Safer Child Products

Be cautious when you use hand me down baby products. Be sure that you have the owner’s manual/directions and that you have all the parts.  Check products for recalls at http://www.cpsc.gov/cgi-bin/firm.aspx .

Earlier this month, a co-sleeper that was sold between Sept 1997 and Dec 20001 was recalled due to a risk of suffocation http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml11/11187.html?tab=recalls .  Yes, even after all these years! Cribs are no longer being made with drop sides because children were getting caught between the mattress and the drop-side rail.  Car seats now have expiration dates.  Look for it on a sticker on embossed in the plastic somewhere on the car seat!

Be an educated consumer and put child safety first!

Safer Child Products

April 18, 2011

We don’t need laws to tell us how to keep our children safe, but sometimes it takes safety recommendations being made into law to have it register.  In our busy schedules and stress of our daily lives, it’s possible to forget that you have a baby or young child riding in the back of your car, especially if they are quiet or sleeping. Many children die each year from heat stroke after having been left alone in a car.

We’ve all experienced getting into a hot car or touching a hot seat or steering wheel.  As explained on http://ggweather.com/heat   “These objects heat the adjacent air by conduction and convection and also give off long wave radiation which is very efficient at warming the air trapped inside the vehicle”.  The real concern is that a child’s body heats up 3 to 5 times faster than an adult’s and is very dangerous when their body temperature reaches 104 degrees.  According to safe kids.org, “in just 10 minutes the car’s temperature can rise 19 degrees – and it continues to rise.” Keeping the window cracked open does not make a significant difference in the rising temperature of a car.

Find a way to remind yourself to check the back seat and take the baby out of the car, whether you are a parent, a babysitter, a grandparent, an aunt or a daycare provider.  safety of all our children should be the number 1 priority. perhaps keep your purse or gym bag in the backseat¸ make yourself a checklist of everything you need to do, including dropping your child off at daycare.  Teach your children never to play in the car. If a child goes missing check the car and the trunk first!

For more safety tips and suggestions visit http://www.safekids.org/safety-basics/safety-guide/kids-in-and-around-cars/never-leave-your-child-alone-tips.html

Safer Child Products

It is often exhausting and even frustrating caring for babies and young children.  Especially when you are sleep deprived and when the baby cries for hours on end, you may feel like you are at the end of your rope!  You may be feeling Angry and Frustrated that you can’t make it stop, that you can’t get a break. Check out http://www.purplecrying.info/loc/goingon.php?locpg=32& as a great resource to help parents and caregivers understand the period of nightly crying that many babies go through in the first few months. This will not make baby stop crying, but will help you know there is an end in sight to this ongoing crying.

Many babies have crying periods for hours every night starting around 2 or 3 weeks old and lasting until 3 or 4 months old.  It used to be known as colic, but now experts are calling it The Period of Purple Crying. According to Dr. Ronald Barr, the word PURPLE refers to the “6 characteristics of this crying behavior.” P stands for Peak of Crying. Dr. Barr states that the crying episodes, or length of time increases daily until it reaches its peak, then seems to decrease until one day it stops., U is for Unexpected. Once you have tried feeding and changing the baby and made sure that the baby is not stuck anyplace, nothing harmful is wrapped around the baby’s finger or leg or anywhere else and if the baby has recently been checked out by a health care provider, you will realize that this crying is just unexpected or unexplainable. R is for Resists Soothing.  Does it seem that no matter what you do the baby cannot be soothed? P is for a Pain Like Face, L is for Long Lasting. Dr. Barr states that these episodes can last from about 30 mins, up to a few hours.  E stands for Evening, as these episodes tend to be in the late afternoon or early evening.

Try to be patient with yourself and with the baby.  These long crying episodes do not have anything to do with your parenting or caregiving skills.  Do your best to offer love and comfort to the baby, even when it does not seem to help. Don’t be afraid to put the baby down in a safe place like the crib and step away for just a few minutes to catch your breath.  Call a parent or trustworthy friend and ask them for help.  Talk to your pediatrician or a local crisis hotline for support and resources on managing the stress of parenting, particularly a very fussy baby. Help is available! 

Safer Child Products

April showers may bring May flowers but April is also Child Abuse Prevention Month.  One thing we don’t always think about when we think about Child Abuse is Shaken Baby Syndrome.  Shaken Baby Syndrome results when an infant or young child is violently shaken, which causes swelling, bruising and bleeding in the brain.  Infants have very heavy heads and weak necks and violent shaking makes the brain bounce around inside their skull.  This can lead to permanent brain damage, blindness, or death. According to Medline Plus, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000004.htm Shaken Baby Syndrome can occur after as little as 5 seconds of shaking! Symptoms of injury may not be immediately noticeable.  They may also be symptoms of other problems or illness, so it is very important to seek Medical Attention immediately!  You may notice that the baby has become lethargic, having difficulty breathing, or difficulty feeding, or they may develop seizures. Go to Medline Plus for more information on Symptoms of Shaken Baby Syndrome and what to do if you think your baby is injured. Many cases go unreported but often with immediate treatment, death can be avoided.

As explained in http://www.medicinenet.com/shaken_baby_syndrome/page3.htm Shaken Baby Syndrome is NOT caused from gentle bouncing of baby on the knee and rarely from jogging with baby in a backpack.  Shaken Baby Syndrome is caused by Purposeful, Violent Shaking and that is child abuse. Contact the authorities in your state if you suspect abuse.