Does anyone know of any sites where it says rear facing car seat is safer?

[snowqueen]

I was hoping to get some links to sites where it states rear facing longer is safer than forward facing.

Everytime I go to visit my mom, I get the comments on how ds (18 months) should be facing forward. My sister lives with my parents and she told my mom that my son would break his legs if he is in an accident because his feet are hitting the back seat and that he should of been forward facing at 12 months

As many times as I tried to explain that rear facing is safer, they won't believe me.

I wanted to print out a bunch of literature so the next time I get these comments I can provide proof then say "where is your proof?"

thanks in advance!

[chely7425]

car-seat.org has a bunch of good information on their site

[womenswisdom]

Is the American Academy of Pediatrics authoritative enough?

http://aapnews.aappublications.org/c...full/30/4/12-a
http://babyproducts.about.com/b/2009...mendations.htm

BTW, I think your sister might be right. But so are you. I think broken legs might be less likely if a child is forward-facing, but death is more likely. I could be wrong, but I think that's what I've read previously.

[chickabiddy]

Actually, broken legs are *more* likely forward-facing. Legs fly UP in a crash, and they're not meant to do that.

[BetsyS]

My parents are easily convinced by "what the doctor says". And, since the AAP recommendation to rear face until age 2 is relatively new, you can just tell them that, and they'll probably back off. At least until age 2.

[an_aurora]

The AAP has been recommending rear facing to the limits of the seat since 1989, so it is not a new thing. When they changed their wording to 2 and 30 it was a big step down but it's spreading the word so I will take it

[Roxswood]

You could tell them that in Sweden children routinely rear face to 3 or 4 years of age or longer and their child vehicle injury and death rates are much lower than in the USA.

If they are actually willing to read about it we can find you a whole lot of websites, but there is a lot of information to take in about it all and I find that my parents and sister just won't read it because they lose interest at line two. Sigh.

[Roxswood]

Here's a start http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html

This page has a couple of pictures that illustrate the increased risk of internal decapitation to smaller children quite effectively

http://www.childrestraintsafety.com/rear-facing.html

This might be effective in convincing them

http://www.joelsjourney.org/

[newmum35]

http://carseatblog.com/wp-content/up...protection.pdf

http://seattlemamadoc.seattlechildre...t-least-age-2/

http://babyproducts.about.com/od/car...ear_facing.htm

http://myangelsaliandpeanut.tripod.com/id5.html




You're not alone. My mom tried to tell me that turning around 2.5 yr old ds would be best "so he could see better out the window" No thanks. Some people just don't get it and never will. give them the info then let it go.

[JessieBird]

You could add that Transport Canada has not recorded a single incident of leg injuries to RF children EVER while the number of incidents of FF neck, spine and internal injuries and deaths is in the hundreds every year. I was told this verbally by TC about three weeks ago, sorry I can't point you to a written citation. But maybe you can find stats along these lines for your state.

Even if there was a risk of leg injury while RF, the saying, "Break a leg, put a cast on it. Break a neck, order a casket." should put everything in perspective.

That Seattle Mama article that newmum35 posted above is a great one for passing along because of the tone in which it's written. I sent it to dozens of friends and it was well received.

[Katie T]

http://www.freewebs.com/sacredjourne...npreschool.htm

I think this is another with good info.

[Adventuredad]

Rear facing is 500% safer which has repeatedly been proven by peer reviewed independent research. You can find lots of rear facing information at carseat.se.

You can also mention that some other countries have habits which are 30 years ahead of US which means basically no children are dying in traffic each year. Sweden strongly recommend rear facing until age 4 or longer, which most parents follow, and fatalities in ages 0-6 years are basically zero. Research is great, real life experience is often better to show just how effective something is.

[leighi123]

Post number 3 here:

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=40366

[mamasthree]

Here's the link to the recent article in the British Medical Journal...