Car-seat Kerfuffel

Just what parents need. Confusion and guilt. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) laid a load on parents of 1-2 year olds the other day with its much-reported recommendation that all children up to two years of age use a rear-facing car seat. Now, most parents look forward to the day they can let their little darlings face forward in the car. It's been the rule of thumb for years that the magic turn-around time was at one year/20 lbs. Then the bombshell.

Parents of toddlers are now in frenzy, trying to sort out the facts and weigh them against the real-life disadvantages of a rear-facing 1-2 year old. All the headlines screamed that rear-facing car seats are 75% safer than front-facing. But the reports never gave real numbers - such as the number of child  fatalities/year (around 1350), number of fatalities in which the children were in no child seat/restraint at all (more than half), or any other statistics that would bring that safety comparison into focus.  Turns out that 75% of actual fatalities for rear- vs. front-facing is a difference of a few 100ths of a percentage points.

I searched out information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Centers for Disease Control, regarding facts about highway safety for children. I haven't found any real numbers for fatalities/injuries that compare rear-facing/front-facing, tossing out the number involving children who weren't in car seats at all, but would love to see them if available. One interesting fact I uncovered in the NHTSA paper (go to section III) was that the number of chest injuries is much higher for rear-facing than front-facing. Wonder why AAP didn't give that information?

My point is that the AAP should have rolled out their recommendations with real statistics, including the pros and cons of both seat positions. Now parents of toddlers are trying to determine whether to turn their sweeties back around from front to back, enduring wailing, lack of eye contact, scrunched up legs, car sickness, etc. - adding to driver distraction and frayed nerves all around - or leave 'em be and risk the tsk-tsking of smug parents who keep their children rear-facing until they're 12.

I don't care of what folks in Sweden do, and I don't want to hear "Scrunched legs and crying is better than a broken neck." (Better decide between a broken neck and fatal chest injuries, dear.) Riding in cars is dangerous. Period.  New child safety seats are sturdy, stable, strapped-in pieces of design and manufacturing, whether they face forward or backward. Properly installed, they're about as safe as anything can possibly be in a car.

This GrandMary advises doing what works for you and your child. If your kid doesn't mind facing the rear, fine. But most toddlers want to have a better view, watch mama and daddy, move forward, have some leg room. A happy toddler means a more focused driver. Weigh your options and go with your gut.

And believe me, this will seem a piddly tempest in a teapot compared to handing over the car keys to that toddler when he or she reaches 16. Now, that's something to fear!