America's leading pediatricians' group says that a year old is too soon to switch toddlers from rearfacing to forward-facing car seats.
The advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics is based primarily on a 2007 University of Virginia study finding that children under two are 75 per cent less likely to suffer severe or fatal injuries in a crash if they are rear facing.
"A baby's head is relatively large in proportion to the rest of his body, and the bones of his neck are structurally immature," said the statement's lead author, Dr. Dennis R. Durbin of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
"If he's rear-facing, his entire body is better supported by the shell of the car seat."
