When Can Babies Face Forward In Car

The Dreaded Motion Sickness Won’t It Help To Turn Around My Child

The long and short: most kids do not puke less when forward-facing compared to rear-facing.

Weve got lots of information on motion-sickness over here including an explanation of why it is believed to occur, things you can do to decrease the chance of your kid puking, and how to minimize the mess and clean up if your kid does puke.

Ohio Child Passenger Safety Laws

• Parents and caregivers are required by Ohio law to obey the following safety practices:
• Infants and young children must ride in a child safety seat until they are 4 years old AND weigh at least 40 pounds.
• Every child ages 4-8 who is no longer in a car seat must use a booster seat until she reaches 49 tall.
• Children and teens ages 8-15 who are not in booster seats must use adult seat belts.

Lap And Shoulder Seat Belts

• Most children are ready to use a lap and shoulder seat belt without a booster when they are about 49 tall.

• Children are required by law to be secured in a child safety seat or seat belt until they are 15 years old.

• For best protection, everyone in the car should be buckled up on every trip

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How Will I Know If My Baby Likes Facing Forward In Her Carrier

About the same time your baby develops good head control, her development is changing. Around 6 months, she will go from being so interested in your face, to wanting to look around and see everything thats happening around her. This makes it the perfect time to move her from inward to outward facing because she can hold her head up and see the interesting outside world.

But even when your baby is strong enough and shows interest in her environment, you still need to pay attention to her cues. Especially at first, babies can become overstimulated or even get scared from a sensory-overloaded environment. So while your baby will enjoy having more freedom to move her arms and legs in a forward-facing position, and turn her head from side to side to see all the lights and movement, pay attention to fussiness, crying and even silence to make sure your baby is doing OK in this position. Ive found that sometimes you have to switch between the inward and forward-facing positions at first, which is totally normal.

What Other Rules Are There About Kids In Child Restraints

In NSW, it says children must kept in an approved restraint until they are four years old.

Obviously the first thing to remember is that proper installation is vital. Far too many people guess at how to install a seat, or a harness, and rear-facing seats in particular can be tricky. Get yours checked, or better yet installed, by an expert.

Specifically, in NSW, it says children must kept in an approved restraint until they are four years old. Children aged between 6 months and 4 years must be restrained in an approved rearward or forward-facing restraint. Once your child has outgrown their rearward-facing restraint they can be moved into a forward-facing restraint.

Its an interesting point about what age they might grow out of the rear-facing, baby-capsule-style child seat, but that doesnt mean you cant get a rear-facing one thats made for larger children.

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The next stage, in Victoria, NSW, everywhere in Australia, is from four to seven years, when, as VicRoads puts it, they must travel in a forward facing child restraint or a booster seat.

Children aged 7 years and older can use a child restraint, or an adult seatbelt, depending on their size.

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Wont Their Legs Be Uncomfortable

The thing is, you may imagine your childs legs are squished in a rear-facing position. However, children are flexible, and this is the safest position for their legs. If your car crashes, forward-facing kids are at a much greater risk all around.

If they complain about the leg room, take a break and let them stretch. They may also enjoy crossing their legs or hanging them over the sides.

Is My Car Seat Or Booster Seat Safe To Use

• Check that your seat is approved for use in Canada. Look for the National Safety Mark on your car seat or booster seat:
• Read the labels and instructions to make sure that your child is within the age, weight, and height limits for the seat.
• Most manufacturers recommend that you replace a car seat that has been in a car crash, even a minor one. Contact your manufacturer if you are unsure.
• If you do not know the history of the seat, it may no longer be safe to use. Make sure you have all the parts, including the instruction manual.
• All car seats expire. Plastic and metal parts wear out over time. Contact the manufacturer if you are unsure when your seat expires.
• Check Transport Canadas website to see if your seat has been recalled.
• Register your childs seat with the manufacturer. They will contact you if there is a recall.

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When Can A Child Face Forward In A Car Seat

You should keep your child in the rear-facing position for as long as possible. But instead of using age as a guideline, keep the following in mind:

• When they reach either the weight or height limit. Your child should stay rear-facing until she has hit the maximum height or weight for that position, says the AAP and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration . Most rear-facing infant seats can accommodate children until they reach 28 to 35 pounds or 30 to 35 inches, but keep in mind that many children will reach the maximum height before they do the maximum weight. Once a child outgrows a rear-facing infant seat, she can switch to a convertible seat in a rear-facing position, which can often be used until a child is between 40 and 50 pounds. You can find your seats height and weight limits on the tag or in the manufacturer instructions.
• Not before age 2. Years ago, age 2 was considered the standard time to switch to the forward-facing position. Now, its considered the absolute minimum, because most 2-year-olds wont be adequately protected from a crash in a forward-facing seat. Rather than basing your switch on the calendar, do so only when your child reaches the maximum height or weight limit for the rear-facing position of her convertible seat. For many, this doesnt happen until age 3 or 4.

How Do I Use A Booster Seat

• A booster seat positions your child so that the seat belt fits across the strong bones of the hips and pelvis and not the abdomen, to protect your child from injury.
• While seated in the booster seat, the lap belt should fit low and snug across your childs hips, and not up on their belly.
• The shoulder portion of the seat belt should be positioned over the chest and collarbone, staying between your childs neck and shoulder so that it does not touch the neck.
• Follow the directions for the booster seat to know how to route the seat belt under any armrests or through any belt guides, as directed.

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Are There Any Other Safety Tips

• Many seat manufacturers have online video tutorials that can help.
• Some local community resources offer car seat clinics. There may be someone who has been trained to help with installation or check that you have installed the car seat correctly.
• If you use an infant carrier outside of a vehicle:
• Always keep your child buckled.
• Do not put the seat on a raised surface because it may fall.
• Always take your baby out of the car seat when you arrive. A car seat is not a safe place to sleep.

What If Your Child Doesnt Like Rear

This is a major concern to most parents and for good reason. When a child is crying and wailing, it becomes a distraction for them while driving. The chances of an accident are higher when parents are distracted, thereby risking the safety of the whole family.

Sometimes these tantrums have less to do with the car seat and more to do with the fact that your child is a toddler, and throwing fits is par for the course. However, rear-facing does not necessarily need to be boring. You can use a car mirror so you and your infant can see each other . Older kids can keep themselves busy with toys or look outside the rear window.

After some time, your child gets used to the idea that youre up front even though they dont see you. Besides, the safety of your child should always come first. Rear-facing car seats are usually comfortable so you have nothing to worry about.

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Lack Of Evidence Of Leg Injury From Actual Crashes

There are ZERO documented cases of rear-facing children breaking their legs, hips, feet, etc., due to their feet touching the back of the vehicle seat. In fact, studies show that forward-facing kids suffer many more leg injuries than rear-facing kids. The leg injuries to forward-facing children occur when the childs legs fly up and hit the back of the front seat as the child and car seat are moving forward. This traps the childs legs, putting tremendous pressure into the leg bones. This pressure can break the legs.

What To Do With Your Old Car Seat

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How Do I Install A Car Seat With A 5

• Place the car seat in the back seat of the vehicle.
• Secure the car seat using the Universal Anchorage System or the vehicle seat belt, carefully following the vehicle manual and the car seat instructions.
• Make sure that the car seat is tightly secured to the vehicle and does not move more than 2.5 cm in any direction where it is attached to the car.

For a rear-facing seat:

• Install the seat at the reclined angle required by the car seat instructions. Check the instructions to see how you adjust the seat to get the correct angle.
• If you are using a seat with a handle, place it in the position required by the manufacturer.

For a forward-facing seat:

• Always use the top tether on a forward-facing car seat. A tether strap attaches the top of the car seat to a designated tether anchor for that vehicle seat.

Why Do Many Parents Move To Forward

Whats behind North American parents big rush to switch to forward-facing as soon as theyre legally allowed? In Canada, Crossfield estimates that about 50% of parents turn their kids forward-facing even before age two. But why?

For Canadian parents, one reason may be that many follow the guidelines set out by provincial and federal governments, and medical organizationswhich, says Crossfield, are woefully outdated. For example, the Canadian Paediatric Societys position on this issue is that rear-facing car seats should be used until children weigh at least 10 kg , and are at least one year of age and able to walk. Similarly, the Transport Canada website states that children who have outgrown their rear-facing seat and weigh at least 10 kg may ride facing the front in a child car seat. Crossfield notes that, in rare cases, this could mean a four-month-old baby could be legally facing forward.

Another reason parents are turning their kids too soon is because they lack a solid understanding of how collisions work. Their biggest fear is their kids legs breaking, says Crossfield. But they might not realize that the alternative is a broken spine or head injury.

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Should I Use A Convertible Seat

Convertible seats are designed to protect kids:

• from birth up to at least 40 pounds facing backward
• up to 65 pounds or even 80 pounds facing forward, depending on the model

Convertible seats are placed in different positions depending on a child’s age and size:

• They face toward the rear until a baby is ready to face forward .
• Then, they can be turned around and “converted” to a forward-facing seat.

Some car seats are known as “all-in-one” or “3-in-one” because they convert from rear-facing to front-facing to booster with the harness removed.

Convertible seats:

Why Extended Rear Facing Seats Are The Safer Option

All parents want their children to be as safe as possible, for as long as possible. That especially extends to car travel, where child restraints are vital to ensure children are safely protected in the advent of a road incident.

There can be some confusion over which restraints are right for your child, with forward facing and rear facing options available for children after the age of six months.

Research, outlined below, shows that keeping your child in a rear facing seat is the safer option, with experts saying parents should keep them facing this way as long as possible.

And there are many new restraints on the market that assist in making this possible.

The laws in Australia

Australian law mandates babies up to six months need to be in rear-facing restraints. But this legislation also states that children can be kept in rear-facing car seats until they are four years old. However, its important to remember that age is a guide, and the height of the child is a better indicator of when your child is ready to turn forward facing or change into their next seat. Only move your child out of their seat when they have exceeded the upper height markers on their current restraint and can no longer sit comfortably in it – keeping them rear-facing for longer which is so much safer.

Lauren Moloney installs car seats in Western Australia as a community service, and she said most people weren’t aware they could keep their children rear-facing for longer.

Why rear facing is safer

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Child Safety Seat Tips For Baby

The following are some important child safety seat tips for your baby:

• Your infant or toddler should ride in a rear-facing car safety seat as long as possible, until they reach the highest weight or height allowed by their seat. Most convertible seats have limits that will allow children to ride rear-facing for two years or more. Don’t be concerned if your child’s legs bend at the knees or touch the back seat of the car when rear-facing this will not harm her feet or knees.
• Always put your infant in a rear-facing child safety seat in the back of your car. A baby riding in the front seat can be fatally injured by a passenger side air bag.
• The shoulder straps must be at or below your babys shoulders. Child safety seats have several pairs of harness slots so you can adjust the harness as your baby grows. Make sure you use the harness correctly by following these tips:
• The harness must be snug so you cannot pinch a fold in the harness material after buckling in your baby.
• The straps should lie flat in a straight line without sagging or twisting.
• The top of the chest clip should be positioned at armpit level.

Since I Cant See My Childs Spine Developing How Do I Know When Its Safe For My Child To Ride Forward Facing

What the doctors say:Although you cannot see the development, it gradually occurs through the first several years of a childs life. Each child develops at a unique rate but according to the i-Size ECE R129/01 standard children should ride rearward facing until at least 15 months. Many global safety experts recommend continuing past 15 months, up to two years, three years or even up to 4 years as required in Sweden.Look back longer fact 1:Medical professionals liken the childs spinal development and head size to that of an apple on a stem. A surprising but effective way to describe how fragile and delicate young necks are compared to the disproportionate weight of their heads.Look back longer fact 2:Although an adults spine is more developed and head is more proportioned to the body as compared to a young childs even adults would be safer riding rearward facing!Source: Childrens Hospital of Philadelphias Center for Injury Research and Prevention.

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