‘safety-proofing’

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Safe Holidays For Your Children

Posted on December 13, 2012 in: School Age, Seattle Mama Doc 101, Toddler1 Comment

This is a wonderful time of year. It’s also a really stressful one for many of us. Some quick reminders about ways to stay safe while bringing holiday decor into your home, traveling, while arguing with your brother about gifts, and when potentially having more alcohol around than is typical…

  • FIRE: Be careful of lit candles and check the safety of lights you place on trees or around the outside of your home. Christmas trees are like kindling for house fires. Check out National Fire Protection Agency’s info or watch this video of a tree catching fire.
  • DECOR: Holiday decorations often bring hazards for young children. This include candle holders, Christmas tree ornaments, plants, decorative garlands, and hot liquids. I’ve cared for many children with scald burns from soups and hot liquids. With decorations, anything longer than 12 inches can pose a strangulation risk. Make sure your trees and larger decorations are mounted in a way that your child (of any age) can’t pull them down upon themselves.
  • ALCOHOL: With holiday and New Year’s parties fast approaching, it’s good to have a plan for alcohol–if you’re serving it or drinking it. Many sober alcoholics relapse this time of year and many small drinkers consume alcohol more excessively. We have to be careful with our guests and ourselves — for our children. Clean up after parties, too–don’t want toddlers finding the punch!

This kind of advice feels heavy-handed and self-evident. It’s not as if we wouldn’t have thought of most of this. Read full post »

Laundry Detergent PODS

Posted on May 22, 2012 in: Toddler7 Comments

I bought some laundry detergent PODS this past month–little pre-measured capsules of laundry detergent you can just throw in the wash. They were on sale and seemingly convenient, an easy alternative to measuring out drippy detergent. It didn’t even cross my mind they could be risky. That kind of (typical) oversight is what leads to potential injuries in our homes.

Trouble with these delightfully-colored PODS is that they look like toys and they will dissolve rapidly in liquid or saliva. That combination of good looks and good dissolution sets toddlers up for a potential rapid ingestion. The Washington State Poison Center has sent out an alert to emergency departments around the state detailing potential dangers from PODS ingestions. Toddlers in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Toronto, Canada have developed peculiar difficulties after ingesting PODS that are unusual for detergent ingestions. Some toddlers have required emergent, intensive care — short term intubation (breathing tubes), change in alertness, vomiting, and seizure-like activity after ingestions. Ophthalmologists have reported eye injuries. Because the PODS contain super-concentrated liquid detergent packaged beautifully, toddlers may mistake them for a toy and do what toddlers do best: put it in their mouth. The PODS capsule is engineered to dissolve rapidly in water so will do the same in a child’s mouth. From what we know now, exposures to PODS need to be treated with higher caution than those of typical laundry detergent.

Spread the word about proper storage for these PODS. Keep them up and out of reach. If you’re ever concerned about any ingestion, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222. If you ever forget the phone number, just Google it—the number will always be the first hit when you type in “poison control.”

Portable Pools: Real Responsibility, Real Risk

Posted on June 22, 2011 in: School Age, Teens, Toddler7 Comments

I’ve got 2 boys under the age of 5. While reading a Pediatrics article just now my stomach flipped. It’s because I read:

Children younger than 5 years, especially boys, are at greatest risk from drowning in swimming pools.

The words startled me as pediatrician but as Mama, too. Three thousand children under the age of 5 were treated in the ER each year between 2006-2008 for injuries associated with submersions. Private pools were the riskiest pools of all. Over half of the children who drowned and died (129/209) did so at their own home. Wrong, terrible, traumatic.

94% of the fatal and nonfatal downing injuries in portable, above-ground pools in the US between 2001 and 2009 were in children younger than 5 years. If you have, or entertain, or care for, or ever have the responsibility for a child under age 5 near water, think about safety ahead of time. That pool you buy at Target for $11.99 comes with real responsibility. That pool you buy at Target for $11.99 comes with real risk. Don’t believe because of a portable or above-ground pool’s size, cost, or convenience, it’s any safer than the ginormous pool at the YMCA. The article this week would suggest it may be alarmingly deceptive from a danger stand-point. Those plastic blow up pools just look so benign… Read full post »

RECALL: Baby Monitors, Cords, and Strangulation Risk

Posted on February 11, 2011 in: Infant8 Comments

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a recall on video monitors made by Summer Infant Inc today. Summer Infant makes over 40 models of video monitors. Look at their recall information if you have one, or call their information line Monday through Friday at 1-800-426-8627 for more information about getting a kit to secure the cord properly.

Recalls always make me feel uneasy; the photos accompanying recalls are often terrible to look at and the messages are impregnated with fear. As a mom and doctor, however, I tend to be reminded of things I can do to refresh the layers of safety I have at home for my children. I’m also reminded of the times I messed up. I end most 15, 18, and 24 month-old checks-up talking about our role as parents: to provide a safe and loving home for our children. I mean “home” in the greater sense, but also in the functional one. We need to create a place that allows for exploration. Our infants’ and toddlers’ curiosity is constantly expanding; and most importantly, their judgment lags behind their curiosity.  We have to have a safe place for them to mature. This recall can serve as a great reminder of ensuring your baby, toddler, or preschooler has no cords within 3 feet of their crib, bassinet, or bed. Strangulation can easily be prevented.

After two recent strangulation deaths, and one near strangulation (20 month old was found with cord wrapped around neck), the CPSC announced a voluntary recall of these products. And although most of us don’t have this particular model, most of us have baby monitors. Check your baby monitor (video or not) to make sure the cord is not within 3 feet reach of a crib, changing table, or the floor.

Video and audio baby monitors are designed to work when distant from your baby or child’s crib/bed. You’ll still hear that baby screaming when it’s parked across the room!

The American Academy of Pediatrics says:

Place your baby’s crib away from windows. Cords from window blinds and draperies can strangle your child. Use cordless window coverings, or if this is not possible, tie cords high and out of reach. Do not knot cords together.

As I said, I had MANY lapses in creating a perfectly safe environment for my boys. We moved a number of times during their infant/early toddler years and I remember realizing at one point after a move that I had the baby monitor (we didn’t have a fancy video one) too close to O’s crib. I’d rested it on the top of his crib rail one time after vacuuming. O was about 11 months-old and exploring every corner of the crib at nap time (read: not sleeping). Only when I heard (through the receiver) that O was playing with the monitor did I understand the mistake I’d made! I’d unnecessarily plugged the monitor into the same wall as the crib.  Eeeeps.

I moved the monitor to the other side of the room, about 6 feet away. Of course the monitor still worked fine. And yes, I felt a little stupid but I also wasn’t the only adult caring for my boys in our home. All of us had carelessly been using the monitor in that location. We all can use reminders…

As parents, we change rooms around, particularly with moves and new babies or transitions. Remember that all cords, those from blinds, monitors, and nightlights, need to be at least 3 feet from the crib and up out of reach of the floor. Using cordless blinds can be a great solution, too.

Do you remember a time when you realized you’d lapsed in creating a safe room for your child? Tell me I’m not alone…