Extended Rear-Facing Baby

B has NEVER enjoyed her carseat. From day 1. . . literally. First trip home from the hospital she screamed bloddy murder while I tried to calm her as best as I could by trying to get her to suck on my pinkie finger (didn't work, BTW). I was already looking forward to her 1st birthday so that I would flip her carseat around, in hopes that the new view might keep her happy longer.

You might've heard I'm a babycenter adict. Well, I started seeing posts about "ERF" or Extended-Rear Facing when my birth group was nearing the one-year mark. Honestly, I just dismissed it at first and thought, "Isabelle is more comfortable facing forward - her legs are smooched when she is rear-facing and there is nothing for her to look at!" At the time, the AAP reccomendation was to have your child rear- facing until 20 pounds and 1 year old. As soon as I hit that minimum, I made the switch.

Then, the American Academy of Pediatrics changed the policy just a few weeks ago. The new reccomendation is to keep toddlers in rear-facing seats until age 2, or until they reach the maxiumum height and weight for their seat. So then I decided to do some research.

Turns out, children under age 2 are 75% less likely to die or be severely injured in a crash if they are riding rear-facing. When a child is rear-facing, the seat does a better job of supporting the head, neck and spine in a crash, because it distribute the force of the collision over the entire body. In a foward-facing crash, it causes the infants head and neck to be flung forward unsupported. Because a child's head is 25% of their body mass (where-as an adults is closer to 6%), massive amounts of force is applied to the neck when their head is pulled forward in a crash. The body is held back from the straps, which cause stretching of even breaking of the spinal cord. They call it "internal decapitation". YIKES! I was previously worried about her legs getting smushed or broken. . . then when I read a slogan from another mom that said, "Rear-facing cast-it. Foward-facing casket" I was very quick to flip that seat back around!

I was also surprised to hear that many children are more comfortable rear-facing anyways. Think about how a child is in everyday play. Do

they sit with their legs straight out in front of them? Nope - not usually! When they sit on the couch, do they purposely sit so their legs dangle over the edge. Not so much. Sitting with their legs folded up is what is comfortable to them. And IF we were by chance hit in the rear, severe rear crashes only account for 4% of crashes. And there isn't even a SINGLE documented case of a children's legs, hips, etc being injured due to extended rear-facing. And even if there were, I would rather go to the hopsital with a broken femur than a damaged, irreparable severed spinal cord.

Watch this video!!