[MMA News Now, March 25, 2011] The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), along with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has changed its recommendations about placing children in car seats.

The two organizations now recommend that all toddlers be placed in rear-facing car seats until the age of 2, or until they reach the maximum height and weight for their seat. This is a change from past recommendations, which directed caregivers to turn the car seat to face forward when a child reaches the age of 1 year. In addition, the AAP advises that children ride in booster seats until they are between the ages of 8 and 12 years or have grown to 4 feet 9 inches tall. To read the AAP’s full news release, including links to other car seat safety information, click here.

In 2009, the MMA helped expand Minnesota’s child restraint law so that all children between the ages of 4 and 8 riding in a vehicle are required to be in a booster seat. To view this and other information related to driver safety on the MMA’s website, click here.