12 month visit at pediatrician -- why don't more resources phrase the RF rec like this?

Nedra

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
Just got back from our 12 month well visit. On the survey that we fill out before the doctor enters, there was a question about whether we had our child in a rear-facing seat (and under it it stated the AAP rec as a reminder). Then, on the handout there was also a section with a few car seat recommendations, when I looked more closely at the wording, I noticed that this is how it was phrased:

Your child should be in a rear-facing car seat until he is 2 years of age AND reaches the height or weight allowed by the car seat manufacturer.

I was surprised -- not only that it was phrased with an and, instead of an or, but that the and was capitalized! Normally, I hear the recommendation stated as "Keep your child rear-facing until two years old or until they outgrow the rear-facing limits of their seat." To me, this is confusing because it makes it sound like you can pick whichever recommendation you prefer.

I love this -- I think it makes the recommendation so much clearer! I feel like parents hear "2 years old or until they outgrow their rear-facing car seat" and figure that once their kid outgrows an infant seat or a low-limit convertible, they're ready for a FF car seat. I know more than one set of parents who are fine with buying a low-limit convertible for their huge kids because they figure the lower the limits, the faster they'll outgrow the seat and they'll be able to FF them with no guilt because they outgrew their seat.

I LOVE that my pediatrician's office phrased it as an "AND." I think it makes the recommendation so much clearer, and it mirrors the "and" in the "1 year AND 20 lbs" legal minimum, so parents are more familiar with this phrasing and what it means.

I know that there will be some parents who, despite buying the seat with the highest limits they could afford and that fit their vehicle, will still not be able to get their kid to 2 years old and will have to get clarification on the recommendation (that they should forward-face rather than have a rear-facing kid in an outgrown seat). But if it keeps the vast majority of kids rear-facing longer and gets parents of big kids to ask questions when they aren't sure what to do, then I think it is totally worth it!
 
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thekatie

New member
The official recommendation doesn't say "and" does it? I haven't read it in a while. I don't know that I like it. While I can absolutely see what you've described (buying a low limit seat intentionally), I can also see someone buying a Scenera because that's all they can afford, and their child outgrows it but they keep them rear facing past the limits because of the "and". That wouldn't be safe either.
 

Nedra

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
The official recommendation doesn't say "and" does it? I haven't read it in a while. I don't know that I like it. While I can absolutely see what you've described (buying a low limit seat intentionally), I can also see someone buying a Scenera because that's all they can afford, and their child outgrows it but they keep them rear facing past the limits because of the "and". That wouldn't be safe either.

You are right that the official statement says "or." I think I assume that parents will ask the pediatrician what to do if their kid has outgrown their seat before 2. But I guess that's not realistic since lots of parents don't read the manual or don't know how to interpret it. I think maybe the best wording would be:

"Your child should remain in a rear-facing car seat until he or she has reached the maximum rear-facing limits of that car seat, as stated by the manufacturer. If your child is under 2 years old and close to outgrowing his or her seat, ask your pediatrician for resources to help you find a safe solution for your child." Or something like that?
 

thekatie

New member
I LOVE that. It makes sense. It's understandable. Of course... the pediatricians need to be on board and up to date, and the parents need to actually read the information and actually ask. But I like how you worded that. I think I'll be using that when talking to parents (ask your pediatrician or look up a CPST for....).
 

cantabdad

New member
I know more than one set of parents who are fine with buying a low-limit convertible for their huge kids because they figure the lower the limits, the faster they'll outgrow the seat and they'll be able to FF them with no guilt because they outgrew their seat.

Do you know more about why specifically they chose to do this? It does not make sense to me that someone is safety-conscious enough to be aware of the advantages of RF (i.e. to feel guilt about going FF) yet choose not to avail of it as long as possible.

Did these folks have some strongly perceived advantages to FF? Perhaps being better able to see the child, or having the carseat take up less room front-to-back in a smaller car?

I'm just curious because this doesn't make sense to me personally, but I would like to understand it better so that I could better phrase things when I talk to other parents about RF.
 
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Nedra

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
Do you know more about why specifically they chose to do this? It does not make sense to me that someone is safety-conscious enough to be aware of the advantages of RF (i.e. to feel guilt about going FF) yet choose not to avail of it as long as possible.

Did these folks have some strongly perceived advantages to FF? Perhaps being better able to see the child, or having the carseat take up less room front-to-back in a smaller car?

I'm just curious because this doesn't make sense to me personally, but I would like to understand it better so that I could better phrase things when I talk to other parents about RF.

In one case it was about the size of the car. Husband is tall and they knew they wanted a second kid soon, so would need to have at least 1 RF seat behind the driver in order to make it work. (They would move the current seat back and forth in order to have it never behind the dad.)

In the other case I think it was more about the desire to be able to see and talk to the kid. Kid is very verbal and wanted to be part of the action from a young age. Parents were always having to climb in back with him to keep him company and, again, a second child on the way was going to make that hard to do after they had another seat back there.

In both cases I am not sure they would describe themselves as intentionally trying to get out of keeping their kids safe. More just like, "oh, extended rear-facing isn't a priority for us. We'll rear-face until he outgrows it, but we're okay with it if he outgrows it before 2."

(Both sets of parents had 95th+ percentile kids.)
 

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