I'm not sure how it's the holiday season again, because it seems like it just ended yesterday.  I am particularly distressed about how Christmas continues to invade  November - this year, here in Charlottesville, the town lit its Christmas tree before Thanksgiving.  Despite all we are hearing about the economy, the retail chaos has started.  Money is tight for a lot of people, and this naturally leads people to purchase less expensive toys for their kids.  Unfortunately, it is usually the cheaper toys that are poorly designed and poorly made.  Parents should be vigilant in inspecting all toys bought for or given to their children. 

 

But it's important that parents know what to look for.  In that vein, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (USPIRG) has recently released their 24^th annual report on toy safety entitled "Trouble in Toyland" which draws attention to toys which might present a danger to children.  USPIRG's report divides "dangerous" toys into 16 different categories, including toys that are too noisy and may endanger children's hearing, toys with small or detachable parts that could be accidentally swallowed, and toys that may contain potentially toxic chemicals (lead and phthalates), to name only a few.   

 

And a really cool feature - they also has an interactive smart phone website: http://www.toysafety.mobi to aid shoppers in avoiding already-known toy hazards and to report potential dangers.  So, if you have a question about a toy while your shopping, you can access this site and get an immediate answer.

 

 A recent CNN "American Morning" show examined several toys which were identified in the USPIRG report as containing potential hazards to children, such as the "Real Wood Shape Sorter Barn" made by P&C, which had a toy part on the side of the barn that could be a choking hazard to a child.  Also, Kota and Pals Stompers Triceratops made by Playskool was identified as a toy potentially too noisy for children's ears.  Hasbro, the parent company of Playskool, indicated, however, that this particular "toy complies with all sound requirements" answering USPIRG's concern. A toy identified as potentially toxic to children is "The Elmo Lunch Bag" made by Fast Forward, New York.

Check out toy safety tips after the jump.

In the broken record category, we had another major crib recall last week.  A company called Stork Craft Manufacturing, Inc. has recalled 2.1 million cribs.  The cribs were manufactured beginning in 1993, and have been sold by retailers such as Wal-Mart, BabiesRUs, K-Mart and Sears (among others).  Some of these cribs have the Fischer Price brand on them, and come in many different styles and finishes. For more information, go to the CPSC page on the recall, or go to the Stork Craft site via the link above.
 
This is not one of those recalls where a potential safety problem was discovered, and the recall occurred before anyone was hurt.  Here, four infants died, including a six month old in West Virginia.  These deaths are absolutely senseless.  First, it appears that this company has had hundreds of complaints about these cribs - why did it take so long for this recall to occur?  Second, why is it so hard to design a safe crib?  The hardware used to assemble these cribs is cheaply made, and therefore breaks easily.  This permits the drop side component of the crib to become loose, and enables a child to become entrapped between the drop-side and the mattress.  Once that happens, a baby can suffocate.  There are numerous crib designs that address this potential hazard, and in my opinion this company decided to cut corners to increase the profitability of the cribs.

As an aside, I have raised four babies, and each had a crib with a drop-side.  I don't think I ever actually used this feature, and my wife has only done so a couple of times.  If I were purchasing a crib now, I would consider buying one without a drop-side - it introduces a movable part into the crib, and as a result there is an increased opportunity for malfunction.

Couldn't resist the pun in the title.  So we're talking again about child safety seats.  Why? Because they're really important.  There are few things that a parent or caregiver can do to keep a child safe that are more effective than placing that child in a properly installed child safety seat.  For earlier posts about child seats and how they work, you can go here and here. 

A lot of progress has been made in reducing deaths and injuries to children by publicizing the correct use of child safety seats, booster seats and safety belts.  But we can do more.  We appreciate the time and attention the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and others advocating for child passenger safety have devoted to this important cause, but more work needs to be done to protect children who ride in cars in safety seats.

 

The NHTSA says 3 out of 4 car seats are not properly used or installed and that 3 out of every 4 children in child safety seats are not properly secured, or are not restrained at all. 

 

As a parent, do you know how to use the Safety Seat correctly?  Some parents are not sure how to install their child's safety seat properly. It's important for parents to know that not every seat fits every car.  Also, some parents don't know their vehicle (if manufactured after September 2002) is required to be equipped with the Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) system. 

 

NHTSA says, "LATCH makes it easier to get the child seat in right."  And NHTSA has several video demonstrations on their website (with instructions in both English and Spanish) which you can view!  Go here to view.

 

We know as a parent or caregiver, you want to protect your children the best way possible, and using the LATCH system is one way to help.

 

Another way is to learn which kind of seat is best and safest to use for your children: NHTSA says, "for infants (from birth to at least 1 year old or at least 20 pounds), the best possible protection is to place them in the back seat, in rear-facing child safety seats."

When children outgrow rear-facing seats (when they are older than one year old and weigh more than 20 pounds), they should ride in forward-facing child safety seats, still in the back seat, until they reach an upper weight or height limit of the particular seat (usually around age 4 and 40 pounds).

 

Always check the child safety seat instruction manual of the brand of child safety seat you have. Every safety seat manufacturer provides specific instructions to the proper installation and use of their brand of child safety seat.

 

Finally, if as a parent or caregiver you are still not sure whether your child safety seat is properly installed, you can take your vehicle to a Child Safety Seat Inspection Station.  If you need help locating a child safety seat inspection station near you, you can call the NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236 (Vehicle Safety Hotline) or you can jump to this link.  Enter your zip code or state, and a list of child safety seat inspection stations in your area or state will be displayed.  Some stations have bilingual speakers and some stations inspect by appointment only.  You may want to call ahead!

 

With grateful thanks to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

To write NHTSA and obtain more information on Child Safety Seats, please contact them at:

NHTSA Headquarters
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
West Building
Washington, DC 20590

Today's topic is preventing scald and burn injuries in children.  Most accidents occur in the home, and scalds and burns to children almost always occur in the kitchen or bathroom of the home.  For the most part, these are preventable injuries.  Burns, especially scalds from hot water and, cooking liquids, are some of the most commonly occurring accidents to children.  Babies and young children are most vulnerable because they're small and have sensitive skin that requires greater protection than adult skin.

While minor burns ("first-degree" burns) can often be safely treated at home, more serious burns (second- and third-degree burns) require immediate medical care. Most parents are aware that the causes of burns range from scalds, to contact with flames or hot objects, chemical burns (from chemical spills of home cleaning items like bleach, drain cleaner, dishwasher detergent, etc.), to electrical burns from hot appliances or frayed electrical cords, to burned skin from over-exposure to sun.  Medical professionals caution parents that all burns need to be treated as soon as possible to lower the temperature of the burned area and minimize damage to the skin and underlying tissues (in the case of severe burns).

Being Safe in the Kitchen

Finding Out About Fireworks Safety

How to Be Safe When You're in the Sun

Dealing With Burns

Fireworks Safety

Loma Linda Children's Hospital in Loma Linda, California, advises parents that toddlers are at greatest risk of scalds and burns as they begin to walk, climb, and reach, while children under age 5 are at greatest risk when fire strikes, as they may panic and hide in closets or under beds. Some children are needlessly burned because they think clothes protect them from flames. In children ages 3 to 8, curiosity about matches and lighters is normal. But, sadly, more than one-third of the burns to these children are the result of playing with matches.

Go to the jump for tips on how to prevent these dangerous and painful injuries.

 

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween.  For safety tips while trick or treating, please see my post from last year.

Cold and flu season is upon us.  When we're unlucky enough to come down with something, it's almost second nature to reach a multi-symptom cold medicine.  New findings show that, when it comes to children, parents should think twice before giving such medications to their children.

Last year, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) announced that eading manufacturers of pediatric cough and cold medicines are adding a warning to their products' labels, "Don't use over-the-counter pediatric cough and cold medicines in children younger than 4."  FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Janet Woodcock, MD, says FDA supports the label "change" and drug manufacturers are doing this voluntarily.

 

 The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly recommends that over-the-counter cough and cold medications not be given to infants and children younger than 2 years because of the risk of life-threatening side effects. Also, several studies show that cold and cough products don't work in children younger than 6 years and can have potentially serious side effects.

 

The New York Times recently reported results of a new Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study on unintentional medication overdoses in children which "indicates 8 percent of emergency room visits and 14 percent of hospitalizations were caused by parents accidentally overdosing their children."

 

The study, which looks at causes for emergency room visits, estimates that 70,000 children under 18 years of age visit emergency rooms annually suffering from unintentional medication overdoses causing adverse drug events. More importantly, 75 percent of the overdoses occurred in children under age 5.

 

CDC's web page on child medication safety further indicates that the number one cause of emergency room visits due to adverse drug events in young children under the age of 5 is the unsupervised consumption of medicines.  CDC also notes, according to WebMD, that 7,000 children under 11 go to emergency rooms each year after taking cough and cold medicines. Roughly two-thirds of those adverse drug events occurred after children consumed medication while unsupervised.

There's nothing I find more senseless than children being seriously injured or dying as a result of a well known, and easily fixable, hazard.  Last year, I wrote about the strangulation danger posed by a common household item -- window blinds and shades.  Since then, three more kids have died, and there is another recall.  The recall covers 4.2 million roll-up blinds with plastic slats made by Lewis Hyman Inc.; 600,000 Woolrich Roman shades; blinds and shades made by Vertical Land Inc. of Panama City Beach, Fla.; Roman shades by Pottery Barn Kids/Williams-Sonoma Inc.; 245,000 Lutron Shading Solutions fabric roller shades; 163,000 Roman shades by Victoria Classics; and IKEA is recalling 120,000 MELINA Roman Blinds.  The LA Times has a good article about the problem and the recall.

This is so infuriating.  This problem has been recognized for decades, yet shades and blinds are still being produced with this dangerous problem.  A group called Parents for Window Blind Safety has an informative website that focuses on correcting the danger.  It also brings the tragedy home as it shows the many children who have died as a result of these products.

The best solution for parents is to purchase cordless blinds.  Go here for available types, or ask for them at your local home improvement center.  If you have purchased these blinds, go to the CPSC to find out what to do.  At the very least, parents should cut cord loops of existing blinds in half, never leave your children unattended in a room with these blinds, and NEVER put a crib or play yard in the vicinity of a blind. 

Durel Juvenile Group and the CPSC is announcing a recall of approximately 31,000  Safety 1st stair gates.  Apparently, the hinges can break and give way, which creates a fall hazard if the gate is placed at the top of the stairs.  Here's what the gates look like:



This gate has a motion sensor which lights up when someone approaches.  The model number for the gate is 42111, and the number is printed on a sticker under the handle panel.  This gate was manufactured between January 2005 and  July 2009, and was sold in many big box stores, including Toys R Us, WalMart, and other retailers.  Shockingly, the gate was made in China.

Consumers should stop using the gate immediately and contact Dorel Juvenile Group (the importer) at (866) 690-2540 or to their website.  While there, check out the company's numerous other recalls, including the 100,000 of these gates that have previously been recalled.  

We know child seats are important, but do we know why?  How do they work to keep our children safer in a car accident, and why is it so vitally important that they be installed correctly?

It helps to first examine how seat belts work.  There's an old saying in injury analysis -- "it's not how fast you're going, but how fast you stop,"  meaning injuries occur not because you are traveling fast, but because you stop incredibly quickly (like under a tenth of a second).  To give an obvious example of this, a passenger jet lands at something like 150 mph, and everyone is fine because it comes to a stop over a relatively long period of time.  If that same jet crashes into the ground at the same speed, everyone dies instantly. The difference is the time period over which the plane stops.

So let's apply this to seat belts and child safety seats.  Let's say John runs his car into a wall at 50 mph, and is stupid enough to not be wearing a seat belt.  John's car stops in the blink of an eye, but poor John keeps moving at 50 mph . . . until he hits the windshield with his head (for all of you smart alecks out there - his car didn't have an airbag).  John has bought himself a ticket to the morgue, because his skull couldn't withstand those forces.

One of the best ways to protect your young child is to CORRECTLY put them in an appropriate child safety seat.  I emphasize correctly because the statistics show that only 72% of child restraints are properly used.  Here are the most common ways that restraints are improperly used:

• Inappropriate age and weight for child restraints
• Wrong direction for the child restraint
• Child restraint improperly placed relative to vehicle's airbags
• Improperly placed or secured child restraints (vehicle's belt or straps not tight enough)
• Crotch strap or harness strap of child restraint secure or tight enough
• Use of a locking clip for certain safety belts
• Improper vehicle belt fit across child in a booster seat
• Child restraints with broken parts.

It's amazing to me that these misuse statistics are so high when we know that proper use of child restraints is one of the most effective ways to protect children against serious injury.  Personally, I personally believe this is a combined failure of government regulation/education and a failure to focus on or address the problem by our vehicle manufacturers.

So, this month will be dedicated to the proper use of child safety restraints.  If there are any particular issues you want me to address, please let me know.