Mummylicious Diary: Baby and child safety

Received in my email today from BabyCenter, "Baby products recall roundup: The latest child safety recall". I feel i should share it because nothing matter most that the health and safety of our babies. If we can afford to buy them countless of toys and products, we can afford to do a bit of research before purchasing and using them.

I know some products are not relevant in Malaysian market but today parents we get our baby products from world over. We shopped through internet shops, we shop on ebay, we shop on any baby shop in the world that would deliver to us.

Then we shop through our friends that travels overseas to buy items for us, we travel overseas ourselves to get items for baby, we go through gazillion local blogs that bring in these hard to get items from overseas. So yes, it is relevant to know the current news about the items you are buying or have bought to Malaysian parents.

Especially if you are buying items secondhand.

Some brands you may or not be familiar with but do remember, most baby items have the same brand, the "Made In China" brand. Whatever you find in China, can be found everywhere in the world, sold illegally or using a new name. Please be cautious, get them checked.

Fimiliar brands that recalled their product 2010.

Slingriders and Wendy Bellissimo baby slings "Babies younger than four months old can suffocate in the slings. The CPSC is aware of three reports of deaths that occurred in these slings in 2009; a 7-week-old infant in Philadelphia, Pa.; a 6-day-old infant in Salem, Ore.; and a 3-month-old infant in Cincinnati, Ohio. The “SlingRider” is a soft fabric baby carrier with a padded shoulder strap that is worn by parents and caregivers to carry a baby weighing up to 20 lbs. The name “Infantino” is printed on the plastic slider located on the strap,The “Wendy Bellissimo” sling carriers were sold exclusively at Babies “R” Us. They have a sewn-in label on the inside of the sling strap that includes the words "Wendy Bellissimo Media, Inc."" (link here)

Image from BabyCenter

Evenflo safety gate "The slats on the gate can break or detach, posing a fall hazard to children. Evenflo has received 142 reports of slats breaking and/or detaching from the gate. Eleven children have been injured: four with head injuries, seven with minor injuries such as scratches, scrapes, and bruises." (link here)

Graco strollers "Graco has received seven reports of children placing their fingers in the canopy hinge mechanism while the canopy was being opened or closed, resulting in five fingertip amputations and two fingertip lacerations. This recall involves Graco Passage, Alano, and Spree strollers and travel systems." (link here)

Stroller recalls due to fingertips amputations are quite common. Even Maclarens is not excluded as i remember a news article from late last year. (November 2009 Baby Center's archieve. Link here)

Graco highchairs "Graco has received 464 reports of screws loosening or falling out and plastic brackets cracking, causing the highchair to tip over unexpectedly. These tip-overs resulted in 24 reports of injuries, including bumps and bruises to the head, a hairline fracture to the arm, and cuts, bumps, bruises, and scratches to the body." (link here)

Maxi-Cosi carseats "The car seat may not attach to or detach from its base properly due to warping of the base or a bad fit between the base mounting bracket and the car seat. If the seat is improperly mounted on the base, a child riding in it could be injured in a crash." (link here)

Discovery Kid's lamps "A defect in the lamps' printed circuit board can cause an electrical short, posing a fire and burn hazard. The company has received nine reports of dangerous incidents, including seven reports of lamps catching fire, one report of smoke inhalation injury to a child, and three reports of minor property damage." (link here)

Dorel Asia baby cribs "A 6-month old from Cedar Rapids, Iowa died after being entrapped and strangled in a crib after the drop-side hardware broke. The crib continued to be used after the parents tried to repair the drop-side themselves." (link here)

Generation 2 Worldwide and Childesign baby cribs "CPSC has received reports of three infants suffocating to death after being trapped between their crib's detached drop side and mattress. In each of these incidents, there were problems with the crib's plastic hardware. In September 2002, a 6-month-old baby in Virginia suffocated after the drop side detached from his crib's headboard. His crib's lower drop-side track was missing two screws. In October 2003, an 8-month-old baby in Indiana suffocated after the plastic hardware on his crib's drop side broke, allowing the drop side to detach from the headboard in one corner. In July 2007, an 8-month-old baby in Ohio suffocated after the drop side detached due to a broken plastic stop tab on his crib's lower track. " (link here)

U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) 2009's products recall round-up included Playskool and Evenflo Playard that collapses causing asphyxiation to children. I included the link to the roundup below.

Big Rex and Friends cloth book "A red plastic dot sewn in the book contains high levels of lead. Lead is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause serious health effects. No injuries have been reported." (link here)

The above list is current, there are more from 2009 and so forth. I think i shall start using BabyCenter and CPSC's recall finder from now on.

I know nothing about Malaysian's toy and children's products safety commissions. As usual, there are regulations that were only (supposedly) implemented by January 30, 2010. But how about a watchgroup that actually validate and monitors the toys and products that are already in the market? Let me know if there is one, I like to know. because i doubt any other Malaysian parents would know.

Useful links:

BabyCenter "The latest child safety recall"
US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
US Consumer Product Safety Comission (CPSC) "Resale Roundup 2009, Top 10 Recalled Children's Products"
Malaysian Association of Standard Users "Product safety concern"