The American Academy of Pediatrics announced big changes to their car seat safety recommendations yesterday. In the new published guidelines, the AAP suggests that parents should keep children in rear-facing car seats until age 2 - or until they reach the maximum height and weight allowed for their car seat.
Until now, the rule of thumb has been that when a child was a year of age, their car seat could face forward. The AAP said extreme injuries could often be prevented by keeping children in rear-facing car seats longer.
That's because the odds of severe injury to forward-facing children is five times greater than children in rear-facing car seats because rear-facing seats distribute forces from a crash over the child's entire body.
The AAP also recommends that toddlers 2 years of age or older stay in forward-facing car seats as long as possible and that until the ages of 8 to 12, children should ride in a booster seat. According to the new guidelines, children under 13 no matter their size should always ride in the back seat.
For more information on the new guidelines, go to seatcheck.org and talk to your pediatrician about the safest way to secure your child while riding in the car.
