News: AAP now recommends toddlers remain in rear-facing carseats until at least age 2

[stormy night]

Originally Posted by GloryB

I know it is safer....but gosh....won't the child get really bored just looking at the seat instead of interacting with the rest of the people in the car?

I remember when my oldest son (now 30) grew up sitting on the pull down cushion of the front bucket seat of my car. Good Lord....talking about unsafe and it wasn't even considered a big deal then.

Crazy, isn't it. It used to be that there weren't seat belts in cars.

It's ridiculous to put a child of two in a rear facing seat. Where would they put their legs? Let them be uncomfortable?

I challenge any adult here to sit with their legs buckled up in front of them for an hour or longer without moving them or stretching them out. Go ahead, try it. It's unhealthy for a child's leg muscles to stay folded up like that for a length of time. Try it and see how your muscles feel after about 15 or 20 minutes. Now try it for the same amount of time you keep you child in his/her car seat. If you get stuck in traffic, your child sits like that the entire time. If you are on a roadtrip, your child sits like that the entire time except the short breaks (And it's my guess you wouldn't stop every half hour.).

Safety? Try it anyway.

If they ever required back facing for that tall of child, they will have to start making vehicles with holes in the back seats to accommodate the legs so kids can stretch into the trunk.

[sandycat]

Well when I reversed my 2 1/2 year old, who is above average on height (75th%), his feet barely touched the seat behind him. I encouraged him to cross his legs, but it turned out that he didn't really have to. He seemed happy and fine enough, so it works for me.

[sandycat]

Well also think of it this way: "back then" I wasn't driving next to Hummers and monster SUVs with my small car. "Back then" kids did die in crashes more than now, and also I just don't remember all the traffic and cars on the road like now. Honestly, "back then" my brother who was 4 at the time fell out of the moving car because he was hanging out of the car. Luckily nothing happened to him.

[Sum1Else]

Just to add some more information to this thread. I am a Nationally Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician. It's what I did for 5 years as a volunteer and now, finally, get paid to do! I am passionate about keeping kids safe while riding in vehicles.

For those that are questioning the reasoning on this issue or the relative comfort of the child, please remember this...

The recommendations do not come out of thin air. The AAP and other organizations study trauma and fatality reports to see what some of the main causes of the traumas or fatalities are. There are some great research studies out there if you care to wade through them. Then from the data gathered from those reports and studies, they hand down best practice recommendations. Here is a great place to start... Keeping Kids Safe During Crashes

Now I'd like everyone here to remember one thing, best practices are just that, best practice recommendations. Unfortunately it is up to the parent/caregiver to make the ultimate choice in the safety of the child -- legal or not, best practice or not. There are also real world circumstances that we can't see on a message board.

Please remember that the kids can't always speak for themselves on the level of safety they want. It's the parent/caregiver's job to make that decision... hopefully well researched and informed.