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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Enjoying the Beautiful Spring Weather




5 comments:

brite said...

Hi! I saw your post on Moriah's blog about rear-facing seats, and I'd love to hear what you've read about it. I have an almost 3 year old who is about 27 lbs, and another who will be 1 in two weeks (she's about 23 lbs). I was going to switch her over around her birthday, but confess I don't know much about the subject, except that she is WAY too big for her current carseat! :) Thanks, Brite

Molly said...

Is the one of Caleb before or after the Bandaids? :)

EmilyV said...

Brite,

This is some information on rear facing that I copied and pasted from another site. The American Academy of Pediatrics current recommendation is that kids rear face to the limits of their car seats.

Emily

Here's lots of info on why it's important to rear face to the limit of your baby's convertible seat. Usually 33 or 35 lbs. Take the time to check it out. It could save your baby's life.


The importance of rear-facing

Why You Should Consider Rear-Facing Your Child Past the Minimum of 1 Year and 20 Pounds

Our favorite link:
“Rear-facing – Unmatched Safety” A fairly comprehensive article from CPSafety.com
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx

MSN Article “Child Car Seat Advice Questioned”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9916868/

You Tube Video “Benefits of Keeping Baby Rear-facing”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kRP7ynNI8mI

“Why Rear-Facing is Safest” A fairly comprehensive article from Car-Safety.org
http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html

Rear Facing Seats – Yet another fairly comprehensive article for thecarseatlady.com
http://www.thecarseatlady.com/car_se...ing_seats.html

Pictures of How a Child’s Spine Develops http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboar...mode=full&page

AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) Policy
http://aappolicy.aappublications.org...rics;109/3/550
Highlight of the policy - for optimal protection, the child should remain rear facing until reaching the maximum weight for the car safety seat, as long as the top of the head is below the top of the seat back

Why RF is Safest Even in Rear End Collisions
One Family’s Story of Being Rear-Ended While at a Stop by a Car Traveling at 60-65mph

http://myangelsaliandpeanut.tripod.com/id5.html

A childs' vertabrae do not fully fuse until 3-6 years old. Before then, he/she is at great risk for spinal injury. When rear-facing in a crash, the forces are spread out among the strong carseat shell and baby's strong back. The harness holds baby down in the seat and he/she is cradled and protected. When forward-facing, the harness holds babys' body back, and his/her head flies forward violenty, putting tremendous stress on the neck.

Here's the catch...the spinal column can stretch up to 2 inches, BUT the spinal cord can only stretch up to 1/4 of an inch before it snaps and baby is gone. This is referred to as internal decapitation. Babys' head will be slumped over like he/she is sleeping.

It's very important to keep babies rear-facing to 1 year AND 20 lbs. (both, not either/or) at the very least. It's actually much safer to rear-face to the limits of a convertible carseat, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. A forward-facing child is 4-5 times MORE likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash than a rear-facing child of the same age...not a risk I'll be taking with my babies.

Check out this video for some great information and crash test footage...you'll see the HUGE difference: http://youtube.com/watch?v=kRP7ynNI8mI

And this one has lots of pictures of older rear-facing kiddos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psmUWg7QrC8

And here’s another great link:
http://www.childrestraintsafety.com/rear-facing.html

Happy reading!

EmilyV said...

The picture of Caleb was in between bandaids. After he had scraped one knee, but before he had scraped the other.

DreArt said...

Hey, I remember that quilt that Alexa is sitting on!! :)