The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has released new advice regarding the view our little kiddos should have during the first two years of life (in the car that is).\u00a0 In the April 2011 issue of Pediatrics, the AAP is now advising that we should keep children under the age of 2 in a rear-facing car seat or \u2018until they reach the maximum height and weight for their seat\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think they are referring to the conversion car seat that many of us used between the biceps-workout infant car seat and the fanny lifter booster seat usage periods.\u00a0 The minimum time to wait until revealing the mesmerizing (and potentially silencing) world on the other side of the front windshield is still cited at age 12 months and 20 pounds.\u00a0 Just to provide the full advice in this post, most children will need to ride in a belt-positioning (hopefully, not neck scraping) booster seat until they have reached 4 feet 9 inches tall and are between 8 and 12 years of age.\u00a0 Speaking as an Asian Indian, I think that some of the tiny women in my family might be in that booster seat well into the high school years with that height requirement.<\/p>\n
The reason for the delayed rotational recommendation for those toddlers\u2026 the rear-facing child safety seat does a better job supporting the head, neck and spine in infants and toddlers in a crash.\u00a0 So even though rates of motor vehicular death rates in children under age 16 have dramatically decreased in the last decade or more, it is still the leading cause of death for children age 4 and up.<\/p>\n
The new guidelines are not a requirement, but a recommendation to consider for parents.\u00a0 I always discuss risks, benefits and alternatives with my patients when considering a health care decision.\u00a0 Obviously, there is some research to point to benefits in reductions of injuries during car crashes.\u00a0 That\u2019s a lot of points on the benefits side.\u00a0 The risk seems to be more psychosocial (that little mirror on the rear seats reflecting your little faces doesn\u2019t seem to be a good substitute for real face to face communication and stimulation).\u00a0 Not much in the way of alternatives unless someone starts mounting the car\u2019s DVD player for the rear-facers so they have something to occupy their little developing curiosities.<\/p>\n
The truth is, this is a potential preventive \u2018therapeutic lifestyle choice\u2019 when you really think about it.\u00a0 Actually, I\u2019m torn about how to advise my parents who are \u2018post-flipping car seat stage\u2019 with kids between age 1 and 2 right now.\u00a0 Should they turn them back around for the additional safety benefits?\u00a0\u00a0 Are we going to see a world where our 10 year olds are routinely in booster seats?\u00a0 I know that I had to purchase extra car seats for the other transporters in my network.\u00a0 Will I have to do this until my kids are in middle school?\u00a0 On the other side, are we going too far with this \u2018safety thing\u2019 because \u2018we never used car seats so much as kids and we turned out just fine\u2019?\u00a0 What\u2019s your vote?\u00a0 How will you position your child’s safety against their desire to experience more of the world?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has released new advice regarding the view our little kiddos should have during the first two years of life (in the car that is).\u00a0 In the April 2011 issue of Pediatrics, the AAP is now advising that we should keep children under the age of 2 in a rear-facing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,8],"tags":[40,39,38,37,17,16,32,36],"class_list":["post-98","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everyday-health-tips","category-happy-parenting","category-just-for-kids","tag-2011-recommendations","tag-american-academy-of-pediatrics","tag-car-seat","tag-child-safety","tag-healthy-living","tag-integrative-medicine","tag-kids-health","tag-therapeutic-lifestyle-change"],"yoast_head":"\n