*Thank you Graco for sponsoring this post. Regardless all thoughts and opinions are my own and I only recommend brands and products I truly love.
Car safety is no joke. You’ll hear many different things on it – from the “well our parents didn’t do all this stuff and we turned out fine” camp to those people who share every horror story on Facebook. Here’s the good news: today we have a lot more research data and products that we know save lives. And while social media can be overwhelming it’s a great way to get the word out to parents about the dangers of not implementing modern car seat safety knowledge and help teach parents why car seat safety is important.
Recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) updated their child passenger safety policy statement and technical report to remove the specific age milestone for rear-facing children. Previously, the policy stated that kids needed to remain rear-facing until reaching the age of 2 or until they reached height and weight limits for the seat. Under the new guidelines the AAP recommends rear-facing as long as possible until reaching the maximum height and weight restrictions set by the car seat manufacturer. And that can be quite a while! Graco’s line of Extend2Fit car seats provide extra leg room allowing children to rear face until up to 50 pounds!
I actually had turned Tripp to be forward facing and then after learning this information found a seat that we could put him back to rear-facing in. I have the Graco Extend2Fit Convertible Car Seat and we all love it! The 5″ extension panel means Tripp can be rear-facing safely and comfortably and follow the new AAP guidelines. Then once Tripp does reach 50 pounds I can simply install the seat forward facing as a 5 point harness seat! He is totally comfortable back there, has 2 cup holders, and can easily climb in and out of the seat so it’s a total win in our book!
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