The benefits of rear facing past 1 year AND 20 lbs - for infants, toddlers, and above.
I've noticed many members have infants and toddlers, while this information may seem moot to a lot of members here I'd thought post anyways.
A baby's head accounts for 25% of its body weight, while an adult's head is only 6% of the total body weight. And children's bones are still very soft, it takes about 15 years for the human skeleton to fully mature. The development of the skeleton happens at roughly the same rate in all children, no matter how big they are, so a bigger baby is no safer in a forward facing seat than a small one.
The human spine is made up of 24 vertebrae, seven cervical (neck), 12 thoracic (upper back) and five lumbar (lower back) vertebrae. In a one year-old each vertebra consists of three pieces of bone which are connected by cartilage. The vertebrae start to fuse together at the age of three, when the small bits at the bottom fuse together. It takes until they're six years old for the three pieces of bone to form a sold 'ring' around the spinal cord.
The bones in the neck of a small child are not developed enough to protect the spinal cord. When they are involved in a car crash in a forward facing car seat, the weight of the head combined with the immature skeleton, can cause the spinal cord to stretch up to two inches. If it stretches just half an inch it will snap. This is known as internal decapitation and causes paralysis or death.
A toddler's ribs are also very soft. In a forward facing car seat the force of the crash throws the child forward while the five-point harness holds the torso back in the seat. This can bend the ribs and damage the child's internal organs.
The idea of transporting young children rear facing in the car was conceived by Professor Bertil Aldman of Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden in the early 1960s. He was inspired by the moulded rear facing seats astronauts used for take-off and landing. He designed the first rear facing child car seat in 1963.
Since 1965 all Swedish children have been travelling rear facing in the car until they are at least four years old, and the results speak for themselves. II the UK about 200 children are seriously injured in car accidents every year and a further 21 are killed. On Sweden's roads deaths and serious injuries in children under five have been virtually eliminated.
Between 1992 and June 1997, only nine properly restrained rear facing children died in car crashes in Sweden, and all of these were involved in catastrophic crashes with few or no other survivors. Between July 2006 and November 2007 not one child under the age of six died in Sweden due to a car accident. And their car seats continue to achieve the same fantastic survival rates, year after year. Unless a car catches fire, is crushed by a lorry or cut in half by a tree, children in rear facing car seats simply don't die in car accidents in Sweden.
Rear facing is the safest way for anyone to travel. In the most common and deadly accidents (which are usually offset frontal collisions) the head, neck and spine are all cradled against the back of a car seat. The AAP and NHTSA have released new minimum guide lines for rear facing. The AAP recommends the minimum to turn a child forward facing is 2 years old ((you need an account to see links)), the NHTSA suggest 3 years old or until the child seat is outgrown for rear facing ((you need an account to see links)). The longer a child can stay rear facing, the safer they are while traveling.
Many parents think that their legs touching the backseat, a rear facing seat is outgrown, this is very incorrect. There are actually more reports of children breaking their legs forward facing in their car seats due to their limbs are thrown violently forward and impact a object (ie: vehicle seat) in front of them, NONE reported from rear facing. A impact that can break a limb, can also break a child's neck (called internal decapitation). It only take 1/4 of a inch to snap a child's spinal cord. With a baby, toddlers and even preschoolers heads so much larger than their bodies, in a violent collision, their heads are thrown forward putting a lot of stress on their necks. When rear facing, their heads and necks are cradled by the car seat.
Here are some videos showing children of all ages rear facing in car seats. We now within the US have car seats that rear face to 45 lbs and also a 50 lbs car seat called a Foonf, by the company called Clek, the seat I own for my daughter. A car seat is outgrown rear facing when the child reaches the maximum rear facing weight stated by the car seat manufacture for that seat or they have less than 1 inch of hard shell left over their head.
Meet Joel - he was 18 months old and 33 lbs at the time of his accident. His grandfather has been a huge asset to keeping kids rear facing due to what his grandson has gone through.
(you need an account to see links)
This video, even though it's from another country, shows the dynamics of a collision forward facing vs rear facing (Sweden, the leader in child passenger safety, rear faces their kids to a minimum of 4 years old).
(you need an account to see links)
This is one of my favorite videos
(you need an account to see links)
Recently, a personal friend of mine was involved in a side impact and roll over accident, you can read about it here: (you need an account to see links) The only person not injured in the accident was her 3 year old who was rear facing.
For help with your child safety seat, you can contact a CPST through safekids.org (you need an account to see links) click on your state and a list of inspection stations will come up. These CPST's will show you how to use your child safety seat and install it, their goal is to teach you, the parent/caregiver how to use and install your own seat so if it has to be removed, you are confident in your abilities to do it yourself.
The safest car seat out there is one that fits your child, your vehicle and used and installed properly 100% of the time. There is no brand that is safer than the other. All seats sold within the US have to pass the same safety standards to be sold to the public. None of the car seat manufactures release their crash test data (except Sunshine Kids, but with nothing to compare it to, it's data is pretty useless), it is unknown what their scores are other than if it is for sale on the market, it passed.
Lastly, when installing your car seat you should check for movement at the belt path of the car seat to make sure that it's secure. A firm "hand shake" will suffice, if the seat moves less than an inch in either direction the seat belt or LATCH is tight enough. If your child is rear facing the straps should be coming from at or below shoulder level to prevent injury from shifting up in the seat in an accident. If your child is front facing the straps should be at or above shoulder level. When tightening the straps they need to pass the "pinch test" at the shoulders, if you can pinch any slack the straps aren't tight enough. Don't forget the chest clip needs to be a armpit level.
Here are two photos of my nearly two year old daughter rear facing, she'll likely rear face to four years old or when she outgrows her seat in weight or height.
