Remember the AAP is not trying to take over your car, impinge on your rights, or interfere with your parenting style. They publish the results of all research in an effort to inform parents. They are only trying to provide important information on how to help keep your child safe.
The report states, "The previous policy, from 2002, advised that it is safest for infants and toddlers to ride rear-facing up to the limits of the car seat, but it also cited age 12 months and 20 pounds as a minimum. As a result, many parents turned the seat to face the front of the car when their child celebrated his or her first birthday. [...]
New research has found children are safer in rear-facing car seats. A 2007 study in the journal Injury Prevention showed that children under age 2 are 75 percent less likely to die or be severely injured in a crash if they are riding rear-facing.
'The ‘age 2’ recommendation is not a deadline, but rather a guideline to help parents decide when to make the transition,” Dr. Durbin said. “Smaller children will benefit from remaining rear-facing longer, while other children may reach the maximum height or weight before 2 years of age.'"
In a NY Times article written recently about this new policy it provides a quote from a Pediatrician at the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in New York, “It’s a horrible term,” she said, “but E.M.T.’s call the rear-facing seat ‘the orphan seat’ because in a bad car accident, that child is often the only one who survives,”
Many car seat manufacturers, until recently, did not make car seats that allowed children to be rear faced upwards of 20 lbs. With these new recommendations those same manufacturers are now providing alternate choices to consumers concerned with the safety of their children. Many companies offer car seats that can fit children up to 40 lbs in a rear facing position.
American Academy of Pediatrics. AAP News Room. 11 March 2011. 10 July 2011 .
New York Times. NYtimes.com. 22 March 2011. 10 June 2011 .
