My Pediatrician says I can turn him Forward facing

My Pediatrician says I can turn my son (1 year, 23 pounds) forward facing. Why should I keep him rear facing if my pediatrician says forward facing is fine?

Short answer, because it's safer. The American Academy of Pediatrics has been recommending rear facing beyond 1 year and 20 pounds for years. My question would be, if the pediatrician is not following the advice of the AAP on carseat issues, what else is he not following?

Children between 1 and 2 years old are 5 times safer rear facing than they are forward facing. That much we have studies and statistics for. We know that physics shows everyone is safer rear facing, just how much safer we don't know. We do know that the child's neck bones mature between 4 and 6 years old. And we know that in Sweden they rear face until 4 to 5 years old.

American carseats are now coming out with higher rear facing weight limits. Why? So children can rear face longer.

New Rear Facing Video

There are videos on Youtube showing why Rear Facing is safer. But there's a new one out. And it has my daughter in it. Please watch, and read, and keep your children rear facing.

Rear Facing is Safer

Who's that lady hanging out in the carseat isle?

Don't worry, it's just me. Yes, I admit it, I have too much time on my hands some weekends. So what do I do? I go hang out in the carseat isle in my local Babies R Us. Sometimes it's very busy, lots of Moms to be looking for the perfect seat for their baby, lots of very confused parents staring at way too many carseats. What is a parent to do when they have to choose the 1 perfect seat out of 30+ seats?! Accept my kind help :)

If I come up to you when you're looking at carseats and offer to answer any carseat questions you have....please, ask away. That's what I'm there for. That's what I live for. Believe it or not, I enjoy helping you protect your most precious cargo :)

And if anyone here has any questions, please ask away. You can even email me.

A 3rd 40 pound Rear Facing Seat

It was released yesterday that newer Sunshine Kids Radians can rear face up to 40 pounds!! So exciting. The Radian has almost the tallest shell of any RF seat, so it will even get older children to 40 pounds. Sofi could rear face until she's 6 or 7 with her growth pattern.

Radians (65, 80, and XT) manufactured in or after Septemeber 2008 can now RF up to 40 pounds. Seats manufactured before Sept 2008 can not. There were some structural changes to the seat in September, making the pre and post Sept seats different.

First Graco, Now Dorel.

It has started. The 40 pound rear facing seats are here. Graco was first, with the My Ride. Now Dorel is about to release a seat that can RF up to 40 pounds. It's the Safety 1st Complete Air. It can RF up to 40 pounds, and FF up to 50 pounds.

Something else new is coming to the market with this seat. Dorel calls it Air Protect technology. The wings around the child's head are not foam, but air. The video on their website makes it look nice. They will also be adding Air Protect technology to other seats.
http://airprotect.safety1st.com/

The Complete Air is available for preorder on Babies R Us' website on July 1. The seat will be released in August, and sold at other retailers later in the year.
http://www.toysrus.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=3629011

Am I excited? Somewhat. I'm excited we're getting another seat that can RF higher than 35 pounds.

Could I see myself buying this seat? Yes. But I probably won't. It will sell for $250! I haven't paid that much for any of my carseats. However, it looks like it will have a slightly different RF height rule, allowing taller children to still fit.

Goodbye to my beloved My Ride

Right now, my My Ride is sitting in my hall closet. I really love the seat, so why on earth is it in the hall closet? It's awaiting a shipping label to return it to Graco. My beloved My Ride is returning to the manufacturer to be inspected and likely killed :(

I read on www/car-seat.org about problems a few people had with the harness adjuster fraying on their seat. I don't usually adjust Sofi's harness (I've mastered squashing her in there). Since I often reccomend the seat, I decide to try adjusting the harness everytime I put Sofi in/out of the seat, like most parents do. After only 3 days it's fraying :(

I tried to take pictures, but it's really difficult to see. The harness adjuster strap is the strap between the child's legs/knees. You pull it to tighten the harness (the straps around the child). That strap is held by a metal piece that unfortunately has sharp edges. So as it rubs them, it frays. Fraying looks like the strap is getting fuzzy on the side/sides.

So, I noticed the problem and called Graco. They said they'd send me a shipping label to return the seat, and then give me a full refund. I know at least 3 other My Rides are being returned by other people.

I now have 2 replacement covers (I complained about the cover not staying on the sides, they sent me another. I complained about the hole in the cover they sent me a 3rd- a different color) and no seat to put them on. I do still love the My Ride. I do still reccomend the seat, but also make parents aware of the possible problem. And I will happily buy another My Ride (Sonata- pink!) when they fix the problem :)

I have emailed a 'higher up' in Graco. Not exactly sure how high she is, but deffinetly higher than the customer service reps :) We'll see what she says about the problem.

Would you like to see more 'boy color' carseats?

Someone on car-seat.org has decided to start a petition. Parents are tired of neutral colors being considered 'boy colors' while girls get pretty pink and yellow and floral seat covers. She has started a petition to get some more fun boy covers on carseats. SHe's starting with the Graco Nautilus. Graco makes a zillion cover options for their infant seats. They even make some wonderful covers for the Turbo Booster. Why does the Nautilus have to be either Grey or pink? The petition will be sent to the buyer for major retailers.

Here is a link to the petition.
http://www.petitiononline.com/Nautilus/petition.html

Here is her post on car-seat.org
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=86921
Ok, I have the petition up: http://www.petitiononline.com/Nautilus/petition.htmlSign the petition if you want the Nautilus to be available in some sort of color appropriate for boys (or just not aimed specifically at girls. or gray.)Even if you don't personally need a colorful Nautilus, please sign the petition if you think they should be available for others. Feel free to share the link.When we have lots of signatures, I'll forward it to the corporate offices of at least one major retailer.You do need to leave your name and email address, but the addresses are kept private--even I don't have access to them. They just use them for verification to make sure people aren't signing a bunch of times.FTR, I'm not doing this out of self-interest. I'm perfectly happy with our current Nautilus (I love gray!), but I realize there is a need for colors. (Seriously, five different types of gray seats? A bit much...) I'm also curious to see if going to the buyers really will have an impact. So this is a social experiment that hopefully will result in some cute car seats