Rear Facing To Age 4 Making The News
The past month or so has been great for the rear facing community after British Medical Journal published a new report about rear facing to age 4 and how superior it is. The report, found here, is advising parents to use rear facing car seats to age 4 since it’s far safer.
This fact has been known for a large number of years but more publicity is always welcomed. Don’t forget that the Swedes started using rear facing car seats in 1965 because of the large safety benefits.
The recommendation in Sweden has for a long time been to keep children rear facing to at least 4 years of age.
The report was immediately picked up by BBC, Daily Mail, Herald, Reuters, and many other publications. It was discussed at lenght at large parenting forums such as Mothering, Babycenter, Deaper Swappers, Car-Seat.org, and Babycenter. Overall some great questions by parents, most who are just now learning about the huge benefits of rear facing past 12 months.
The facts are still that rear facing is 500% safer compared to forward facing until age two. Most seem to believe benefits disappear after that which is totally incorrect. Benefits do decrease after age 2 but are still HUGE at age 3, 4 and even 5. The fact is that rear facing is always safer regardless if a person is 2 or 52 years old.
The report has been a shock to most parents outside Sweden who for years have been told forward facing at 9-12 months is perfectly fine. It’s clear that many parents are eager to keep their precious children rear facing since it’s so much safer. The main goal is just to reach parents with this information, most are still unaware that rear facing is superior at any age.
Most still believe rear facing is some kind of complicated solution to child safety when truth is the complete opposite. Purchase a high weight rear facing child seat and use it from age 5 months to 4+ years (or from birth). 99.99% of all children will be perfectly happy with this solution. Worries about kids being car sick, not seeing out the window, at higher risk for collisions from the rear, and less leg space are almost never an issue. Those are common rear facing myths which unfortunately stop many parents from keeping children rear facing.
It will be interesting to see when other countries start changing their recommendations regarding rear facing use. Change is coming and it might be quicker than many expect. My guess is there will be many angry parents demanding answers when this happens:-)
Stupid…so where can I get a rear facing seat for my 52 year old aunt?
Yes safety is always stupid. *snort*
We transferred our daughter to a RF car seat when she was 9 months because of what I read on US websites, although we are in the UK. It does make it a bit tricky putting her in and out as the seat belt is in the way but the safety aspects far outweigh the inconvenience of this. She has no issues in rear facing and she can see me in the mirror we’ve put on the head rest and vice versa. She’ll be staying RF until she reaches the maximum weight limit for the seat.
The big problem is making them fit. We turned our son to front facing at about 15 or so months. He couldn’t fit in the rear facing anymore. His knees were in his face, he was crammed in there. How are you supposed to do it?
John: Children find it very comfortable to sit with bent legs, just look at any child sitting on the floor playing. Many parents are concerned about children sitting with bent legs, both for safety and convenience, but it’s not an issue
My daughter is almost 4 and 102 cm (40 inches) and sit very comfortable in her Britax Hi-Way. She can still use it rear facing for another 6-12 months. My son is 6.5 and rides forward facing. He’s 125 cm tall (50 inches) but can still still sit rear facing comfortably in a Multi Tech.
Please take a look here, https://www.carseat.se/rear-facing-in-real-life/, where we have two rear facing seats installed in back seat of a normal VW Golf. Plenty of room for both driver and children.
You can also have a look in our gallery, https://www.carseat.se/gallery/, where you will see many children 3-5 years rear facing comfortably.
A large percentage of Swedish children sit rear facing until age 4, if this was not comfortable we would have a big problem:-)
/Håkan
Living in the U.S., I am very frustrated with the lack of rear-facing car seats for older children. I have been struggling to find even a single car seat – regardless of the cost! I would love to buy one from England or elsewhere, but so far no shops will ship it to us.
I've been 100% convinced by the research and by the simple physics of a car crash (the video of child test dummies rear-facing vs forward-facing made it an open-shut case for me) – but am wondering if we're going to have to travel abroad just to acquire a safe car seat for our son.
Ellie: We ship the Swedish rear facing car seats all over the world. If you need some more information about what seats might fit your needs then please send as an email at info@carseat.se
/Håkan
http://www.carseat.se
Thank you, I ordered a seat from you guys shortly after posting that comment. I should have checked first! That was perhaps the 100th website I'd visited trying to purchase a car seat. I can't wait for my Britax Hi-way 2 to arrive, shipped directly to the U.S.! 🙂