Rear-Facing Infant Seats
Why are infants placed in rear-facing safety seats?
The first thing is, we're concerned about a crash that comes from the front. We always worry about that because those are the most common and serious collisions. Since in a collision, everything moves toward the point of impact, you're not thrown away from crashes, you move toward them. So, in a frontal crash, everyone goes toward the front. If you understand how a safety seat works, you can see that a rear-facing seat is going to cushion the entire body against the whole shell of the seat. Therefore, that's the safest way to ride. If you're in a forward facing seat, and you've got that top tether attached (which helps to hold the child's head and back farther back from the point of impact) that's another safe way to ride. When you're in a booster seat, you're going to move into the shoulder lap belt. You'll probably move perhaps a little farther than if you're in a tethered seat, although boosters are tested, but you might have a little more looseness in the safety belt than what we would recommend. Also, with a booster seat, there is less around the child to absorb crash forces, particularly because a lot of impacts are not directly frontal or directly from the side. Again, if you think about a side impact, the child in the rear facing seat is more enclosed, and the seat will turn a little bit toward the side. You have more protection. So, it has been shown that riding rear-faced in a car is the best way to ride.
When can my baby use a rear-facing safety seat?
For the average baby, rear-facing in a semi-reclined position in an infant-only or convertible rear-facing safety seat, is the proper way to travel. Most safety seats for infants only are designed to be used up to 20 to 22 pounds but there are some that are designed to be used to 30 pounds. So, you must read the instructions for the product that you are choosing and using before you know how long to use it rear-facing. A rear-facing infant-only seat may never be used to face the front; it is not designed for that, and that is a dangerous choice.
What is a "convertible child safety seat"?
The second kind of rear facing seat is a convertible child safety seat that can be used rear facing and forward facing. Today in the United States, all convertible child safety seats are designed to be used to at least 3 pounds, rear facing. We want people to think about keeping their children in rear facing child safety seats for at least 18 to 24 months. But of course, if you have a convertible child safety seat, use the child safety seat rear facing as long as the child is under the poundage.
When should I move my baby to a convertible seat?
There's one other feature of safety seats that you want to look at when you're deciding whether a child can still stay in that rear-facing safety seat or move to a convertible seat. It is an error that is particularly made with infant only safety seats. Sometimes a child is under the expected weight, but the childs' head is too close to the top of the plastic of the seat. We recommend that there is at least an inch between the top of the plastic of the safety seat when it's in the rear-facing position, and the top of the child's head. The reason for this is when a safety seat is in a frontal collision, it's allowed to rotate, forward and down. If the baby's head is to close to the top of the safety seat, as the seat rotates, the childs' head may emerge from the top of the seat which we don't want to happen. One of the beauties of the rear-facing seat is that the childs' head, which is the most important part of the childs' body, is fully enclosed and is supported during the whole crash. So with infant only seats, you want to be particularly careful about that, because that's a common way that a child outgrows that product. Then they should go onto a convertible seat in the rear-facing position and use it until the child reaches the weight, or the childs' head is within an inch of the top of the plastic of the rear-facing seat.
How do I secure my infant in a rear-facing child safety seat?
Once you get the rear-facing safety seat at the proper angle, which for a newborn is halfway back and for an older child is more upright, you put the child in buttocks-first so that the baby's back is carefully lined up along the back of the rear-facing safety seat. That not only makes the child safer, but also makes the child more comfortable. Next, you want to make sure that the rear-facing safety seat straps are in slots that are at shoulder level or below shoulder level for the rear-facing position. The reason for that is, when that rear-facing safety seat tilts in a crash, the harness straps keep the baby's body lower in the safety seat and prevents the child's head from shooting out of the top of the rear-facing safety seat, particularly if it rotates quite a bit down, which it's allowed to do. Once you have the straps in the correct slots, you put the straps on the child's body and make sure that they're snug. You adjust the harness, and then attempt to pinch the fabric of the harness between your fingers, just as if you were trying on a skirt or a pair of trousers to see if the waist fits you properly. Take a pinch. If you can pinch fabric between your fingers, you need to snug the harness more tightly. After you get the harness snug enough, push the plastic retainer clip, or harness clip, or chest clip, it may be named any of those things, until it's at armpit level. This means it will be high enough to help position the shoulder straps properly on the child's body, but not too high, so that the child's neck will not fall on the clip, should the child fall asleep. You want to adjust the angle of the rear-facing safety seat so the child's head lies back naturally and the back of the child's head is faced towards the front of the vehicle, not so flat that the top of the head is faced toward the front of the vehicle.
How can I secure my baby in a rear-facing seat?
Another feature of many infant-only seats is that they snap in and out of a separate base. If you are going to use that type of seat, be sure you hear it click into position and you test it to make sure it's in there tightly. Also, read the instructions to find out where the handle belongs while the seat is being used in the vehicle. For some, it can only be lying back, behind the child's head or down toward the floor of the vehicle, but on some models, it may be fully upright. There are even some models on which it must be upright. How do you know? You must read the instructions for the particular safety seat. It is very important. Safety seats are tested in a thirty mile an hour crash test in the way that they are designed to be used. If you choose to modify, you have now potentially detracted from the safety of your child, and that is not something you want to do.
