Facing Forward in the Carseat - Why We Waited

Roughly two weeks ago (at approx. 23.5 mos), we turned Enoch's carseat to be forward facing because he ended up exceeding the weight limit for rear facing (35 lbs).  I know that most of our friends turn their babies around between 12-18 mos, but we held out because our pediatrician continued reminding us of the new recommendation to keep children rear facing until 2 years of age.

According to the AAP (see link above), this will soon be a law, not a recommendation.  Though I questioned Enoch's legs and feet being squished and possibly injured in an accident due to the rear facing orientation of his carseat, our pediatrician gently affirmed that his head and neck are much more important than his feet/legs and also that leg injuries are far easier to repair than head/neck ones.  Check out these stats from a CNN article covering the new recommendation:

A 2007 study in the journal Injury Prevention found that children under age 2 are 75 percent less likely to die or to be severely injured in a crash if they are rear-facing. Another study found riding rear-facing to be five times safer than forward-facing.

Safety for toddlers really does increase when they remain rear facing as long as possible!  Since I know that this is a big decision for most parents, I thought I'd list a few things that helped Enoch be content while rear facing for almost 2 years.

• removing shoes - This made it so much easier for him to move his feet around and find a comfortable position, especially on long car rides.
• riding in a high car/van - While I realize that not everyone can (or even wants to) go out and buy a minivan or suv, I honestly think that this made riding rear facing so enjoyable for Enoch because he could see out of the car.  Our minivan has high seats and lots of windows, which Little Man fully utilized.  In fact, Enoch enjoyed watching out those windows so much that even when Hugh would ride behind him in the third row, Enoch paid more attention to the passing scenery than he did to his own daddy.
• having special car toys - We have a bag of toys that are only played with in the car (or in waiting rooms when I need a quiet little boy).  It's composed of about half toys and half books, and it has helped us get through many long trips.

Back to that forward facing little man of mine, I just have to say that I feel like turning him around made him age by 2-3 years - just look at how old he looks in that photo above!!  In all seriousness though, I'm glad we waited as long as possible before turning him around.  Even though we didn't get into any wrecks in the past two years, my motherly heart knows that it's always better safe than sorry.

If any of you have any other tips for keeping children happy while rear facing, feel free to share them in the comments below!