Doctors suggest UK should follow Sweden’s approach.
New research by UK doctors suggests that rear-facing car seats up until the age of 4 years could help keep your child even safer than they are now.In the UK, us parents tend to use a rear-facing car seat until our baby weighs about 9kg – that’s somewhere around the 6-8 month mark. From then on, we usually opt for forward-facing car seats.A study published in the British Medical Journal has cited the case for looking at what the Swedes do. In Sweden, rear-facing car seats are commonly used until a child is 4 years old, and studies from there seem to indicate that a rear-facing car seat offers even more protection if an accident happens than a forward-facing car seat. Another study, using data from the USA, also showed the benefits a rear-facing car seat could provide. Duncan Vernon, from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, backed the doctors’ findings, but noted it doesn’t mean forward-facing car seats are dodgy. “The evidence shows that it is safer for children to travel rearward-facing for as long as possible, although that does not mean forward-facing seats are dangerous.”Rear-facing car seat for children aged up to 24 months aren’t such a common sight on the UK market, but they do exist. One of the first to hit our shores is the Brio Zento, which we’ve reviewed. Take a look and see what you think of the idea. Duncan Vernon said rear-facing seats should be more available in shops, so an expert can provide advice on fitting it, and that parents needn’t be so eager to switch their baby to a forward-facing car seat as soon as they hit the minimum weight.Would you give a rear-facing car seat a go if you had the choice ? Let us know below…
