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

Introduction of Solid Foods and Obesity

An interesting blurb underscoring another benefit of breastfeeding:

A study appearing in the March edition of the journal Pediatrics examines the association between timing of the introduction of solid foods during infancy and obesity at 3 years of age.

Researchers studied 847 children in a prospective pre-birth cohort study, with obesity at three years of age as the primary outcome. The timing of introduction of solid foods was measured as less than 4 months, 4 to 5 months and 6 or more months. 67% of the infants were breastfed in the first four months of life, and 32% were formula-fed. By 3 years of age, 75 children (9%) were obese (measured by a body mass index greater than or equal to the 95th percentile for age and gender). Among breastfed infants, the timing of solid food introduction was not associated with odds of obesity. However, among formula-fed infants, introduction of solid foods before four months was associated with a sixfold increase in odds of obesity at age 3 years. To review the study online, go to http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/127/3/e544.

From the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition Newsletter

Science & Sensibility » In Response: “The Doctors” Got it All Wrong

Instead of re-writing a response to the recent "The Doctors" show about epidurals, read this great response from the Science & Sensibility blog.

Science & Sensibility » In Response: “The Doctors” Got it All Wrong