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By Livia Gamble
“Did you know that if your child’s car seat was forward-facing and you were to get in an accident, their neck would get hit with the force of 180kg-220kg?
“Whereas if they were to be rearward-facing that force would be 40kg-60kg?”
That’s the message mum Zoe received from doctors after she and her son Jax were in a car accident.
The last thing she remembers was driving to her parents’ house before waking up in an ambulance, and she was told her son had been airlifted to the Royal children’s hospital in Melbourne.
She credits Jax’s rear-facing car seat with saving his life.
Sharing her story with the Tiny Hearts Education Instagram page, which shared it with the introduction, “Please read, this post could save your baby’s life”, Zoe hopes more parents will keep their children rear-facing longer.
“I’m so thankful to have known that information before the absolute worst happened to us,” she wrote. “And I’m hoping that by sharing our story it may convince some people to rearward face for as long as possible,” she said.
A month ago, Zoe performed the pinch test on her son’s car seat, like she always does, before making her way to her parents’ house.
“Though this time we never made it there,” she said. “Instead, the next thing I remember was men putting me in an ambulance and telling me that I had been in an accident.
“Jax was nowhere to be seen, and all they told me was that he was airlifted to the Royal children’s hospital in Melbourne. After having spent the night in the hospital myself, I finally got to go see him.”
Zoe said nothing could have prepared her for seeing her son in hospital connected to so many tubes (pictured above).
“He had a fractured skull, a brain bleed, high pressures in the brain, and a torn ligament in his neck,” she said. “It was an awful lot to process. I had no memory of what happened, and suddenly I could lose my precious boy. It was touch and go for a while, but four surgeries, four weeks in hospital, and many tears later I was thankfully lucky enough to be able to take my boy home without any permanent issues.
“Not a day goes by where I don’t think about what life would be like if we weren’t so lucky. If I hadn’t known to keep him rearward facing, he definitely wouldn’t be here the doctors have told me.”
Now Zoe wants other parents to reconsider turning their young children forward-facing.
“It is safest to keep your child rearward facing until they reach the forward-facing markers on your car seat (this could mean that you can keep your child rearward facing for up to 4 years in Victoria).”
Although the law says babies need to be rear-facing for six months, in Victoria they can stay rear-facing until they are four years old. This is because height is a better indicator than age for turning the car seat around. Parents should only turn their child’s car seat forward-facing once their child has outgrown the height markers, and they can’t sit comfortably rear-facing anymore.
“Infants have relatively large heads and weak necks which put them at particularly high risk of serious injuries,” says the Kids Safe website. “It is best to keep children in a rear-facing restraint until they reach the maximum size. Rear-facing restraints provide the required head and neck support that a child needs.”
The Tell Me Baby community has rated the best baby car seats they’ve tried and shared their opinions on what has, or hasn’t, worked for them.
Take a look at our car seat comparisons to find the best convertible car seats according to other parents. Or read our best baby car seat article for the top-rated products.
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