AAP press release for Child Passenger Safety Week

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Brianna

New member
I know there was a thread a few days ago talking about this, and yes it does look like they recommend all 2+ year olds to FF. I wish they worded this differently, but I'll be glad if the majority of parents start listening to this and at least RF their kids until their 2nd birthday!

I prefer sharing the NHTSA recs.
 

Pixels

New member
The actual AAP policy IS to FF all children who are at least 2 years old (absent special needs).
 

Stelvis

New member
Sorry, I guess I missed the thread from a few days ago. I thought the actual policy was to rear-face to the limits of the seat, with 2 as a minimum?
 

Pixels

New member
The actual policy is to RF until age 2 or the limits of the convertible seat, whichever comes first. They don't want parents to continue RFing in a seat beyond its limits, so they include the bit about to the limits. But really, even in the smallest convertible seats, 99% or more of kids will still fit RFing at 2yo.
 

bnsnyde

New member
There is a big article about carseats on the front page of the Daily Herald.

If they had only included a pic or mentioned RF beyond age 2... Heck, take a picture of my kids! They could have explained that you don't just FF at 2.
If I were reading the article, I would go and turn my 2-year-old FF after reading what they wrote!

I don't get it. They don't want parents going over the limits of the seat, but 99% of seats will fit and RF past 2...sounds like there needs to be a rework of the wording or more info added. Otherwise, it's a disservice to parents.

I think the AAP is down the road from me in my town. Kind of cool.
 

Pixels

New member
The reason the AAP policy says to FF at 2yo is because we don't have any evidence in the US that RFing past 2yo is safer. There aren't enough kids RFing past 2yo and getting in crashes to make a big enough sample to study, at least not yet.

The NHTSA says to keep kids RFing until age 4yo or the limits of the seat.
 

Stelvis

New member
Pixels said:
The reason the AAP policy says to FF at 2yo is because we don't have any evidence in the US that RFing past 2yo is safer. There aren't enough kids RFing past 2yo and getting in crashes to make a big enough sample to study, at least not yet.

The NHTSA says to keep kids RFing until age 4yo or the limits of the seat.

Right, I just think it's odd because there's also no evidence that FF is safer at 24 months, but the laws of physics would suggest that RF would still be safer. Hopefully there are more studies underway now looking at the benefits of RF til 3 or whatever.
 

Brigala

CPST Instructor
Well, my pediatrician thinks the law should change to require rear-facing to age FOUR. So at least not all pediatricians follow AAP. :p

I also prefer NHTSA's recommendations. and NHTSA is the group that provides the training materials for CPSTs, so that's what I go by.
 

christineka

New member
The european study which found rfing through age 4 to be safest used data from the US and Sweden. Of course, the US data was for the ffing children and the Sweden data was for rfing. You'd think that the laws of physics would be the same whether in Sweden or in the US or Canada.
 

Pixels

New member
The laws of physics are the same, but other factors are not. Different vehicle fleets, different drivers, different roads all contribute.

JFTR, I do believe that kids, all kids, are safer RFing in a properly used seat than FFing. We just don't have the numbers to prove it in the US, and the AAP is looking for evidence to back up their recommendation.

I also think that the jump from the old 1&20 to the new 2yo is a much easier pill to swallow for parents than going from 1 to 4 years. Most parents would just say that's crazy and turn at 1&20 anyway, since that's legal.
 

christineka

New member
I also think that the jump from the old 1&20 to the new 2yo is a much easier pill to swallow for parents than going from 1 to 4 years. Most parents would just say that's crazy and turn at 1&20 anyway, since that's legal.

Sure, rfing to age 2 is easier, but I don't agree with saying kids 2 and up must be ffing. I like age 2 as the minimum, but after that kids can be either ffing or rfing. The "must" part makes parents believe it would be unsafe for a child to remain rfing past age 2. Currently, we have issues because a lot of parents are under the impression that children must ride ffing past age 1 because it would be unsafe to rf any longer.
 

Stelvis

New member
Yes, it's the "must" part that got to me. I agree with baby steps and getting people used to the idea of 2, but must turn at 2 is the part that bothered me.
 

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