Rear Facing vs Front Facing

Rear facing road trip

If you recall, Nathan's first birthday was this past June, at the start of our summer road trip season (have I ever mentioned how nice it is to have the whole family on vacation all summer?). As we began to travel north, east, south or west, inevitably someone would ask about Nathan's car seat still being rear facing. While law does allow for toddlers to be turned to forward facing at one year, the American Academy of Pediatrics disagrees.

When I was almost seven months pregnant, the AAP announced their recommendation for tots to remain rear-facing until two years old. As explained in the full news release (see link below), young children seated face forward still risk neck injury in the event of a crash. In conversations with other moms online, I heard of horrifying accidents where young tots suffered serious injuries due to front facing seats. I considered adding a link for that, but I'll leave you to your own research. In addition, I learned that some European nations leave children rear facing even longer than 2 years.

With little hesitation, I made up my mind to follow this recommendation. And told Jeff our plan. When it came time to replace his infant car seat, we selected a highly recommended seat with the highest possible weight limits for rear facing.

At Nathan's one year check up, Dr. Chrissie asked about our plans for the car seat. I told her our decision and she enthusiastically supported the choice. Like nursing or sleep training, every parent has to make a decision that's best for their family, but her support was encouraging.

As summer turned to fall and a few road trips remained, we still were questioned about Nathan's car seat configuration. Fall also resulted in Nathan growing and quickly filling the seat up more and more. Jeff and I began an on-going conversation of whether we should stick to the 2 year plan or give in sooner. One week I would be firmly camped on the side of waiting and the next, I would choose the opposite side. And it seemed, whichever side I was on, Jeff was on the other. As usual for our deliberate minds, this discussion filled a few minutes every few days as we both processed the idea of Nathan being front facing.

Again, we found ourselves talking with Dr. Chrissie, this time at Nathan's 18 month check up. The doctor was in support of our decision, no matter what. Nathan is still larger than the average 18 month old, true. But, I can't erase from my mind those you tube video tributes by parents and grandparents of similarly aged children involved in car accidents while facing forward. So, Jeff and I talked some more.

Facing forward (another milestone behind us)

The result of that lengthy on-going conversation? Well, we switched his seat around several days ago. In Jeff's car at least. We don't use mine as much, and just haven't turned the seat yet. Every car ride is filled with mixed emotions about his safety. Nathan, however, has found new love in riding in the car, happily staring out the window. We turn and he smiles, clearly thrilled with his new perspective. While I try not to worry too much, I know there are worse decisions that could be made. For the record, though, I would still advocate for any parent to keep their child rear facing longer.

Want to know more?
Read the full recommendation: American Academy of Pediatrics
See animations of forward facing vs extended rear facing: Video (about a minute long)