Another California License Question

[Michelle]

Is there any regulation whether or not we can have blankets in cribs?

Also, what is the law about rear facing car seats? I have a baby that is way too large for a rear facing car seat. (14 months old) I mean she will have her legs injured if there was an accident and her shoulders are way higher than the top of the straps.

I have called licensing but they will not give a direct answer as usual.

[MarinaVanessa]

As far as I know the safe sleep suggestions aren't laws or regulations ... they're just recommendations. So stuff like baby sleeps in crib with no blankets or pillow, no bumbers, lay a baby on it's back to sleep, don't let a baby sleep in a carseat etc. are just recommendations. I personally follow them anyway.

The only one that I was specifically told about by my licensing rep was that no awake babies in a crib or P&P and no sleeping babies in the swing.

The law about rear facing carseats is just until they are 12 months old or meet the weight requirements of the carseat to be able to turn it around. It is recommended that you keep an infant under 24 months in a rear facing carseat until they turn 2 but also not a law. The way they see it is this ... would you rather chance a dead baby from having an infant forward facing so the the child can be more comfortable or would you rather have a baby with a broken leg or hip from keeping the baby in a rear facing carseat even though his/her legs are cramped.

I took a carseat safety class a few months ago and they covered all of these topics.

[Michelle]

As far as I know the safe sleep suggestions aren't laws or regulations ... they're just recommendations. So stuff like baby sleeps in crib with no blankets or pillow, no bumbers, lay a baby on it's back to sleep, don't let a baby sleep in a carseat etc. are just recommendations. I personally follow them anyway.

The only one that I was specifically told about by my licensing rep was that no awake babies in a crib or P&P and no sleeping babies in the swing.

The law about rear facing carseats is just until they are 12 months old or meet the weight requirements of the carseat to be able to turn it around. It is recommended that you keep an infant under 24 months in a rear facing carseat until they turn 2 but also not a law. The way they see it is this ... would you rather chance a dead baby from having an infant forward facing so the the child can be more comfortable or would you rather have a baby with a broken leg or hip from keeping the baby in a rear facing carseat even though his/her legs are cramped.

I took a carseat safety class a few months ago and they covered all of these topics.

ok thanks.. but what about the shoulders? if the holes for the straps are below the shoulders.... won't that cause serious injury?

[MarinaVanessa]

ok thanks.. but what about the shoulders? if the holes for the straps are below the shoulders.... won't that cause serious injury?

All I know about the shoulders is that if they are younger than 2 years old the straps have to come out of the carseat at the first notch below the shoulders, if they are older than 2 years then the straps have to come out of the carseat at the first notch above the shoulders. As long as you follow that rule there isn't a huge chance that the child will become injured from a rear-facing caseat if they are a little big for it.

If the carseat doesn't allow you to do this (like for really big kids) then it's probably time to check the carseat specs again and make sure that the child falls within it's quidelines. If your caseat manufacturer recommendations say to flip the carseat around at a certain weight or height and the child meets the recommendation then they suggest that you follow the carseat manufacturer recomentadions.

The only time that a child has to sit rear-facing no matter what is when they are under 12 months old.

[Willow]

I took a carseat safety class a few months ago and they covered all of these topics.

I took another one even though I have no intent or desire to transport any of my daycare kiddos, it was purely because I needed training hours and I was sooo wanting to pick brains about the extended rear facing revolution.

My instructor was adamant that rear facing to two years of age is safest. Adults assume it's going to be incredibly uncomfortable but it really doesn't bother most children at all.

If/when hubby and I have a child we will be doing it.

For more information on how it works and why it's recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

http://extendedrearfacing.org/

[SilverSabre25]

ok thanks.. but what about the shoulders? if the holes for the straps are below the shoulders.... won't that cause serious injury?

NO! For rear-facing the shoulders are SUPPOSED to be above the hole for the straps. For forward-facing, the shoulders are supposed to be below.

Most 14 month olds will fit RF in the car seat for a long, long time still.

[SilverSabre25]

All I know about the shoulders is that if they are younger than 2 years old the straps have to come out of the carseat at the first notch below the shoulders, if they are older than 2 years then the straps have to come out of the carseat at the first notch above the shoulders. As long as you follow that rule there isn't a huge chance that the child will become injured from a rear-facing caseat if they are a little big for it.

If the carseat doesn't allow you to do this (like for really big kids) then it's probably time to check the carseat specs again and make sure that the child falls within it's quidelines. If your caseat manufacturer recommendations say to flip the carseat around at a certain weight or height and the child meets the recommendation then they suggest that you follow the carseat manufacturer recomentadions.

The only time that a child has to sit rear-facing no matter what is when they are under 12 months old.

I have never heard anything like what you describe in the first paragraph...age has nothing to do with strap placement, and size has everything to do with it.

[MarinaVanessa]

I took another one even though I have no intent or desire to transport any of my daycare kiddos, it was purely because I needed training hours and I was sooo wanting to pick brains about the extended rear facing revolution.

My instructor was adamant that rear facing to two years of age is safest. Adults assume it's going to be incredibly uncomfortable but it really doesn't bother most children at all.

If/when hubby and I have a child we will be doing it.

For more information on how it works and why it's recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
http://extendedrearfacing.org/

Yup it's highly recommended that ALL kids under 24 month remain rear-facing. I kept my son rear-facing just up until recently this month when he turned 2. He didn't like it much sometimes but I kept his seat in the middle row of my van and he could see the row of kids behind him (or in front of him as he was facing the rear) and the DC kids would keep him occupied. His legs reached the back seat but he himself would cross his legs and sit indian style or he'd throw a leg over one side of his seat. He made a fuss a handfull of times but not much. I know other kids that cried bloody murder if you tried to put them in a rear-facing carseat. Glad I'm not their parent.

[Michelle]

NO! For rear-facing the shoulders are SUPPOSED to be above the hole for the straps. For forward-facing, the shoulders are supposed to be below.

Most 14 month olds will fit RF in the car seat for a long, long time still.

yes, this makes sense to me. if there was an accident, and the straps were coming from behind baby in a forward facing seat, I would think that it would break the child's shoulders at the very least.

I have also seen those very sad videos on u-tube where kids were internally decapitated because they were in a forward facing too soon, I guess I can buy bigger car seats and keep them rear facing.

[LaLa1923]

ERF and EH will be a highly debated topic...Just like many others.
My ds is a big boy and is about to be three. I just turned him forward facing. My 6&7 year olds are still in a 5pt harness. I would say keep them rear facing until at least two.

I agree on the previous post on placement of the straps. There are car seat safety check stations in every state. It's worth checking out..

[MarinaVanessa]

I have never heard anything like what you describe in the first paragraph...age has nothing to do with strap placement, and size has everything to do with it.

Sorry, I stated it this way because of the recommendations on age that were taught to us during the class and assuming that people would follow the guidelines (which aren't regulations) about age and forward vs rear-facing. Ooops my bad.

So here I go again ... they recommended that a child under 2 years old should stay in a rear-facing carseat and therefore the straps should be "below the shoulder" and that children over the age of 2 years old can ride in a forward facing carseat and therefore the straps should be "at or above the shoulder. Thanks for pointing that out so that I can clarify and correct that. I apologize if I caused confusion. Strap placement is based on whether the carseat is forward or rear-facing.

And yes they did say that one should always follow the manufacturer directions and recommendations as well as their height and weight requirements. If your child does not yet meet the carseats forward facing requirements then you should deffinetely follow the carseat instructions.

[SilverSabre25]

Sorry, I stated it this way because of the recommendations on age that were taught to us during the class and assuming that people would follow the guidelines (which aren't regulations) about age and forward vs rear-facing. Ooops my bad.

So here I go again ... they recommended that a child under 2 years old should stay in a rear-facing carseat and therefore the straps should be "below the shoulder" and that children over the age of 2 years old can ride in a forward facing carseat and therefore the straps should be "at or above the shoulder. Thanks for pointing that out so that I can clarify and correct that. I apologize if I caused confusion. Strap placement is based on whether the carseat is forward or rear-facing.

And yes they did say that one should always follow the manufacturer directions and recommendations as well as their height and weight requirements. If your child does not yet meet the carseats forward facing requirements then you should deffinetely follow the carseat instructions.

Ahh, okay, that makes so much more sense. Thanks for clarifying, I'm glad we got that cleared up!