extended rear-facing

it wasn't until Ava was nearly one when i happened to come across information on the internet about extended rear-facing. for all i knew, babies got turned around in the car once they hit their first birthday. i was totally oblivious to the new recommendations and countless studies done that shows that rear-facing is by far the safest position for anyone to be in a car.

i can understand why some people turn their babies around at one- because they don't know any better. well, i hope that each and every one of my readers at least takes this one piece of advice and chooses to extend rear-facing for as  long as possible.

There are many seats, and new seats coming out all the time that have higher weight limits for rear-facing. the Graco MyRide 65, Evenflo Symphony 65, and Safety First Complete Air all allow rear-facing up until 40 lbs, and the Sunshine Kids Radian XTSL allows up to 45 lbs! That is pretty heavy! I mean, at 3.5 years old, Ava is only about 30 lbs. At this rate, she will rear-face in to her fourth year!  They vary in price, but are well worth the investment for the safety of your child.

When I was doing my research I found a  couple of videos that were very helpful in showing the reasons and impact of rear-facing. This one stood out well for me:



I would also suggest reading these articles. They can definitely explain better than I can.

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx

http://www.fortwayne.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/SE/20071210/NEWS/712100332

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9916868

Quite honestly, now that you have this information it would be silly not to think about how extended rear-facing can benefit your family. Ava and Nathan ride in the Sunshine Kids Radian XTSLs and I absolutely LOVE them. I definitely recommend them for anyone and think that the quality is incomparable.