AAP and Rear-facing

bree

Car-Seat.Org Ambassador
I was just reading the minutes of the October 2009 board meeting of the National CPS Board over at cpsboard.org. (Yes, I'm aware I'm a dork. :p)

From the minutes:

"At September meeting, committee discussed inconsistency in messaging provided to parents from pediatricians about rear facing child seats and possible letter to AAP. Committee decided not to take action on a possible letter to AAP.

Dr. Bull, who was not present at Communications committee meeting, clarified that the letter to AAP would not be from the CPS board but from Safe Kids. Lorrie Walker drafted a letter from Safe Kids that Dr. Bull reviewed. She also reported on her recent AAP activity.

1. The AAP policy "Selecting and Using the Most Appropriate Car Safety Seats for Growing Children: Guidelines for Counseling Parents" is under revision. This policy will become a clinical guideline.
2. Dr. Joe O'Neal has been appointed to Committee on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention. He will have significant say on wording of the clinical guidelines.
3. Dr. Bull will be AAP board reviewer of AAP publication "Car Safety Seats a Guide for Families." She is working with AAP staff to revise publication and rear facing messages. This publication is scheduled for printing in January 2010.
Dr. Bull will discuss letter with AAP staff to determine if a letter would be helpful.

Board agreed it will continue to monitor messaging before taking further action. It is important to inform current instructors and technicians that rear facing longer is recommended and a CPS best practice."

I'm hopeful, particularly given Dr. Bull's involvement (she's one of the authors of the study looking at rear-facing and forward-facing for 0-23 month olds), that the changes that are made to the AAP clinical guidelines and the January 2010 publication will really promote extended rear-facing. But the pessimistic side of me wonders even if extended rear-facing is promoted in new clinical guidelines and publications, they won't change the actual recommendations by individual pediatricians.
 
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