Rear facing car seat question?

Question

My son is 6 months old and he is in the 97th percentile in all his growth areas. He is just quite frankly a big kid. My question is he is getting to be too long for his carseat to be rear facing, would it be ok to turn his seat around? His legs are getting to be too long and he is having to bend his little legs while in his car seat. He has already out grown his infant carrier (his head was over the top of the back of the seat)

I am going to discuss this with his dr on thursday when he goes for his 6 month check up but I was curious if any other mother's out there have experienced the same thing, if you have how did you handle the problem?

He is over 20 lbs and last check was almost 28 inches long. this was about a month ago.

the car seat that I have is a convertible one and is suitable for a child up to 100 lbs. short of buying a bigger car there is no way a bigger seat is going to fit in my car

Answer 1

Just for the folks that are saying there is no proof that any injuries come to infants in the rear facing seats that are too tall, you are wrong. I work in the OR as a surg tech and have for 17 years. I also have done my fair share of time in the trauma unit and still rotate in on a weekly basis. From my experience I have seen many infants come in with serious injuries to the lower extremities, pelvis girdle, etc. because of the impact on the legs being rested on the seat. Someone said that broken legs can be fixed....do your research because not always is that the case. We had one 9 month old come in that was very tall for his age and had such severe trauma to his lower extremities that it caused spinal damage and one of his legs ended up being amputated. I've seen this stuff happen right in front of me so don't say that it does not happen because it does. My son had to be turned around when he was 8 months old because he was so tall (23 pounds and 31 inches tall). I never thought twice about it and even took the matter to my local police department to confirm the situation and the risks involved because I did not want a ticket. They said there are incidents when a baby must be turned around before the suggested weight and age and that is fine because once again it is just a "suggestion" and every baby and every babies needs are different.


I don't think a 1 week 40 hour course comes close to 6 years of college and two degrees along with hands on experience. I've seen it live in front of me, the exact consequences and what can happen. These people are not seeing that. Come into the trauma unit for one week, I'll bet you don't last.

I think it is quite funny that everyone that has stated there has been no documentation of injuries sustained from an infant being rear facing and being an extremely tall baby got their information off the internet, not very accurate people. Try calling the Division of Highway Traffic Safety and see what they have to say, I just got off the phone with them and yes there have been such incidents. Not everything is documented, are you people that dense??? I must have been hallucinating all the times I assisted in surgies in the trauma unit on infants brought in due to injuries sustained from a car accident that could have been prevent if the child was NOT rear facing, words that I have heard come straight out of the police officer's mouth, EMT's mouth, surgeon's mouth, and the Chief of Staff's mouth. Sorry but there is a lot of infor on the net and not all of it is correct. I never get my information off the net I get actual facts.

Answer 2

Please don't turn your son around yet! No research has shown that children can sustain broken legs from rear-facing if their legs touch the back seat! My daughter is 3 years old and 31 lbs and she can rear-face in her carseat until she is 33 lbs. She sits very comfortably in her seat with either her legs crossed or resting on the back seat. When she is forward-facing, she has nowhere to rest her feet and generally pulls them up in the carseat to sit like she does rear-facing. My 3 year old daughter loves to rear-face, if we're in a car where I can't get a good rear-facing fit, I allow her to ride forward facing (because she is 3 years old now) and she begs to ride rear-facing.

If you have a convertible seat that goes up to 100 lbs, I'm assuming it can rear-face for 30, 33, or 35 lbs. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends rearfacing to the limit of the carseat. 1 year and 20 lbs is the BARE MINIMUM for forward facing. IF broken legs from rear-facing after 1yr/20lbs were true, I would rather my child have a broken leg than a broken spine or worse - internal decapitation!

Joolsplus, Scatterbunny, and Nisi gave some great information. They are very knowledgable on the subject of Child Passenger Safety.

I urge you to come over to http://www.car-seat.org - they have forums over there full of knowledgable CPS Techs and CPS Advocates that can help you research your decision further.

ETA: I cannot believe some of the scary answers you have gotten on here. I can also not believe somebody will give another persons GREAT, SAFE advice a thumbs down and give other peoples not as safe advice a thumbs up.

Answer 3

I'm with the others who've said 20lbs AND 1 year to turn him around. Through my own conversations with my pediatrician about the leg thing, it doesn't harm a child to have to sit with their legs a bit bent in the car seat. And, in a car wreck, if it came down to it, you'd rather have him have damage to his legs than to his spinal cord. Since you've already got him in a convertable seat, just leave him how he is for the next six months. My son was also in that high a percentile at that age, and his growth really slowed down after 6 months, and now at the age of 3 he's in the 50% percentile (although that doesn't happen with all kids, my friend is about to move her 10 month old into 24 month clothes!).

Answer 4

Try looking into the type of car seats that they can grow up with they may cost more than the little car seats but when you think about it you'll pay either more for the other car seats that you'll have to change as your little one gets bigger. I got one for my little girl when she wasn't even a year old and she is now 2 and a half and she still uses the same car seat.

Answer 5

Your son needs to continue to rear face until his first birthday. My eldest was the same way, and it was difficult, but is definitely do-able.

As joolsplus said - which is better, a broken neck/internal decapitation or a broken leg? Even if the leg was broken severe enough to warrant amputation, the same impact would have surely done major damage to the not fully formed spinal column in a young infant. I'd rather have an amputated leg in a living child than a deceased child.

I urge you to check the sources that nisi, scatterbunny and joolsplus left. They are extremely knowledgeable child passenger safety technicians... you may not be aware, but in order to become a cpst, you have to take a week long course (abt 40 hours) and do ongoing training. They really know their stuff.

Answer 6

No, it definitely isn't safe to turn him around yet. One year old AND twenty pounds is the BARE MINIMUM. The longer you leave him rear facing, the better. Babies and toddlers spines aren't developed enough to handle the tremendous forces they'd be subjected to if they were facing forward in a crash. When they're rear facing the crash forces are spread out over the whole back so the neck and spinal cord are well protected.

Don't worry about their legs being too long. Children quickly learn to bend them or fold them out of the way. And keep in mind they're much more flexible than we are. What looks horribly uncomfortable to us isn't uncomfortable at all for them. If you don't believe me, take a look at these older kids who are all happily and comfortable rear facing well past the 1yr/20lb minimum http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbumAll.aspx Besides, the risk of them breaking their legs in a crash is very, very small. Even if the legs were injured, broken legs can be fixed. Damaged spinal cords, not so much.

Also, please don't count on your doctor for advice on car seats. They are well intentioned but many are still misinformed in this area. For years, the American Acadamey of Pediatrics has recommended leaving babies and toddlers rear facing until the limits of their car seats (30-35lbs for all current models) but many pediatricians still mistakenly tell parents to turn them around well before the 1 year and 20lbs minimum. You wouldn't ask a car seat tech what to do when your child is ill. Don't count on your doctor to know the best way to keep your child safe in the car.

If you want more information, please check out the links below.

Answer 7

Some of the answers are downright SCARY. Most of them are spouting very outdated MYTHS. The only right-on responses are from nisi and joolsplus. Please, please, everyone read the links they posted! There is not a single documented case of leg or hip injury due to extended rear-facing; there are countless cases of death and serious injury due to forward-facing too soon.

Kids in Sweden rear-face to age 4-5 with absolutely no problems, and there have been only a handful of deaths to kids in that age group in Sweden in a period of 5+ years. Car crashes are the #1 cause of death for kids in the US after age 1. Why would it not be the #1 cause of death for kids under age 1, but IS the #1 cause of death for kids OVER age 1? Because most babies are turned forward-facing at age 1, and lose much of their protection.

Again, please read the links previously posted. There are photos of kids as old as 4-5 still happily rear-facing. There are crash test videos comparing what happens to a rear-facing child and a forward-facing child, and it's plainly obvious that the forward-facing child experiences much more violent crash forces.

Answer 8

The concern is that their little spinal cords are too short still. If the carseat were front facing, and you were in an accident... the chances of severe damage are much higher.
Read the instructions on your carseat (usually a label on the side). Both height and weight are important.

Answer 9

All car seats come with instructions and recommendations for use. It is inadvisable to do anything other than what is recommended. You can adjust the belts on a car seat to accommodate larger sized children.

I would read the instructions that come with the seat and do accordingly.

Answer 10

Keep him rearfacing till at least a year, preferably till he's a full 35 pounds or his head is even with the top of the seat. There is NO RISK to his legs from rearfacing, in fact, there are more kids who are forward facing who get broken legs AND broken necks and severed spinal cords.

Your pediatrician will likely be misinformed (unfortunately, most are :( ) so you might want to print out the AAP statement on child car seat safety, which says:


"Children should face the rear of the vehicle until they are at least 1 year of age and weigh at least 20 lb to decrease the risk of cervical spine injury in the event of a crash. Infants who weigh 20 lb before 1 year of age should ride rear facing in a convertible seat or infant seat approved for higher weights until at least 1 year of age.3,4 If a car safety seat accommodates children rear facing to higher weights, for optimal protection, the child should remain rear facing until reaching the maximum weight for the car safety seat, as long as the top of the head is below the top of the seat back"...
"For optimal protection, pediatricians should counsel parents of most children.... to encourage use of a convertible car safety seat that will accommodate them rear facing at higher weights. "

Edited: Someone below is saying there are lots of risk to legs, even if that were true to children properly restrained, would you rather a broken leg or a severed spinal cord? How can there even be a comparison?

Here's from the MSNBC article referenced below:
"Parents also express concern that an older child’s longer legs will hit the back seat when rear-facing.

“When I talk to parents some feel that the bigger children are more at risk for leg injuries because their legs are bunched up. But that concern has never been borne out in the data,” says Arbogast. “Besides, remember, the risks you’re trying to prevent by keeping a child rear-facing are head and spinal injuries.” Broken legs are easy fixes compared to the other injuries, she notes.

The biggest obstacle to longer rear-facing rides, though, is simply changing a parent’s perception, says Miriam Manary, also a senior research associate at the University of Michigan.

Manary says parents need to realize that as a child moves through various car seat stages — from an infant seat, to a convertible to a booster seat to regular seat belts — each one offers less protection than the prior phase.

“Parents should be looking to prolong these stages rather than rushing through them,” advises Manary. “Remember, graduation to the next level isn’t progress. It’s a decrease in safety.”"