Rear facing car seats safest for children under 4 years old

Parents should keep young children in rear facing car seats for as long as possible, state doctors in a paper published today on bmj.com

Currently, babies stay in rear facing car seats until they reach the age of eight months or 9kg, at which it has become common practice to move them into a forward facing seat.

Mounting evidence is now suggesting that children under four years old should stay in rear facing seats.

In Sweden it is common practice to use rear facing seats up to the age of four, and data shows that of those accidents involving child fatalities, backwards facing seats may potentially have saved their lives.

One study using figures from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash database concluded that rear facing seats were more effective for protecting children aged 0 – 23 months.

Rear facing seats also resulted in significantly lower neck and chest injuries for children involved.

Author Drs Elizabeth Watson and Michael Monterio believe that unlike forwards facing seats, rear facing car seats keep the head, neck and spine fully aligned so the crash forces are distributed over all body areas.

They believe part of the problem is that many parents and healthcare providers may be unaware that it is safer to leave children in rear facing seats for as long as possible, or that rear facing seats for toddlers exist.