Finally made the switch

To Nathan sitting forward facing in the car. I know you may be thinking no big deal, right? Quite the contrary!

I was naive with Madison, turning her around just shy of her 1st birthday. We got a new car requiring us to reinstall the carseat, so why repeat the process again a month later? Our thoughts were wondering what difference one month would make rearfacing vs. forward facing, so forward facing she went. At the time, I thought I was supposed to turn her at 1 year/20lbs.

This time around I am much more knowledgeable and I thank my lucky stars every day that we were never in an accident with Madison when she was so little and forward facing.

Here's the simple truth for those unaware:

A childs' vertebrae does not fully fuse until 3-6 years old. Before then, he/she is at great risk for spinal injury. When rear-facing in a crash, the forces are spread out among the strong carseat shell and baby's strong back. The harness holds baby down in the seat and he/she is cradled and protected. When forward-facing, the harness holds baby's body back, and his/her head flies forward violently, putting tremendous stress on the neck.

Here's the catch...the spinal column can stretch up to 2 inches, BUT the spinal cord can only stretch up to 1/4 of an inch before it snaps and baby is gone. This is referred to as internal decapitation. Baby's head will be slumped over like he/she is sleeping.

It's very important to keep babies rear-facing to 1 year AND 20 lbs. (both, not either/or) at the very least. It's actually much safer to rear-face to the limits of a convertible carseat, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. A forward-facing child is 4-5 times MORE likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash than a rear-facing child of the same age.

Scary, huh?

There have been a multitude of studies done about this and now the AAP recommends baby remaining rear-facing until 2 years and 30 lbs. One day very soon I see it becoming the norm.

So case in point, Nathan was not turned forward facing when he reached the one year milestone. I made the decision to turn him a little over a week ago, at the age of nearly 21 months. I made the mistake of letting him ride in Madison's seat a couple times while she was at school, and he began resisting rear-facing more and more. On top of that, now that we've reached bulky clothes season (aka: winter!), it was becoming such a struggle to get him into his seat and buckled. The combination of his bulky winter shoes and his puffy winter coat resulted in a sweaty struggly mess on my part.

The first ride we went on with him facing forward, he smiled from ear to ear on the entire car trip. It was the cutest thing ever, as he openly shared the joy he felt in becoming a "big boy."

I didn't take any pictures of him forward facing with his big cheese on his face. But here he is, completely passed out, practically snoring last week.

So after all my research, I happily consider myself practically an expert in carseat safety. We also never switched Madison to a booster seat once the "law" allowed. Poor girl will be in her high-weight harness seat until she's in 3rd grade!! Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but she will not be following suit with most of her friends in their boosters anytime soon. Sorry, sweetie!

I don't want to say I'm obsessed, but I did just about have a heart attack when I saw a 7 month old baby forward facing in a carseat one day a few months ago. I seriously contemplated approaching the mother, but I bit my tongue and moved on.