Car Seat Safety

This was originally in my 15 month post, but I decided it deserved it's own post since I feel so strongly about the subject.

One suggestion from the pediatrician was to forward face Davis in the car seat because according to her it is not any safer to rear face him anymore, I beg to differ and take that with a grain of salt. She also told me he'd like the car better, he likes the car now, REAR FACING. I will not be turning him around anytime soon, my goal is to have him rear face until 18 months and if we make it that far I might as well shoot for 2 years. You can watch my two favorite videos on why rear facing is safer, here and here. To be honest I'm shocked she gave me so much shit on him still rear facing considering the AAP recommends rear facing until 2 years and I am positive down the road it will become the law. I just want to add I've heard a ton of comments from the uninformed regarding Davis still rear facing, I can explain to the uninformed until I am blue in the face and they just don't get it. I even had one person tell me that all their kids forward faced at 8 months, that is just ignorance, plain and simple. The current law is 1 year and 20 lbs. to forward face, not one or the other, BOTH. I guess you could call me an advocate of car seat safety, I feel very passionate about it. I think many people are very uneducated in regards to car seat safety and it is such a simple thing that saves lives. No one car seat is any better than the other whether it costs $30 or $500, yes, that $500 seat might be easier to install, but it will not save your childs life anymore than a $30 seat. If you are undecided on which car seat best fits your needs you can look here for loads of information. We used the Graco Safeseat (which has now been renamed the Graco Snugride 32) as our infant seat and we currently use the Britax Roundabout which I love, Britax makes amazing seats, you cannot beat the smooth harness and ease of installation on these guys, no wonder they are so pricey, but I wanted something nice and easy to use since we get so much use out of it. My parents do have a forward only facing seat, I decided on this particular seat for them because it is the only seat they will need, it goes from a forward facing car seat, to a highback booster, to a backless booster, it is the Graco Nautilus and let me tell you, what an awesome seat it is, I highly recommend it. The reason I chose that seat is because I didn't want them to keep spending money on seat after seat and the few times he ever rides in their car, I'm OK with him forward facing. Just remember the safest car seat is one that is installed correctly and used correctly 100% of the time, if you are not sure your seat is installed properly go to this website and locate a local car seat safety technician, make an appointment and have him or her install it for you and show you how to do it properly for the future. I have done it twice now and it only takes 10 minutes for them to do it, they even show you nifty tricks for your particular seat on how to get it in really tight. Always remember, car seats expire, the typical lifespan of a car seat is 5-6 years, but depends on the manufacturers recommedations. If you are unsure whether your car seat has expired or not you can find the date of manufacture on the car seat itself, sometimes it lists an expiration date, sometimes it doesn't. You can contact the manufacturer to find out when their seats expire. So say you have a baby, keep the car seat and a few years later decided to add another baby to your family, that car seat you used with #1 may no longer be good. You should never buy a used car seat or take a hand me down from someone, you never know how the car seat had been used in the past or if it had been in an accident, a lot of times car seats are no longer good once they have been in an accident. Don't worry, almost all insurance companies will replace your car seat at full cost.