HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — Hannah Marie's daughter Lydia sits in an upright car seat now that she's 4 years old, but it wasn't too long ago when she was using a rear-facing seat.
"I'm out of the little baby stage, but I was there, and I did it," Marie said.
All three of Marie's children sat in a rear-facing car seat until they were about a year-and-a-half old, but some states require children to be in one until they're 2 years old.
"I think a year-and-a-half is good. I think 2 years is a little extreme, me personally, that's just what I believe," she said.
10 states require children to use rear-facing car seats up until 2 years by law, so we verified with the Houston County Health Department about what the law is for children here in Georgia.
"The state of Georgia, according to the law, a child must be rear facing. 12 months and under, a child must be rear facing," Child Passenger Safety Technician Christian Jordan with the Houston County Health Department said.
She recommends following what the car seat's instructions say about weight and height.
"That manual is going to be your best friend. Whenever they get to that maximum height and weight requirement for rear-facing, that is the time that we recommend that you turn the child forward-facing and not a minute before," Jordan said.
The Governor's Office of Highway safety says all children under 8 must be properly buckled in a car or booster seat in the backseat of the car.
Marie's pediatrician helped make the decision for her kids to transition into forward-facing car seats, but she suggests keeping them rear-facing as long as possible.
"It doesn't matter how much the babies are making a fuss, I mean, definitely just keep them rear-facing as long as you can, that is the most safe thing for the baby," Marie said.
Jordan says state inspections report three out of every four car seats are installed wrong and are often violating the law.