Question Who needs to be in the middle?

[Unregistered]

A friend of mine is going to be watching our 3 month old child (still rear facing of course) and she already has a front facing carseat for her toddler. She said that ours will go on the side and hers will stay in the middle because its safer for a front facing child to be in the middle. I always thought the younger, more fragile child should be in the middle. Assuming the two seats will fit next to each other, what would you recommend for this situation?

 

[wendytthomas]

I would recommend the more vulnerable child in the middle. That's the toddler because they're forward facing and are at more risk of injury or death than a rear facing baby.

Wendy

 

[wavegal]

Like wendy said the toddler should be in the middle since they are the most vulnerable being forward facing where as your infant is rear-facing so has more protection.

 

[Persimmon]

I know, it is hard to wrap your head around the concept! You want to think that the infant is much more delicate so should be more protected by being in the middle. But in reality, rear facing is just so much safer--even in side impact collisions. Here is a good quote:
"The most common type of crash is the frontal crash. In a frontal crash, the entire back of a rear-facing carseat absorbs crash forces, protecting the child's head, neck, and spine. In the less common, but more injurious side impact crash, the rear-facing carseat again protects the head, neck and back. Since there's almost always an element of forward motion in a side impact—such as when a vehicle is going straight through an intersection when it's struck in the side by a red-light runner—a rear-facing seat does a better job of keeping a child's head contained within the safety of the seat."
---http://www.carseatsite.com/rf.htm
Remember that the head not being contained in the car seat is bad even if it doesn't hit anything. It stretches out the spinal cord too far. You have to make up for the danger of forward facing by putting them in the middle.

 

[AZmamaof2]

If you friend is aware of the hierarchy of safety, maybe she would consider RFing her toddler again?