New Car Seat Safety Recommendations: Rear Facing Until Age Two

We know this has been all over the news this past week, and wanted to make sure that our Lamaze family had the latest information:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have released updated child passenger safety recommendations. Parents are advised to keep toddlers in rear-facing car seats until age two or until they reach the maximum height and weight for their seat. In addition, most children should continue to ride in a belt-positioning booster seat until they have reached 4 feet 9 inches tall and are between 8 and 12 years of age.

While previous recommendations suggested that it is safest for infants and toddlers up to the limits of the car seat, they also cited age 12 months and 20 pounds as a minimum. Because of this, many parents turned their car seat to face the front of the car when their child celebrated their first birthday. The new recommendations stress the importance of selecting a car seat based on a child’s age, height and weight and keeping children in seats for as long as possible, until they reach the seat’s maximum height and weight requirements.

For more information from AAP, go to http://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/on-the-go/pages/Car-Safety-Seats-Information-for-Families.aspx. For more information from NHTSA, go to http://www.nhtsa.gov/Safety/CPS.

Excerpted from the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition Newsletter