More and more rear facing car seats are becoming available in our stores, but they are still relatively new and a lot of people have never come across them before, so we get a lot of questions about them. Most of them are about the children's legs. How do they fit, isn't it uncomfortable, surely they'll break in an accident?
Some extended rear facing car seats (ERF for short) have a legroom gap, but even if they don't this isn't an issue. Children are happy to sit with their legs crossed or bent, this is a natural position for them and is not uncomfortable. You often hear parents of rear facing children say that broken legs are better than a broken neck. After all, broken legs can be fixed. But there are no known cases of rear facing children breaking their legs because of the way their seat was facing. It is however quite a common injury in forward facing car crash victims. |
Other concerns that people have are about the child not being able to see out of the window, the parent and child not being able to see each other, worries that putting them in the seat will be more difficult, that they will get car sick etc. If you have never seen a rear facing car seat before, they may look unusual and you might think that these things are going to be a problem. The reality is that children have a much better view out of the rear and side windows, and in a forward facing seat they can't actually see as much. You can still chat to each other and there are mirrors available if you want to keep and eye on them. Getting them into a rear facing seat is actually easier than a forward facing one, and car sickness is no more likely than in a forward facing seat. |