The importance of rear facing

Hayden is coming up on a year, and he is over 20 lbs, so most would think it's ok to turn him forward facing in his car seat soon. People are always surprised when I tell them I am going to keep him rear facing as long as possible, so I thought I would explain why.

The babies might be the right height and weight requirements according to the minimum, but at this age their spines still can't handle the force of a wreck. I am going to post a video from YouTube that has a crash test and shows the difference between forward facing and rear facing in an accident. That's all I needed to see to convince me! There is a huge difference, and I wouldn't even want to change putting my baby through that. A lot of people say their baby prefers to rear face, or their legs get squished. It's not dangerous to have the baby fold their legs rear facing. There have been no reported cases of broken legs from rear facing, but there have been many cases or internal decapitation from forward facing.

I bought a car seat that had the highest rear facing maximum weight I could find for this reason. He will be rear facing until 35 lbs. It also forward faces until 65 lbs. I got a Britax Marathon. It's expensive, but well worth it. So watch this video, rear face your baby as long as possible, and pass on the information to parents, grandparents, or people who will be parents one day!

Thanks TJ for the link! In case you don't read the comments, read this:
http://www.childrestraintsafety.com/rear-facing.html
There is some really good information!