First, what is Extended Rear Facing?
From Car Safety 4 Kids (www.carsafety4kids.com):
Extended rear-facing simply means to keep a child in the rear-facing position after the child reaches 1 year and 20 lbs. One year and 20 lbs is the minimum requirement for turning a child to the forward-facing position. This means that the child must meet BOTH requirements before being turned. A 10 month old that is 20 lbs needs to be rear-facing in a convertible seat. A 14 month old who is only 18 lbs still needs to be rearfacing. The AAP now recommends keeping a child rear-facing until the upper limits of the seat are reached. Since many seats rear-face up to 30-35 pounds (depending on the seat), many children can ride rear-facing into their second, third, and even fourth year of life. In Sweden, it is common practice to keep children rear-facing until 4 or 5 years of age. The reason? It is the safest way for anyone to ride. Need proof? *From 1992 through June of 1997, only 9 properly restrained rear-facing children died in Sweden (*CPSafety). In the United States, the number one cause of death in children under one year of age is from congenital anomalies . At the age of one, when most children start riding forward-facing, the number one cause of death is motor vehicle crashes(Child Passenger Safety Fact Sheet).
From the AAP:
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that all infants should ride rear-facing starting with their first ride home from the hospital until they have reached at least 1 year of age and weigh at least 20 pounds. It is even better for them to ride rear-facing until they reach the highest weight or height allowed by their car safety seat’s manufacturer.
Please check the requirements of your seat! For reference Freddie is currently in a Britax Marathon, which he can ride backward in until he reaches 33lbs. 33lbs!
For more reading on ERF: http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx
For videos about ERF (if you need more convincing, links to other videos): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2DVfqFhseo&feature=related
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3 comments:
So why isn't Sammy facing backward?
Couple of reasons. I didn't know about it and the research was as far along as it is today.
And Sammy isn't facing backwards now because he's nearly 50lbs and there isn't a seat that exists today that would allow a child that heavy to ERF!
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