Re: Car Seats

In general, the minimum requirement is 1 year and 20lbs, but this is just a minimum requirement. It best to leave you little one rear facing as long as possible. This means when they out grow the seat rear facing by the manufactures weight limit (usually 30 to 35lbs on convertibles, but check your manual) or the baby's head is less than one inch from the top of the seat. Most babies cannot ride in an infant carrier type seat until they reach 1 year and 20 lbs, so they need to move to a convertible carseat, one that can be placed both rear and forward facing. Keeping your baby rear facing as long as possible is safest, though. An infants neck and spine are soft and weaker than older children and adults, and their heads are very large in proportion to the rest of them, even after the one year mark. This puts them at a much higher risk for major spine injuries and even death in the event of an accident when placed forward facing too early. Studies show the risk for a child under two is more than four times greater. Unfortunately, this knowledge isn't as widespread as it should be. I really wish it were. I had never heard of such a thing when my four year old was a year old, and we turned her around right after she turned one and was still only 19 lbs. I though one lb wouldn't make a difference. I didn't know that her safety was determined by her weight, but by the strength and hardness of her spine. If you google extended rear facing, you'll get lots of info about it, even comparison videos of rear facing vs forward facing. Anyway, sorry about the novel, but hopefully I could pass on some valuable info that you or someone else reading this may not have learned other wise. We all value the safety of our children, and I'm sure this will one day be just as mainstream as the use of carseats themselves. They weren't required when I was a baby. Now you can't take your baby home from the hospital unless you have one.

Hi There,

Here's a link to a national website that gives you all the info: http://www.usa.safekids.org/skbu/cps/index.html

If, you have any other questions, please feel free to email me, as I'm a certified installer of child safety seats.

Have a blessed day,
L.

It has more to do with weight and your pediatrician should have told you about that. It is over a year old AND over 20lbs. My daughter was a peanut and I didn't turn her around until almost 14 mos so it isn't just being at the year mark they have to have the weight compliance too. If the baby isn't touching the back seat with their feet, leave them backwards as long as you can as it is the safest!

I think most states require at least one year and 20 pounds. It might be "or", but I think it's "and". Your local fire department could tell you the law. They'll also check your seat to see if it's in correctly.

The longer you can have a baby rear facing, the safer he/she will be in most car accidents. The bare minimum required by law is one year AND 20 lbs.

However, if you have a seat that will allow you to rear face longer, it's a good idea to keep them rear facing. Watch this video, it has crash tests showing a rear facing child and a forward facing child at the same speed. The difference is dramatic: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y2DVfqFhseo It also gives all kinds of great information on car safety for kids.

My youngest is almost 15 months old, and he's still rear facing. His car seat will rear face to 30 lbs, and I plan to keep him rear facing until then.

Now, a caveat on this: A correctly buckled child is safer forward facing than an improperly buckled rear facing child. If your baby screams and screams and distracts you from driving when he's rear facing, but he's quiet and happy forward facing, than I personally would put him forward facing at the 1 year AND 20 lb mark. You look at what is safer, and then add in things going on in YOUR life, and make a judgement call. Just make sure it's an informed decision.