Large Baby Sleep Products Recall Prompts Concerns from Parents
Last week, we discussed the Summer Infant baby monitor recall and offered some solutions for creating a safer sleeping area, such as placing the corded monitor farther from the crib or going with a wireless model. Since this time, however, the number of recalled baby sleeping-related products has doubled. 1.7 million Summer Infant monitors have been taken off shelves, and 500,000 bassinets by Burlington Bassinet Co. and 800,000 car seats by manufacturer Dorel were recalled since then.
Burlington bassinets, primarily sold at Wal-Mart, are a hazard if the support rails at the bottom are not fully locked in place. The bassinet, if not assembled properly, can fall and injure the child inside. Refunds will not be issued, but a hardware kit will be available to correct the problem. Dorel car seats, which go under brand names like Safety 1st, Cosco, Quinny, Maxi-Cosi, Disney, and Eddie Bauer, have a faulty button.
Because of this recent surge in baby product recalls – in addition to the CPSC investigation of crib bumpers — parents are beginning to feel uncertain about purchasing baby products or accepting hand-me-downs. Generally, as the WBALTV.com piece explains, baby products, particularly baby furniture, become a hazard if the hardware is defective (i.e.: breaks easily) or is not correctly assembled. If you are concerned about a product being recalled, find the model number, which is located on the product, and run it through the CPSC website.
What about if you currently own a recalled baby product, such as the many parents stuck with drop-side cribs? Reactions vary, according to this piece from Associated Press. Parents are worried about purchasing baby cribs and other gear secondhand, but others, already using a drop-side crib for a child, decide to purchase new models or, because it has been sturdy, keep the drop side design.
Summer Infant Baby Monitors Recalled
Last week, we discussed creating a safe sleeping area for your child and mentioned recent studies about hazards from crib bumpers and baby monitors, as well as the recent drop side crib ban. Relevant to this story is the recent recall of Summer Infant baby monitors for two strangulation deaths. One point in creating a sleep area for your baby is keeping the monitor cord away from the bed. Summer Infant monitors did not include this information, and products are now being modified with instructions specifying to keep the monitor three feet or more from the crib.
40 different models of digital, video, and handheld monitors are being recalled. Unrelated to monitor cord hazards, Slim and Secure Video Monitors by Summer Infant are also being recalled for rupturing batteries.
If you currently use any Summer Infant baby monitors with a cord, keep it at least three feet away from the crib or in any location that your child cannot reach.
This recall reinforces suggestions from last week for creating a safe sleep area for your baby. Even though drop side cribs are being phased out over the next year, other objects near or inside a crib can still be a hazard. Baby monitor cords are one, and crib bumpers also need to be used carefully. Added to cushion the baby from the hard walls of the crib, bumpers can become a suffocation hazard.
Aside from the monitor, make sure your child’s sleep area is free of pillows and toys that could become suffocation hazards and use sleep positioners, advertised to prevent SIDS, with caution.
What are other options for baby monitors? A safety device for parents, baby monitors are not always designed with a cord, and wireless models are available. As such a device can potentially fall into a crib, consider its placement near your child’s sleep area.
Sleep Safety for Your Child
Ever since the ban on drop side cribs, safety standards for children’s sleep areas are being reconsidered and examined. Although drop side cribs are being phased out by retailers and daycare centers, this type of baby furniture is not the only hazard for a young child.
The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) decided to revisit a study done by Dr. Bradley Thatch from 1995 to 2008 regarding crib bumpers. Although the CPSC dismissed the study a few years ago, the results of 27 suffocation deaths are now being reconsidered and examined closer.
Even though examining crib bumpers is in early stages, the drop side crib ban resulted in the CPSC making a list of suggestions through the “Safe Sleep” campaign that started after the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act of 2008. No drop side cribs, as explained in the New York Times piece, is mandatory, and sleep positioners and baby monitor cords should be used with discretion. New regulations for bassinets and toddler beds are being developed currently.
Although positioners, pillows, and bumpers are questionable inside a crib, where and how a baby is placed for sleeping are additional safety considerations. An article from The Times Herald from Norristown, Penn., recommends that a new baby not share the same bed with parents and that a baby not be put to sleep on a soft surface such as a pillow or waterbed. When a small child is with one or more parents in a bed, an adult-sized person can roll over and smother the baby or small child. Even though cribs are the most common sleeping place for babies, the “family bed” or sleep-sharing theory recommends babies sleep with parents, and families too poor to afford a crib may place the child in the same bed with adults. Although sleep-sharing theories claim this is not physically or emotionally harmful for a child, a small child or baby is put at risk when an adult-sized person sleeps in the same bed.
Suggestions for Baby-Proofing Your Home
Outlets, table edges, and toilet seats all seem mundane to you. After all, how much of a hazard can they be? For a baby, however, these three things, as well as furniture and stairs, can all cause minor to serious injuries. Baby-proofing your home must be done before your child is six months old. Before you know it, your child will be crawling and wanting to touch everything – or put it in his mouth.
Elizabeth Weiss McGolerick, a writer for Germantown Patch, offers some suggestions for baby-proofing your home:
• Add safety gates to the tops and bottoms of all stairs in your home. Gates that need to be hard mounted are ideal, as pressure gates have a greater chance of coming loose.
• Keep furniture and televisions down
• Use window guards
• Go with cordless blinds
• Use slide plate covers instead of plugs over outlets – they’re less of a choking hazard.
• Keep all cabinets and drawers locked.
• Use toilet guards
• Pad all table corners
• Make sure small objects are always out of reach.
Retailers, such as Designer Baby, have several safety items for child-proofing your home, from monitors to full safety kits. Going with sturdy and reliable safety products is recommended, as they will be used through the preschool years with your child.
McGolerick addresses main hazards for children, but all homes are different. She suggests examining your home from the perspective of a child for all potential hazards. What would you want, as a baby, to put in your mouth or touch? Are there areas a child could climb and become injured? Where are all of the sharp corners? Child-proofing even the smallest objects, holes, and surfaces prevents many injuries from happening and keeps your child safe from falls, electrocution, choking, and suffocation.