Do you know the new AAP car seat guidelines?
On Monday, Joshua, my youngest, had his 9 month well-baby visit. He weighed in at 21 lbs even. I was talking with a friend who has a baby close in age, and she responded “Oh that’s awesome! You can switch him to forward facing in the car now that he’s over 20 lbs!”
NO!
Do you know the AAP car seat guidelines? I posted them below. Bottom line: The AAP now recommends babies and toddlers remain rear-facing until they reach two years of age or reach the rear-facing weight limit on their car seat.
It’s so much safer to keep kids rear facing as long as you can (certainly past 1 year and 20lbs!). Check out this website for some rear facing facts. Nate (my giant firstborn) stayed rear facing until he hit 33lbs (the limit on his seat for rear facing) at 19 months. Did he mind? Heck no! He had no idea he could face forward. Joshua is a much smaller guy so I hope to make it to 2 years old with him rear facing.
True, CT state law only requires infants to be rear facing until 20 lbs and 1 year old, (so my friend was still wrong!) but many states (including ours!) are slowly adopting the AAP’s recommendations for extended rear facing.
Did I get weird looks and some flack for having Nate rear face longer than legally required? Yep. But I don’t plan to do things any differently with Joshua. Please think about extended rear facing for your babies and young toddlers! 🙂
See the AAP Guidelines here:
CT Working Moms 
That’s wonderful, Mary Grace! I’m glad I’m not the only one doing this. I have gotten a lot of sideways looks for having kids rear-facing past 1!
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The limit on our seat is 35 lbs and Mia is not even close to that yet.
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Thanks for sharing. Mia is still rear facing even though she’s getting a little too big for the seat. She’s only got 3 months to go before she’s 2 but she’s on the small side so I refuse have her face forward until I feel she’s ready. Thanks for reinforcing this.
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