabin that can injure the brain, the skull, the spine, or the body itself.
Advantages of Rear-Facing for a Lengthy Time
Serious Injury Risk Reduced: Multiple studies indicate that the chance that a child will sustain a serious injury while riding rear-facing in a car is considerably lower than if they were seated forward-facing. One of them reports that a child seated rear-facing is 75% less likely to be severely injured compared to one riding forward-facing. Another found that rear-facing is about five times safer than forward-facing for 1- to 2-year-old children. A third reported that for children age 1 and older, rear-facing decreases the risk of serious injury by at least 62% and up to 93%.
Misconceptions about Extended Rear-Facing
When it comes to keeping your child safer for longer, many parents are hesitant, simply because they don’t understand the concept of rear-facing. Some worry that their child will be too cramped in a rear-facing seat because they can’t stretch their legs. Happily, our children are already really flexible, and the baby is able to kick and move those little legs all they want. What’s more, a rear-facing child isn’t forced to sit quite as snug as you think. And those legs attached to little bodies? They know how to fold and fit just the right amount of comfy.
Tips for Extended Rear-Facing
- Extended rear-facing for your little ones is a great way to keep them safe in the car. The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends keeping children rear-facing until at least 2 years old, but optimally until they reach the rear-facing limits of their car seat, which is typically a lot longer than age 2.
- A child is way more likely to survive a crash if he or she is in a rear-facing seat, versus a forward-facing seat. That’s because when a crash happens, a rear-facing seat cradles and protects the baby’s head, neck, and spine.
Conclusion
Rear-facing for as long as possible is not just a fad. It is a proven safety practice that can sharply decrease the risk of serious injury to your child in a car crash. Not all rear-facing car seats are appropriate for this. Some of the “convertible” car seats that can switch from rear-facing to forward-facing are too small for many children to sit in. But far too many parents turn their children forward-facing too soon. At age 3, 85 percent of American kids are sitting in forward-facing car seats. And the younger you let a child face forward, the less safe that practice is. Not only that, but a rear-facing seat will also protect the child from overtiredness during a road trip.
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