The Importance of a Rear Facing Car Seat

In many parts of the world, you cannot bring a baby baby somewhere in your car unless you have a rear-facing car seat. In fact, many hospitals will even examine your car before allowing you to take your baby home. Is this just political correctness, or a careful safety rate?

To answer that, take a look at a baby baby. No matter how sturdy they are for their age, every baby is unbelievably delicate. Unlike some animals, a human baby is incapable of even the most basic survival skills, as much of their basic enhancement takes place further than of the womb over a period of many months. If you lie them down, they will stay there, until you go them again. Their limbs can go, but they are completely ineffective. In the event of an accident, you would certainly want them to be as protected as possible, since no baby can protect themselves.

So naturally, a high feature infant car seat is required. You will probably want a strong model with lots of padding. Obviously, that would absorb much of any potential impact. A built in safety harness custom designed for babies would also makes sense, as would a head help. Surely a combination of these features would be sufficient to keep your baby safe, so why do you have to buy a seat that faces the rear of the car?

Statistically, the most treacherous car crashes by far are head on collisions. What would happen to a baby in a forward facing car seat in the event of such an accident? Quite simply, the safety harness would keep Your Baby's body pinned to the car seat, but their head (which is large and heavy in relation to their body, compared to that of an adult's) will be thrown forward. Unfortunately, their neck muscles aren't developed enough to resist this motion, and there is a very real risk of severe spinal hurt, or even death.

When your baby is facing the rear of your car, though, the momentum is quite different. The initial impact is absorbed back into the car seat itself, and numerous studies have shown that your baby's safety is greatly augmented. This doesn't just apply to newborns either: even one year olds are five times less likely to suffer serious injury in an accident when they are using a rear facing car seat. Even the conventional wisdom that a child should movement to a forward facing car seat when they are 20 pounds in weight is being challenged by safety experts everywhere. It is now recommended that all children use rear-facing car seats for as long as they fit, and certainly beyond their first birthday.

So in answer to the original question posed in this condition: rear-facing car seats have nothing to do with overzealous and overprotective parents. They are an fundamental hold for any baby, and provide real, quantifiable protection against some of the most severe injuries a baby can face.

Author: Mick McMullin
Condition Source: EzineArticles.com
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