I KNOW IT'S LONG BUT PLEASE READ!
It's really crazy how many people still don't know that it's way safer to keep their kids RF as long as possible. I've seen a friend turn her 9 months old ff and when I asked her why she said because the seat manual said she could turn ff when he was 20lbs, which he was. She had no idea she had to wait til he was 1yo also. And obviously she had no idea that that's the minumum and not a requirement to turn ff.
I just came down to Brazil to spend the holidays with my family and I was at a baby store yesterday buying a high chair when this woman walked in asking for a car seat. She said "i need a new carseat, the one for bigger kids cause my son barely fits in his current seat. He's 13mo" The saleswoman proceded to show her a chicco seat. I didnt'want to interfere too much and acted like I wanted info too so I said "is that the kind that can be RF to?" and was told no. The mom shopping then said, I already have a rear facing and he doesn't fit anymore. She then went to look at other seats. When she came back to the register she was paying for the ff chicco and i just had to say something. I asked what kind of seat she had now and of course it was an infant seat, she said she kept her son there as long as possible so he could rear face. So I asked the salesperson if they didn't have convertibles and they said yes and told the mom one of the seats they showed her could be installed rf too. The mom had no idea those existed and then decided to buy the convertible and I kept saying how it
was much safer. The mom complained the salesgirl hadn't mentioned that "detail" and all the salespeople were just like, well, it doesn't matter cause for the age of your son you're supposed to use ff. Meanwhile, they never asked how much her child weighed. And the chicco seat was on display with a big tag saying 12m+. The mom thanked me when I left the store but I just kept thinking of all the other people who dont know better and are getting bad advide from sales people to their pediatrician. Even the ones that do know about the 1y 20lb rule assume that's when they are supposed to ff, and have no idea that's the minimum and that it's safer to rf for longer. I know, Brazil is really bad when it comes to that, the stores offer few models (all imports of US and European seats), so there's not much to choose from and nobody gives it much thought. I don't even think you're required by law to use a seat. But in the US a lot of people don't know about the benefits of rf either.
So, I know this is long, but what can we do to spread the word? I don't think emailing everyone I know with a bunch of info will make much difference. Why isn;t there a larger campaing to get pediatricians and authors of baby books to explain this to parents? every baby book I read just mentions 1yo and 20lbs, if I hadn't read it on this site I would never have known either.
Even the safekids website is not clear on this. It does say rf AT LEAST until 1y20lbs but the way they chart the progress from seat to seat it's not clear that after the infant seat you can get a convertible. It just says keep your child rf for longer if "your rear facing seat" has higher weigh limits, but if I knew nothing else about seats and I read this I would look at my infant seat's limits and conclude I can't really keep my child rf any longer. http://www.usa.safekids.org/skbu/cps/index.html
The Brazilian chapter of safekids is even worse as it says "infant seat or convertible - from birth til 9 or 13Kg, according to seat's manual, OR 1 year of age". It's ridiculous! http://www.criancasegura.org.br/guia_cadeirinha.asp
WHAT CAN I/WE DO????
It's really crazy how many people still don't know that it's way safer to keep their kids RF as long as possible. I've seen a friend turn her 9 months old ff and when I asked her why she said because the seat manual said she could turn ff when he was 20lbs, which he was. She had no idea she had to wait til he was 1yo also. And obviously she had no idea that that's the minumum and not a requirement to turn ff.
I just came down to Brazil to spend the holidays with my family and I was at a baby store yesterday buying a high chair when this woman walked in asking for a car seat. She said "i need a new carseat, the one for bigger kids cause my son barely fits in his current seat. He's 13mo" The saleswoman proceded to show her a chicco seat. I didnt'want to interfere too much and acted like I wanted info too so I said "is that the kind that can be RF to?" and was told no. The mom shopping then said, I already have a rear facing and he doesn't fit anymore. She then went to look at other seats. When she came back to the register she was paying for the ff chicco and i just had to say something. I asked what kind of seat she had now and of course it was an infant seat, she said she kept her son there as long as possible so he could rear face. So I asked the salesperson if they didn't have convertibles and they said yes and told the mom one of the seats they showed her could be installed rf too. The mom had no idea those existed and then decided to buy the convertible and I kept saying how it
was much safer. The mom complained the salesgirl hadn't mentioned that "detail" and all the salespeople were just like, well, it doesn't matter cause for the age of your son you're supposed to use ff. Meanwhile, they never asked how much her child weighed. And the chicco seat was on display with a big tag saying 12m+. The mom thanked me when I left the store but I just kept thinking of all the other people who dont know better and are getting bad advide from sales people to their pediatrician. Even the ones that do know about the 1y 20lb rule assume that's when they are supposed to ff, and have no idea that's the minimum and that it's safer to rf for longer. I know, Brazil is really bad when it comes to that, the stores offer few models (all imports of US and European seats), so there's not much to choose from and nobody gives it much thought. I don't even think you're required by law to use a seat. But in the US a lot of people don't know about the benefits of rf either.
So, I know this is long, but what can we do to spread the word? I don't think emailing everyone I know with a bunch of info will make much difference. Why isn;t there a larger campaing to get pediatricians and authors of baby books to explain this to parents? every baby book I read just mentions 1yo and 20lbs, if I hadn't read it on this site I would never have known either.
Even the safekids website is not clear on this. It does say rf AT LEAST until 1y20lbs but the way they chart the progress from seat to seat it's not clear that after the infant seat you can get a convertible. It just says keep your child rf for longer if "your rear facing seat" has higher weigh limits, but if I knew nothing else about seats and I read this I would look at my infant seat's limits and conclude I can't really keep my child rf any longer. http://www.usa.safekids.org/skbu/cps/index.html
The Brazilian chapter of safekids is even worse as it says "infant seat or convertible - from birth til 9 or 13Kg, according to seat's manual, OR 1 year of age". It's ridiculous! http://www.criancasegura.org.br/guia_cadeirinha.asp
WHAT CAN I/WE DO????