"To each his own." It's a motto most parents apply to their lives to avoid mommy shaming and fruitless arguments about parenting decisions that just don't matter that much. But there are a few situations where it doesn't apply, and I'd argue that car seat safety is one of them. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently released new guidelines extending the amount of time kids need to stay rear-facing in their car seats. Thousands of people were quick to scoff at the updated recommendations and preach about why their kids don't need to follow them. But with all due respect, they're wrong.
Previous AAP guidelines recommended keeping kids rear-facing until age 2.
Now, they say to keep them turned around until they max out the size limits for rear-facing in their individual seats. Every kid is different and so is every car seat, so this could mean that some kids still turn around closer to age 3 whereas others may be able to rear-face until age 4.
Dr. Benjamin Hoffman, chairman of the AAP Council on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention, told CafeMom in an earlier article about the change: "Most kids at 4 would be able to [use a rear-facing car seat] within the weight and height limits of most of the convertible car seats that are on the market."
It's a small change and the AAP notes that rear-facing can reduce the risk of death in an accident by 70 PERCENT. Still, parents lost their sh*t.
Immediately, they started dismissing the guidelines as a bunch of overzealous sanctimommy BS.
And then, of course, came all the excuses for why we don't actually need to follow safety recommendations.
"My kids' legs are too long."
"We didn't have car seats when I was a kid and I survived."
"My kid doesn't like rear-facing."
"What if you get rear-ended?"
But car seat safety isn't optional, and these guidelines exist for a reason.
Toddler bodies are still developing, and the bones in their vertebrae are connected via cartilage, not bone. Those connections slowly close and become ossified (hardened) bone over time, but a study by the Association of Advancement for Automotive Medicine (AAAM) shows that doesn't even begin happening until age 3 and isn't usually complete until age 8 or even later.
A toddler facing forward during a crash risks internal decapitation. In fact, just last year a mom shared her story after she turned her daughter forward-facing at age 2 — the recommendation at the time — and her daughter narrowly survived being internally decapitated in an accident. Accidents like those are a part of the reason why the updated guidelines stress that paying attention to size and development is more important than age.
"But what about my kid's legs?" people wonder.
I worried about that too. My son was 22.5 inches long at birth and now, at 4, is as tall as the average 6-year-old. Still, he was able to rear-face in a Britax seat until he was older than 3.
As the above photo by Car Seats for the Littles shows, many seats — such as the Graco Extend2Fit — are now made to accommodate growing legs. But, even if a kid sits with legs up, folded like a pretzel, or with legs out to the side, they aren't likely to be at a greater risk for leg injuries.
In fact, studies show that leg injuries typically occur when kids are forward facing.
Their legs fly up and slam into the back of the front seat during a crash. Rear-facing car seats cradle kids and the force is exerted away from the seat-back in front of them, not toward it.
Still not convinced? The Car Seat Lady also made a video showing 90 different kids of all different heights and sizes, all comfortably rear-facing.
What if you're rear-ended? Julie Mansfield, research engineer at Ohio State College of Medicine’s Injury Biomechanics Research Center, notes that even in rear crashes, rear-facing is still the best option for absorbing the impact of the crash and mitigating the risks to a child.
And what about the people who think this is all overprotective rubbish? After all, "We didn't have car seats as kids and we survived."
In 1974, President Richard Nixon played a role in setting a national maximum speed limit at 55 miles per hour. Now, many highways have speed limits of 70 mph or higher. There is a 40-mile stretch of toll road in Texas between Austin and San Antonio where the speed limit is 85 mph. Vehicles have changed. The amount of traffic on the road has changed. And we have to evolve with the times.
Car seat guidelines are not about mommy shaming; they're about keeping our babies safe. Hoffman, the policy statement lead author for the new car seat guidelines, told the Chicago Tribune, "Car crashes are a leading cause of death for children, claiming four kids under age 14 every day during the last 10 years."
Four innocent kids lost per day for 10 years. But using the right car seat — and using it the right way — can cut the risk of death by 70 percent.
The thing with car seat safety is that it's not a matter of opinion, of personal choice, or even of comfort, though of course we all want our kids to be comfortable. But car seat guidelines exist because they save lives. We can all say "you do you" and believe that we're extra safe drivers who will never ever get into an accident, but the fact is that any one of us could step out for a quick run to Target tomorrow and get t-boned by a drunk driver.
As parents, we should be figuring out how to help people with limited funds access safe car seats, how to increase awareness about guidelines and state laws, and how we can make the roads safer for everyone, but we should not still be debating whether or not car seat safety matters, because it does. We can't always control whether or not we get into an accident, but we can control whether or not we heed the advice of medical professionals who are trying to keep our kids safe.
