Safety seats and seat belts are mandatory in most, if not all, developed countries. However, the rules regarding types for which age group and weight range from country to country. For most parents, a very important question is when they can finally get rid of the rather bulky car seats and shift their kids to normal seat belts without sacrificing safety.

This study compared the safety performance of safety seats and lap-and-shoulder seat belts found in most cars. The researchers analyzed data from car crashes in police reports and injuries to children aged 2 to 6 years old.

Their analysis shows that lap-and-shoulder seat belts prevent serious injuries as well as child safety seats. However, safety seats are still significantly more effective in preventing less serious injuries. Lap seat belts, the kind that are sometimes installed in the middle seat at the back offers the least protection of all. Still, the latter is better than no seat restraint at all.

The study results indicate that car safety seats are actually worth keeping as long as possible. We are definitely keeping ours – after 5-and-a-half years – for a couple of years more. However, we should keep in mind that safety seats can only provide maximum protection when properly installed.

Child safety seats positioned in the center of the backseat could cut infants’ and toddlers’ risk of injury by nearly half, a new study suggests.

In a study of car accident data from 16 different states, researchers found that children younger than 3 years of age were 43% less likely to suffer any injuries when their carseat was placed in the center of the backseat, rather than on one or the other side seats.

Experts have long recommended that parents position infants? and toddlers? car seats in the center of the rear seat, and the new study bolsters that advice, says Michael J. Kallan and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Unfortunately, only 28% of children in the study were actually seated in that position at the time of the car crash, the researchers report in the May 2008 issue of the journal Pediatrics.

However, the researchers do acknowledge that there are challenges involved in placing a carseat in the center position of the backseat. It is physically more difficult to strap in a child, especially a heavier child, into a center-positioned seat. A centered child seat can also make it difficult to impossible for others to sit in the backseat of the car comfortably.

But based on the current findings, the researchers insist that the center position is still the safest place for babies and toddlers to ride.

The results of the study are based on data from 4,790 car crashes that occurred between 1998 and 2006, which involved children ages 3 and younger. At the time of the accident, 41% of the children were seated in a carseat positioned in the right-hand side of the backseat, while 31% were in the left-hand side.

While least popular, the center position was the safest. This is partly because children in a centered seat were better protected during a side-impact crash, Kallan’s team reports.

“Recommendations should continue to encourage families to install child-restraint systems in the center of the rear seat,” the researchers said.

Or, why you shouldn’t rush to turn your baby’s convertible car seat around on her first birthday.

In the USA, babies must ride rear-facing until they are one year old and weigh 20lbs.

For many moms, it’s another exciting milestone, a sign that baby is growing and becoming more independent. Now she can travel facing forwards like the other people in the car. People – parents, friends,even your pediatrician – may tell you to turn the car seat around once baby turns one. You might think she’ll prefer to travel forwards, and be less fussy on car journeys.

She might be less fussy, but it’s actually much, much less safe for a baby to ride facing forwards, than facing backwards.

The majority of car crashes involve a frontal impact. A baby facing forwards will have her head thrown forwards, while her body is restrained by the seat harness. In a serious crash, decapitation is even a possibility.

A baby facing backwards will fare much better. Her head and body will be pushed back into, and supported by the seat, and she’ll be much less likely to suffer head or neck injuries.

In the video above you can see just how violent a forward facing accident can be. The differences between the two accident types are shocking. The video has lots of other information about rear-facing and it’s great thing to forward to any family or friends who are nagging you to turn your babies carseat around.

The safest way for a baby or toddler to travel is rear-facing, in a correctly installed car seat.

Keep your baby rear-facing as long as possible – until they reach the height or weight limit of the seat.

• Australia allows babies to ride forward facing at just 6 months. The United Kingdom allows babies to ride forward facing at 9 months. Both these nations have higher rates of infant and toddler deaths in car crashes than the USA.
• Scandinavian parents in countries like Finland and Sweden keep their children rear-facing as long as possible – until age 3 or 4 is normal. These countries have the lowest rates of children being killed in car crashes in the world.

Road accidents are the largest cause of death for children in the USA. Keeping your toddler rear-facing as long as possible is one of the best things you can do to keep your child from joining those statistics.

• Find an car seat installation check location near you

I’ll never forget the very first car ride my daughter took in a forward facing car seat. She had just reached the age and weight requirement that allowed us to turn her seat around, so we flipped the car seat to forward facing and headed out for a quick trip to the mall.

At first she protested a little, but not very much. All she knew was that something was different and it didn’t seem quite right to her. I urged her to look out the front windshield since she now had a view that she had never enjoyed before, and suddenly the protests stopped. She was silent. I looked back and saw that her eyes were widened, her mouth was slightly open, and she had an incredibly shocked look on her face. I wish I would have taken a picture, because it was indeed priceless.

It was similar with my son when we first turned his car seat around, although with him he had his big sister talking up the event so I think he was even more excited. He giggled like mad during his first car ride with the seat forward facing, and I think it was about that time he really stopped protesting car rides. It was like magic.

If your baby seems a little disgruntled to ride around in a rear facing car seat, you really can’t blame him or her. After all, how much fun can it be to face away from everyone and see where you have been, but not where you are going? It won’t be long until your baby gets to sit forward facing – believe me, it will happen quicker than you think – and you can rest assure that your kiddo will probably be a lot happier once entering The World of the Forward Facing.