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| Child Car Seat courtesy of Volvo Cars |
A recent study has highlighted the fact that too many parents in the UK are being hasty in switching their child from rear-facing to forward-facing car seats.
Doctors claim that there is overwhelming evidence to suggest that rear-facing seats are much safer for children up to age four.
Common practice in Britain is to change to a front-facing seat when the child weighs 9kg (20lb) - This is normally about eight to nine months old.
Different studies in Sweden have shown that child fatalities where the infant was in a forward-facing booster seat could potentially have been avoided if they had been travelling in rear-facing seats.Child Neck and Chest InjuryCrash tests carried out recently have also highlighted that rear-facing seats resulted in significantly lower neck and chest injury incidence compared with forward-facing seats.
One of the doctors involved was quoted as saying "Rear facing car seats cradle a child in an impact with any frontal component, and align the head, neck and spine, spreading the crash forces over all of these body areas.
"In a forward facing car seat, a child's body is held back by the straps, while the head keeps moving forwards, and the relatively large head mass and differences in the cervical spine in young children can lead to excessive stretching of the spinal cord."
She added that many parents may be unaware that it is much safer to leave their child in rear-facing seats for as long as possible - or that rear-facing seats for toddlers do exist.
She also said that healthcare professionals should advise that rear-facing seats are safer than forward-facing seats for children under four years.
She criticised the existing weight related labelling of European child car seats, which might imply that forward-facing seats are just as safe as rear-facing seats for children over 9kg.
Mr Duncan Vernon of RoSPA said parents should not be tempted to switch to a forward-facing seat as soon as their child reached the minimum weight.
Some Suitable rear-facing child car seats can be found here | 
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