Archive for November, 2009
With the entrance of the baby wipe, I feel that the we can keep baby cleaner easier than ever before. The baby wipe, along with disposable diapers, has made the baby much more comfortable and the parents happier.
The wipe does have a cold touch to the skin when it is applied. Also, I find if I do not use them fast enough they dry out.
The product called “wipe warmer” does keep the temperature warmer and has a a moisture regulator that keeps the wipes moist. With all of the wipes we use, I find this product very useful.
It seems after reading several articles on co-sleeping, I found that the writers are in disagreement with me and state that babies should only sleep in a bassinet or crib. It is okay to place the seperate sleeping arrangement near the parents bed. They are advocating against children sleeping in the parents bed under any circumstances and feel that baby safety is at risk.
The babies deaths from co-sleeping tend to increase during the winter months when there are more covers. Babies do not necessarily waken when they are having breathing difficulty. The recommendation is the child sleep in the crib with a tight fitting bottom sheet with thin bumper pads, if any.
In the first months when parent and baby are spending sleepless nights it is comforting to have the baby near when you sleep. There are secure sleepers that allow you to feed, sooth, monitor and bond with your baby throughout the night. With the baby in the secure sleeper, you can be assured the baby is snug, secure and comfortable next to you in your bed.
The secure sleepers also can make a smoother transition from your bed to the crib when you place the sleeper in the crib. The safety of the baby during this time is assured when the baby has his own space, even though he is sleeping right next to you.
Maclaren’s has issued a recall on every umbrella stroller it has sold over the past decade. The strollers passed federal safety inspections, but the stroller are being recalled because of Maclaren’s commitment to safety. This involves well over a million strollers.
The Consumer Products Safety Commission will look into further standards or recalls as needed for stroller hinges. Other stroller manufacturers have based their hinge design on the Maclaren design and have had safety reports, but have not had amputations that are attributed to the Maclaren design.
Regardless of the recall of strollers, or the safety of the hinges, it warns us to keep the children away when the equipment is being set up. We must keep our children under watch at all times. Surely in the past twenty years many children have not been hurt by these strollers.
When a child is being introduced to a dog for the first time, it is safer for the child to put out its fist to the dog to smell, rather than fingers. This way the dog will not be afraid of the flapping fingers and the child is protected from having his fingers bit if the dog reacts in that way.
Dogs do not see children as authority figures and seem inclined to see them as equals. The child shouting commands at the dog will not have the same response as an adult issuing commands. If both children and dogs are taught to be loving and kind to one another, it will produce a great relationship and child safety will be maintained.
One of the first steps in development of your baby is when he/she learns to crawl. This adds worries to your life about a multitude of accidents that could happen. One of the basic accidents is when a child looks at a large wall and only sees the wall electrical plug. There is only one place to go. I am presently seeing the baby poking something into the hole.
For baby home safety one of the most important tools we can have is the inexpensive wall plug. When something is unplugged from the wall plug, this fixture automatically plugs the hole, thereby making it impossible for the baby to poke things into the hole.
A dog in most instances is a child’s protector, companion and best friend. The potential is there for a very sweet relationship. A child under five years old should not be left alone with the dog. There is too much of a chance for the child to challenge or injure the dog which could cause disastrous repercussions from the animal.
A dog should never be tied outside where neighborhood children can get to him, upset him or scare him and he reacts in a threatening way. A dog should have a yard to run loose in, but we should make sure that the neighborhood children cannot get into the yard and become exposed to him. It is very important that we teach the dog and the child to respect each other. We should always put the child’s safety first when we have pets.
Nearly one-third of children under five years of age could be saved if governments would rebalance health spending to provide simple intervention in basic child safety measures. Budgeting more funds to educate and bring to the forefront these projects can save lives. The most common of these are the following:
- safe water and hygiene
- bed nets
- basic maternal and newborn care
A new report reveals that if we put priority on the top child killers of pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria, by scaling up simple preventive health measures for mothers and children, we would make rapid progress in saving lives.
For more information about this study, see World Vision (2009, November 16). Prioritizing low-cost, simple health measures would save 2.5 million child lives a year. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 16, 2009 from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/09lll6085045.htm.
In reading the news today I found an article by ABC News researching cruise lines and their facilities for babies. You should make sure that the cruise you choose has age appropriate programs and child care services for your baby. Some cruise lines have age limitations for children which ranges from 3 months for Disney cruises to 12 years old on the Viking River Cruises.
It is recommended that the parents carry a pager, because some of the cruise lines do have baby sitting facilities and programs for children, but do not change diapers. Disney cruise line has extensive activities for children of all ages including one of the best programs for infant care.
A few days ago we published an article about shopping cart germs and bacteria. At the time the shopping cart wash was mentioned, but we did not provide a photo or much explanation.
When the shopping carts are gathered after the customer uses them, they are run through the Pure Cart which sprays a mist which completely covers all parts of the cart. The mist kills all of the bacteria and germs the cart has collected. When you use a cart that has been cleaned in this manner, you are completely avoiding all of the contamination that the cart had previously collected.
This form of cart cleaning is better than wipes because it can clean the whole cart, not just the part wiped. This will greatly contribute to baby safety. If your store does not have this service, the baby cart cover is still a good idea.