home pagethe celebrity angels seriescoming soonsubscribecontact us
 Site  Web 
Baby Beauty Business Celebrity Health Home Kitchen Travel
Protect your children Protect your children's skin
Style your nursery Style your nursery
Bath time with your baby Bath time with your baby
Feeding time Feeding time
Sofie Allsopp Sofie Allsopp
Jemma Kidd Jemma Kidd
James Martin James Martin
» With the housing market uncertain, location is vital
» Celebrity Angels: Travel coming soon
» Be the perfect hostess this party season
» Find out which fabric will complement your room
» Wallpaper is back - see what's hot and what's not
 
 
Rear-facing baby seats safer
Young children are probably safer facing backwards in the car

A team of doctors has gathered evidence to suggest it may be safer for toddlers to stay in a rear-facing car seat until they are four.

In the UK, it is common for most parents to switch from rearward to forward facing car seats when the baby is around 9 kilos (20 pounds), or around 8 or 9 months old.

Research from Sweden, where it is common to keep children facing backwards until the age of four, has shown that children who died in a forward-facing car seat could potentially have survived if they had been sitting the other way around.  Another study by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed that rear-facing seats are safer for all accidents for 0-23 months, and children experience far fewer chest and neck injuries.

Dr. Elizabeth Watson, one of the doctors bringing this issue to light, said, “Rear facing car seats cradle a child in an impact with any frontal component, and align the head, neck and spine, spreading the crash forces over all of these body areas.  In a forward facing car seat, a child’s body is held back by the straps, while the head keeps moving forwards, and the relatively large head mass and differences in the cervical spine in young children can lead to excessive stretching of the spinal cord.”

Many parents and health care professionals don’t seem to know that it is safer to leave children in rear-facing car seats until they are older, or even that rearward car seats for toddlers exist.

Duncan Vernon, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, backed the findings.  He said, “The evidence shows that it is safer for children to travel rearward-facing for as long as possible, although that does not mean forward-facing seats are dangerous.”

ADD YOUR COMMENT
*Name:
Company name:
*Email:
Comment:
Remember my personal information
Notify me of follow-up comments?

Please enter the word you see in the image below:


Will you be going to watch the 2012 Olympics?

 Yes
 No
 
Win tickets to the National Home Improvement Show!

We've got 25 pairs of tickets to give away!
 
 
 

Oxygen10 2008. All rights reserved
Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Site map

Oxygen 10 | Boston Hannah International | Today's Business Women | EUCommerz