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Article Mums warning: This is why you should leave your child rear facing

By Tracy Hardy
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30 Comment

This mum wants everyone to know how important it is to keep your child rear facing in their carseat for as long as possible after a very close call for her family.

Angela Brown was involved in a car accident with her two young girls. She has wrote on Facebook –

“I write this sitting next to my nearly 2 year old (she is two tomorrow) in her hospital bed finally asleep after yet another rough day. And my almost one year old asleep in her pram at Westmead Children’s hospital.

On the 26th February my happy normal world shattered and I woke up to my new nightmare life.

Travelling home from a dentist appointment in the middle of the day in Rural NSW our SUV slammed into a tree head on at 100kms p/hr. The impact caused our car to flip forward over its bonnet and onto its roof. At the same time the large tree snapped and landed on top of the car trapping us in it.

When I came to we were upside down in our car Miss 1 and Miss 2 were screaming. We turned to see miss 2 had quite a large laceration on her forehead. She was forward facing at the time of the crash. The aircon control vent above had flown off and hit her in the head. Miss 1 was rearward facing with no visible injuries.

Me and Miss 2 were picked up by Careflight from the crash sight and flown to Westmead. Where our nightmare just got worse. They had discovered she had broken her c2 c3 and tore all her ligaments in her c1. She was one of the youngest to be fitted with a Halo Brace the doctor told us that most children with her injury don’t normally make it.

Miss 1 and her dad went via ambulance to another hospital. Miss 1 had no injuries just a small bruise on her shoulder.

So as you can see two children in the same car crash restrained properly one with life threatening injuries and the other with non.

I was always unsure about when turning my babies around but after our crash and the hard evidence we are presented with I will forever rearward face my babies as long as I possibly can. Don’t make the same mistake as I did. It could cost you your babies life.

So far we have been treating her injury for 3mths with no idea of when she will be fully recovered.”

Her post has been shared over 5000 times.

Kidsafe recommends –  Infants are safest if they remain in their rear facing restraint as long as they still fit in their rear facing restraint. While the law allows children over 6 months to use either a rear facing restraint or a forward facing restraint, the rear facing restraint offers better protection as long as the child fits in it.

We hope her little girl makes a speedy recovery.

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Comments

  • What a wonderful Mum to want to put it out there and warn others and hopefully protect other children.
    Hoping your littleone heals quicker then you think.

    Reply

  • What a terrible accident. Luckily everybody is still alive!!
    Poor little girl. I hope she will soon be able to go back home.

    Reply

  • It is a challenge when they start wanting to sit like their big siblings – it’s important to resist, though.

    Reply

  • Hope she has a speedy recovery, poor little thing, but, I don’t think anyone puts a 2 year old, rear facing in the car :/ Just a horrible accident

    • I do. My 2 year old is happily still rear facing. 🙂

      • Achild would not fit sitting backwards up to the age of 2 if tall with long legs. Knees would be wedged against the rear passenger’s car seat. How old is a child before it is safe to use sunglasses? Window covers only filter sunlight. It still shines through.

    Reply

  • Wishing her a fast recovery.

    Reply

  • I doubt a two year old would still fit comfortably in a rear-facing car seat. There are many instances where some people in a car crash survive and others don’t and it can be either where you are sitting or sometimes even luck. I would question the mother’s driving, rather than the car seat, for her daughter’s injuries. How do you end up slamming into a tree at 100 kms/p/h when there is no mention of another car being involved, or bad weather conditions?

    • A 2 year old can still fit comfortably and safely in a rear facing seat. As long as they are below the markers. There are many seats on the market now that allow this and rear facing can be extended to 3 or 4 years old.
      My daughter is still happily rear facing at 2 years old 🙂

    Reply
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