To think there isn't enough information given to parents on car seat safety?

[TokenGinger]

Since I became a first time mum, I've been really surprised at how little information is given to parents on car seat safety. I only stumbled upon a page for Extended Rear Facing after I saw a friend had commented on a post and I've since been researching it in detail.

I'm not sure who I expect to give this information to parents because health professionals are already stretched to capacity, but I just feel it's so important and is something that so many parents I've spoken to are unaware of.

Extended Rear Facing up to 25kg is recommended because a child's spine, neck and pelvis are not mature enough to withstand the impact of a forward facing crash without a much higher risk of serious injury.

I see so many friends post pictures of their children bundled into car seats ready for their journey forward facing and they're still so small and could quite easily still be RF, or even in their infant carrier, but I don't blame them because I'm sure they're just unaware of how much safer it is to rear face.

AIBU to think that this is vital information parents are missing out on being told, and wouldn't necessarily know to research when current advice is that babies only near to rear face until 9kg?

I didn't expect so many responses to this thread, and certainly not so many helpful and informative responses. Thank you for sharing so much helpful information everybody :)

There's another issue that not all cars can accommodate 25kg erf seats. People do their best with the resources available. My dd was in a 60mph crash forward facing at age 2 and her car seat did save her life because it was properly installed, a poorly fitting erf seat because the car wasn't designed to take one (they are quite new) would not have necessarily been safer.

For me it was financial, as I had already bought two car seats. I feel bad about it and can't afford more seats. My son is nearly three.

My DD2 is nearly 2 and already FF. Both my girls are really tall for their age and got to the point that they would scream their heads off if RF. I honestly couldn't shoehorn either of them in any longer. I understand that you can buy other seats that can be extended further but then it wouldn't fit in the car. I can't afford a new car and a new seat!

okie It's a myth that 25kg seats are bigger than 18kg seats. Many are more compact than 18kg seats, particularly when compared with 18kg isofix seats.

Mumsnet obsesses with car seat safety, yet so many parents spend nearly as much on an all singing dancing extended rear facing car seat then put it into a death trap old banger.
A car seat can only do so much-if you have a car with virtually no current safety features an extended rear facing car seat is going to achieve bugger all in a serious accident!

YANBU.
If parents cannot face a rear facing seat then they cannot afford to drive.

Megan2018 but if it's a choice between a ff carseat in an old banger, or a rear facing seat in an old banger the rear facing seat is still safer. Not everyone has the option to change cars even if they wanted to and the £100 difference between a rear and forward facing carseat won't change that.

okiedokieme because 25kg seats are belted, they are more compact that 18kg seats. My son's seat is more compact than my DDs infant carrier.

I agree with the OP. I’m also a bit baffled by the idea that people “do what’s right for their children” so it’s ok for them to use whatever car seat they choose. 40 years ago people took the attitude that “they knew best” and as a result some children didn’t use car seats at all - and yes, lots of people reading this survived but many didn’t.
If parents are doing what’s right for the children they will rear face. I have never said anything to friends IRL unless they’ve asked. A dear friend lost her 2 year old in a car dc accident. If she’d been rear facing she would almost certainly have survived (not my opinion - coroners report).

I do acknowledge that some people do the majority of driving on 30mph roads and the risk of a serious crash is low. As a family we do a lot of motorway driving and I do whatever I can do to keep my child safe.

The law is changing and out children will look back on car seats of 2020 and be amazed that forward facing before 4 years old was so common.

The OP makes such a good point - I only discovered extended rear facing by chance. None of my NCT friends used rear facing car seats. All my DC rear faced until they were almost 5 and none of them were sick, complained about the view (it’s not bad, just different!) or were cramped. And I drive a fairly small car! It was also really nice when one was old enough to forward face because they then faced the sibling rear facing!

If the likes of Halfords, John Lewis etc fit your car seat for you, it can rear face and your child is within those parameters then they will fit it rear facing. All these retailers have been pulled up a few times on their car seat fittings and don't want anymore reputation damage.

I actually think there isn't enough info on other aspects of car safety. Some wonderful friends of mine were strapping their newborn in a snowsuit into a car seat with very very loose straps. They just didn't know a)that the straps weren't tight enough and b) that he couldn't go in the snowsuit for temperature and strap safety. I wouldn't have clicked about a snowsuit either if someone hadn't mentioned it in passing. Also head lolling needs to be explained better too! Again not sure who should be telling us this stuff. Maybe ante natal courses tho not everyone goes to one.

My 4 year old was in age 7 clothes at that age due to her height. I cannot see how a child of 115cm could be rear-facing. Are there new-fangled seats I'm unaware of? I've just googled it and it doesn't look like it.

I think the most important thing whatever seat you have is fitting it correctly.

My children are past this age (thankfully) but I don't know how anyone can be completely oblivious to this. The internet is awash with information about this.

However, 8 years ago when my youngest was this age, I remember getting my arse handed to me on a plate for the crime of living somewhere that no retailer actually stocked them. They would only order one if I committed to buying it, but I couldn't commit to buying one because I had no way of knowing if it would fit in my car properly. I'm guessing they are easier to get hold of now, but the holier than thou preaching of all the do gooders online who would apparently have sold their house and moved somewhere that they could buy one, was staggering.

25kg seats generally don't take up anymore room than 18kg ones. I have a minikid in the back of my hyundai i10 and can fit a 5ft 10 passenger in the front. My 99.8th height centile 4.5 year old still fits in it.

@isabelle Wouldn’t you drive to the nearest town that did stock them? Was it really so far away?

Wouldn’t you drive to the nearest town that did stock them? Was it really so far away?

You mean there are other towns, not just the one I live in? Why did no one tell me?

If course I tried other towns. I couldn't find a stockist in the entire country and would have had to take a ferry to Scotland at a cost of around £250 return, to try to buy one. And that sort of disbelieving response is exactly what I'm talking about.

StepAwayFromGoogle a lot of it depends on where the height is - a child with a long torso will out grow a seat before a long legged child. We have a two way elite in extended leg room mode and my average height but long legged 4yo is fine in it. Child naturally sit in different positions to adults, more frog and crossed legged generally.

isabellerossignol for anyone in your position now, the in car safety centre gives advice over the phone and will post out seats and give video call fitting advice.

You have to live under a rock and be completely off social media to not be aware of rearfacing car seats....
mine still face forward, for good (medical) reasons. my youngest would be rearfacing if possible

isabellerossignol for anyone in your position now, the in car safety centre gives advice over the phone and will post out seats and give video call fitting advice.

That's great, I think it's good news that they are more accessible now (and more affordable too).

I use forward facing seats, but use them every single time, correct weight of child for the seat, they are fitted correctly, no coats and the straps are tight. Compare that to others that I see, in the past week I’ve seen a small child (probably about 4) completely unrestrained, numerous small children wearing coats in their cars, an average sized 8 month old forward facing and as I carried a bag out to the car for a friend with 2 year old, the parent strapped them in, but didn’t pull The straps anywhere near tight enough, so when I lent in to say goodbye to the child, I commented and pulled it tight (parent was already in the front seat by this point).
So it seems the basic messages of car safety, that don’t cost anything, have still not got through. So before ERF is tackled (which costs quite a bit to buy the seat) , I think the other messages have to be hammered Home first. And yes, better education is what will help with that, but I suspect the parent who let their child stand between the front seats while driving around town, isn’t that bothered about being educated on car seat safety as they suspect it will never happen to them.

@PatricksRum

YANBU If parents cannot face a rear facing seat then they cannot afford to drive

That is absolute bollocks if you don't mind me saying.

There's a "nice" middle-class family who do drop-offs at my nursery. They have forward facing seats like we do, for young DCs. They eihther choose not to spend too much on cars, or they just really love their 3-door Nissan "K11" series from the late 90s, because that's what they choose to drop off their two DCs. It probably owes them £200 if they sold it.

I've been doing drop offs for two years, and they've been there every single week so to speak, no one has died.

To equate rear-facing seats with the cost of driving is just spurious to say the least.

You sound like one of the manufacturers who are pushing this "innovation" in order to get people to spend more money on seats, because "only the best for my DCs" etc.

I have a relative who has a very expensive car, with the latest safety equipment, and the very best of car seats for her toddler daughter.

She also has repeatedly been caught speeding and she constantly uses her mobile whilst driving, so she is steering one handed and veering across the road on occasions. And there are people who drive older, less safe cars, with only basic car seats, yet drive carefully.

A quick glance at her at nursery pickup would put her firmly in the 'good parent' camp according to some, and put the others into the 'clearly don't care about their kids as much as I do' camp. Impressions can be deceptive. If my children were that age, I'd rather they took their chances in a forward facing seat with a careful driver than a rear facing seat with a careless one.