It's Official

LP is forward-facing in her carseats now. We made it 3 years, 4 months, and 3 weeks rear-facing.

Her second-to-last rf'ing trip


She has taken the occasional ff'ing trip in other people's cars and has been ff'ing in Lilypad Dad's car for a month since we got a new seat. She has been hovering around the weight limit for rear-facing in her Boulevard for a couple of months and after a growth spurt over the last couple of weeks, she outgrew her Boulevard rear-facing by height. Yesterday I took advantage of the warmer weather to turn her seat around. I wasn't sure it would even come out of the car, it was installed that way almost 3 years ago and has not been removed once.

First ff'ing trip


Today we took our first trip, to the grocery store. While she seemed excited about it at first, by the time we were headed home she was asking me to turn her seat back around again. I think she was actually more comfortable rf'ing when her feet had someplace to rest! It is strange to look in the car and see the seat that way, it doesn't even look like the same seat anymore. And she looks so much older now when I look in the rearview mirror and see her sitting up so straight and tall facing me.

All Buckled Up

On the Taking A Walk post, lil ole' me said, "And, you should be very proud that she practices safety and buckles her baby in!!! :)"

I had to laugh at that, despite all the drops on their heads that the babies have endured, LP is very safety conscious, especially in the car. Over the summer she started getting very upset whenever we would take a baby in the car because her babies weren't buckled up and not safe. So Nana and I bought her a carseat for her babies. Tonight when we went out I took a picture of Baby China all buckled in.



LP looked over and got upset though, she told me that Baby China had to turn around the same way she is. So even though this Joovey seat is a forward facing seat, Baby China was turned around to rear-facing (which would definitely be the right position for her at her age and size!)

National Night Out Against Crime

Tonight is the National Night Out Against Crime. It is a chance for people to get to know their local police department and community members. Check out your local community to see if they are participating.

Our city will have a bounce house, face painting, Operation Safe Child fingerprinting, lessons for kids on escaping burning buildings, music, K-9 officers, a police dunk tank and much more. I will be helping our local police department run a Child Safety Seat information booth. This is my first chance to really get involved since my seat check and I am really looking forward to it.

2 Years, 9 Months Rearfacing

One of the biggest hurdles to keeping kids rearfacing is the parent's belief that their legs will be cramped as they get taller and that they are uncomfortable. During my CPST class last week, some of the other people in the class were questioning how a child would fit. So I took some photos of Lilypad Princess in her seat to show exactly how she fits.

LP is 2 years, 9 months old, 27 pounds, and between 36-38 inches tall (I know that she fit on the rides that required she be 35 inches tall but was too short for the 40 inch rides at Disney). She has consistently been between the 95th and 100th percentile for height.







How she normally keeps her legs


How she stretches her legs


She never complains about being in her seat, and usually falls asleep if we're in the car more than 15 minutes, so she is obviously quite comfortable. We have done 4 hour trips without any complaint. When she has been forward facing (in her travel seat) she has actually complained because she didn't have anywhere to rest her legs and they hurt just hanging down the seat.

She will stay rearfacing in both of our cars until the limits of the seat, 33 pounds for each of them. At the rate she's going, I expect her to be 3.5 or almost 4 by the time she reaches that point (unless she outgrows the seats by height first!)

I Passed!

It was 4 long days, especially the last two, but I passed my course and am now a Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician.

The first two days were mostly classroom instruction and demonstration, with a couple of trips out to the cars to identify the different types of safety equipment and to learn and practice installations. Friday was half a day of instruction and half a day of hands-on skill assessments.

Today was our public seat safety check. It was 98 degrees out and the check was held in the parking lot. With the heat from the pavement and the sun, it had to be closer to 105 inside the cars as we worked on the seats. I was involved with 4 inspections, including 2 convertible seats, 1 infant seat, and 1 belt positioning booster. It was a great chance to make sure I felt comfortable with all kinds.

Hopefully what we did today will save one of these children from injury if they are involved in a crash. We replaced 5 or 6 seats that were not safe for the kids to even ride home in, and fixed the installation of many more that were not installed correctly. My first check this morning was a 10 month old who was already forward facing in his seat, with loose harness straps and the seat had too much slack. I felt really good watching him drive off with his parents, safely harnessed, rearfacing.

Back to School

Classroom instruction, textbooks, hands-on labs.

Tomorrow is the first day of my SafeKids Child Passenger Safety Certification Course. I'll be in classes from 8-5 Wednesday through Friday and then on Saturday I'll be helping at an actually seat safety check for my final exam. I am really looking forward to gaining more knowledge and experience to help not only keep Lilypad Princess safe in the car, but her friends and other children as well.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about types of carseats, what's the best for your child, how to install correctly, or just about anything else carseat related, visit Car Seat.Org - Carseat, Vehicle & Child Passenger Safety Forums. This is a discussion forum on car safety, child passenger safety, carseats and their safe installation. Members provide buying advice and help for choosing new vehicles and car seats. You can chat and blog about child seat issues with expert technicians and advocates.

Carseat Safety: "Extended" Rear-Facing

A recent article in Pediatrics, the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, (excerpt) highlights the importance of extended rear-facing in carseats. The current MINIMUM requirement for turning a child forward-facing is 1 year AND 20 pounds. However, new studies have shown that this is inadequate, and the new MINIMUM should be 2 years AND 30 pounds. However despite the increased safety, few parents are following the new suggestions. A 2007 study done statewide in Indiana showed that while 85 percent of infants under age one are riding rear-facing in car seats, only seven percent of children between 1 and 2 are riding rear-facing. Here are some highlights from the print article, that show why "extended" rear-facing is so important.

"A recent analysis of the protection provided in rear-facing compared with forward-facing car safety seats has revealed that children under the age of 2 years are 75% less likely to die or sustain serious injury when they are in a rear-facing seat."

"The odds of severe injury for forward-facing infants under 12 months of age were 1.79times higher than for rear-facing infants; for children 12 to 23 months old, the odds were 5.32 times higher." (I think the under 1 information may be skewed because most people know the 1&20 rule and do not forward face their child before age 1 so there is less data to analyze. And this data only looked at children that were seriously injured, not killed and a child under 1 forward-facing in a serious crash is more likely to be killed than seriously injured.)

"Another barrier to implementation of this best-practice recommendation is the common myth that if a child's feet or legs reach the back of the vehicle seat, he or she is at an increased risk for a lower-extremity injury. Current data do not substantiate this myth. [...] In addition...these injuries, as well as injuries to the head and spine, have been described in forward-facing children in child-restraint systems."

Going along with the previous point, many people feel the child will be uncomfortable once their legs touch. LP is a very tall 2 year old, always in the 90th percentile for height, and is very comfortably still rear-facing. Children's legs are very flexible and they don't mind having them curled up in the seat or stretched out on the seat back. In fact, it is often more comfortable than having their legs hanging down without being able to rest anywhere.

Unfortunately the studies have only been done using data on children up to age 2, so they do not indicate what the safety increases are for children over 2. However it is well known that even adults are safer rear-facing in crashes, so it is safe to assume that a 2 or 3 year old who is under the height and weight limit for their seat would still be safer rear-facing.

OK, that's my public service announcement for now. I'll save extended harnessing for another day!

Safe Kids

It's official, this June I will turn my carseat obsession into something more useful, I will take the course to become a certified child passenger safety technician. I have registered for the 4 day course, which includes class discussions and hands-on activities installing different kids of seats in different cars.

Car accidents are the number one killer of kids age 1-14. Child safety seats reduce the risk of death in passenger cars by 71% for infants, and by 54% for toddlers ages 1 to 4 years. Unfortunately, they can be difficult to install correctly, and they are often not used correctly. In fact, one study found that 72% of nearly 3,500 observed child restraint systems were misused in a way that could be expected to increase a child’s risk of injury during a crash (NHTSA 2006c). I am really excited to get involved with SafeKids and help make a difference for kids.

Once I have my certification I will be happy to check anyones seat for them. In the meantime, if you aren't 100% comfortable with your seat installation, please go to a carseat check. You can find one near you by going to Seatcheck.org or the National CPS Certification site. For more information about seats and installation, you can check out Car-Safety.org. More information why rearfacing is safest and extended rear-facing can be found here and here.