This is the first post I've put up but feel it's important!

So I just passed the 2 year anniversary of a major car accident I was in. I am a nanny and the LO I take care of had just turned 3 at the time and was in the vehicle also. Now I have always been a stickler about car seat safety, having a child of my own (she is 6 now 4 at the time of the accident but was not in the vehicle). So naturally the LO I watch was still in a 5pt harness convertible car seat even though most may transition to a high back booster at this time, I felt like if she still fits and had room to grow why risk it. Let's just say that was the best decision. So I was driving and a pick up truck decided it wanted to be in my lane right where I was. Mind you I wasn't in his blind spot, in fact he could have just looked out his window and waved to me as we were side by side. No matter he was coming anyway. So I swerve to miss being hit by him. (It is the natural reaction that most of the population has.) Well needless to say I was unable to keep control as I was on the interstate doing 65 in a small SUV (Ford Escape). We wound up rolling 6x. We didn't hit any other vehicles thank goodness. We came to a stop right side up, another blessing. I was naturally scared to death and my first instinct was to make sure LO was ok because she wasn't screaming or crying or anything. I looked back and she was sitting in her seat just fine. Within seconds people were there. I was in not so good shape (the car rolled on my left hand and my right foot was ripped to shreds from the petals). I never lost consciousness and was able to make several phone calls before the ambulance even got there. I was then transported to the nearest trauma center while LO went to the nearest children's hospital. Talk about worry. I just kept asking about the child and a few hours later was told she is fine was checked out and released and she was in the waiting room with her family and mine waiting on news about me. She literally walked away with just some dirt in her hair, while I was unable to walk for roughly 2 months.

Now on to my rant about car seat safety as I feel it saved her from so much harm. Please be sure your child is properly buckled in a seat that fits that child. If your child is under a year old *and* 20lbs please keep them rear facing. This is the law in most states and it is now recommended to rear face even longer from 2-4. No your toddlers legs are not uncomfortable as they aren't as developed as older children and adults. (I know this to be true cause my daughter had been extremely pigeon toed from the time she could walk and the pediatrician told me nothing could be done before the age of 6 cause her legs weren't fully developed yet. It corrected itself for the most part over time). So what is uncomfortable to us is not so much to them. Rear facing is best due to child development at the *age* not size of the child. Meaning just cause your baby is 24 lbs at 9 months old doesn't mean he is big enough to turn. There is no such thing add whip lash in a baby. What is a sore neck to us could be major spinal damage to a child as young as 18 mo even. There are so many excuses parents give about why they decide to make the choice to turn a child around that is to young or to place them in a seat that is technically to old for them. None of the excuses are good enough when it comes to your child's safety. "My child cries when rear facing so we turned him when he was 10 mo." The possibility of you crying because you child is unable to walk after a horrible accident is so much worse then listening to them cry on a car ride. Note: most babies don't know the difference between rear and forward facing because they've never experienced it yet. So the crying is not because they're rear facing.

When in doubt about car seat instalation you can check with your local fire station, police station, or even children's hospital. If you want to read more about car seat safety I recommend thecarseatlady.com.

I know this was a long post but I thought if it could help one mommy then that's worth it! Thanks for reading.