Did you know that it’s 5 times safer for a child to be rear facing than forward facing? This is because, during the most severe types of collisions — frontal and side impacts — a rear-facing child is cradled by the shell of their car seat, keeping their head, neck, and spine in alignment. When forward facing, the shoulders, neck, and head are thrown forward due to tremendous crash forces that can cause severe injury and even death. It doesn’t take much force to cause devastating injury to a developing body, and rear-facing allows the car seat to absorb more force away from the child. (Information from safeintheseat.com) Australian car seat safety laws state that a child CAN be forward facing from 6 months of age, which is extremely unsafe (I could go on a huge rant about the ridiculous and outdated car seat laws, but I won’t… today), and MUST be forward facing from 4 years of age or when they outgrow an extended rear facing car seat, whichever comes first. We chose to keep Bowie forward facing until days before he turned 4 years old, but Tigerlily is taller than Bowie was at this age, so we’ve turned her forward facing at 3.5 years old. Both of my kids were always perfectly happy being rear facing, and never asked to be turned around. They’re tall, too, and Tigerlily’s shoulders were just under the maximum extended rear facing marker, as you can see in this video. I highly recommend extended rear facing for as long as possible, for all children, as do many paramedics and other medical professionals who witness car crash injuries regularly. I also highly recommend @Alisha Blackmore for all your car seat safety needs - advice, installation, fit checks, and seat recommendations. She’s installed all our car seats since I was pregnant with Bowie 🙌🏼 #extendedrearfacing #extendedrearfacingtoddler #carseatsafety #britaxgraphene #carseatsafetyaustralia