New Car Seat Safety Guidelines for Toddlers

I read with interest an article posted on Parenting magazine that indicated children under age 2 should remain in rear-facing car seats!  I suppose if your children were used to it, that might work well, but it sure was difficult keeping my child rear facing.

In a new American Academy of Pediatrics statement published in the April 2011 issue of Pediatrics, it is now advised that parents keep toddlers in rear-facing car seats until age two, or until they exceed the height or weight limit for their individual car seat.

• A 2007 study in the journal Injury Prevention found that children under age two are 75 percent less likely to die or to be severely injured in a crash if they are rear-facing.
• Another study found riding rear-facing to be five times safer than forward-facing.

What will you do with your child? Will you flip them to forward facing at 20 pounds or age one or will you head the new guidelines of waiting until age 2?