Safety Baby Airway
Baby Slings And Your Baby's Safety
Author: Nail Yener
Positional asphyxia or suffocation tends to happen to babies when their chin is tightly pressed against their chest. This position restricts airflow which can then cause suffocation. This often happens when the baby is put on a sling that is why parents or anyone who uses baby slings should take the necessary precaution when using baby slings. Before you head out the door, you have to check that your baby’s airway is clear and that there is no obstruction. Observe your baby’s regular breathing, even when he or she is sleeping in your sling.
Here are other safety measures that you need to take before you put your baby in a sling:
Baby slings are often made of sturdy materials to support the weight of your baby. But you should never be too complacent. You have to constantly check your baby sling for any sign of wear or damage before you put your baby in it. If you see any tear or damage and you get dubious as to whether you are still going to use it, don’t. Never put your child’s safety at risk.
Before you get started in wearing your baby sling, read the enclosed manual or instructions. If your carrier comes with an instructional video, watch it before trying out the sling. Whenever possible, you can ask the sales clerk to demonstrate how to properly wear the baby sling so that you’ll not be left clueless on how you should wear it.
If you will board a moving vehicle, remove your baby from your sling. These contraptions are not approved as safety seats and therefore should not be worn as alternate to baby carriers used for vehicles.
When you are around or near any mechanical equipment, take extra caution. The tail of your baby sling could get caught on the machine.
When you are wearing your sling, do not get too near open flames. The fabric that is often used in baby slings is not flame resistant as they are often made from materials that are comfortable for babies. This also goes to say that you should never wear baby slings when you are cooking or when you are holding hot beverage in your hand.
Never engage yourself in very rigorous activity when you are wearing your baby sling. You should not run, bike, jog or hike when you are wearing your baby in a sling. If you plan to bring your baby during these activities, try to use strollers or backpack baby carriers instead. Your baby will be safer that way.
Frequently Asked Questions
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QUESTION:
important info re: infantino brand slings!!!?
(CBS) The popularity of baby slings has been on the rise over the past four years.But, reports “Early Show” Consumer Correspondent Susan Koeppen, the Consumer Product Safety Commission says two slings are considered so dangerous they’re being pulled from the market, and parents are being told to stop using them.
Earlier this month, “The Early Show” broke the news that federal regulators were warning of possible suffocation hazards posed by baby slings — which parents put around their necks and carry their babies in.
Now, the CPSC has announced the voluntary recall of one million slings made by Infantino.
The Sling Rider and the Wendy Bellissimo are being pulled because they pose a suffocation risk, Koeppen says.
Asked by Koeppen how quickly a child could suffocate in “one these slings,” CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum responded, “In a matter of minutes.”
Tenenbaum says three children died in Infantino slings last year alone.
“You might have your baby in a sling next to you and not notice that the baby has gone into (a) position (in which he or she) cannot breathe” until it’s too late, Tenenbaum added.
That, notes Koeppen, is exactly what happened to seven-day-old Derrik Fowler during a shopping trip with his mother, Lisa Cochran.
She’d been carrying her newborn in a sling made by Infantino. “By the time I got to the car and pulled him out of the sling to put him in his car seat, he was no longer of normal color,” Cochran recalls.
Infants younger than four months are at greatest risk in slings, Koeppen points out, because their weak neck muscles mean they have no head control. An infant can curl into a “C”-shape, with the chin falling into the chest — restricting the baby’s airway.
There are no federal or voluntary safety standards for infant slings.
In a statement, Infantino says, “Safety is our No. 1 concern,” adding it “has also been working closely with the CPSC and other agencies … to develop safety standards for baby slings.”
But, observes Koeppen, that’s of little consolation to mothers such as Cochran, who says, “As a first-time mom, I had no clue I could walk into a store and pick something off the shelf that wasn’t safe.”
Consumers are being advised to stop using the recalled Infantino baby slings immediately and contact the company for a free replacement product.
To get it, take the tags off your recalled sling and send the tags to Infantiono, Koeppen says, adding, “There are three different products that you could get in return. You have a choice. There is a shopping cart carrier. There is a different type of baby carrier. There’s also an activity gym that you can receive for free.”
As for baby slings not included in the recall, Koeppen repeated parent sholdn’t use them if their infant is less than four months old.
The CPSC, Koeppen says, is also looking at all baby slings, investigating them — the ones that are on the market currently — and will be working toward mandatory federal safety standards.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/24/earlyshow/living/ConsumerWatch/main6328292.shtml
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ANSWER:
What I find amazing is the fact that they were saying this 2 years ago and it took this long for the companies to get in trouble with it and have to recall them. When I looked into infant carriers for my daughter in 2008 they had this information out THEN.There are so many other warnings that people ignore right now. Don’t use a car seat on a shopping cart. Don’t use a car seat as anything BUT a car seat (don’t use it on strollers, don’t use it as a feeding chair, a rocker…) and don’t let the baby sleep in it. Lay newborn – 4 month olds flat in their stroller (and make sure the stroller can lay flat.)
Meanwhile I’m just waiting for someone to look at my baby Ergo carrier and say “You know, they say those are dangerous” because they’ll think sling = any baby carrying device.
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QUESTION:
Should the government legislate the size and shape of a hot dog?
Yes this is a serious question believe it or not.******************************************************************
Pediatricians call for a choke-proof hot dogNutritionists have long warned of the perils of hot dogs: fat, sodium and preservatives to name a few.
Now, the American Academy of Pediatrics wants foods like hot dogs to come with a warning label — not because of their nutritional risks but because they pose a choking hazard to babies and children.
Better yet, the academy would like to see foods such as hot dogs “redesigned” so their size, shape and texture make them less likely to lodge in a youngster’s throat. More than 10,000 children under 14 go to the emergency room each year after choking on food, and up to 77 die, says the new policy statement, published online today in Pediatrics. About 17% of food-related asphyxiations are caused by hot dogs.
“If you were to take the best engineers in the world and try to design the perfect plug for a child’s airway, it would be a hot dog,” says statement author Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. “I’m a pediatric emergency doctor, and to try to get them out once they’re wedged in, it’s almost impossible.”
The Consumer Product Safety Commission requires labels on toys with small parts alerting people not to give them to kids under 3. Yet there are no required warnings on food, though more than half of non-fatal choking episodes involve food, Smith says.
“No parents can watch all of their kids 100% of the time,” Smith says. “The best way to protect kids is to design these risks out of existence.”
Though Smith says he doesn’t know exactly how someone would redesign a hot dog, he’s certain that some savvy inventor will find a way.
Janet Riley, president of the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council, supports the academy’s call to better educate parents and caregivers about choking prevention. “Ensuring the safety of the foods we service to children is critically important for us,” Riley says.
But Riley questions whether warning labels are needed. She notes that more than half of hot dogs sold in stores already have choking-prevention tips on their packages, advising parents to cut them into small pieces. “As a mother who has fed toddlers cylindrical foods like grapes, bananas, hot dogs and carrots, I ‘redesigned’ them in my kitchen by cutting them with a paring knife until my children were old enough to manage on their own,” Riley says.
The Food and Drug Administration, which has authority to recall products it considers “unfit for food,” plans to review the new statement, spokeswoman Rita Chappelle says.
Given the health risks of obesity, pediatrician Alan Greene, author of Feeding Baby Green, says, “The last thing we need is to redesign candy and junk food with cool shapes, so we can give them to kids even younger.”
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-02-22-1Achoke22_ST_N.htm
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ANSWER:
No if parents taught their kids to chew, and when they are real little cut them up everything would be okay. Government is treading on the sacred food with this, stay away from Apple Pie and hot dogs as they already got Chevy
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