Posts Tagged ‘safety at home’
The Food and Drug Administration is setting higher standards for their food labeling and have recently sent warning letters to seventeen food manufacturers, including Nestle who produces Gerber Baby Food. The violations were for unauthorized claims about health, nutrient contents and terms such as “healthy.”
Similar letters were sent by the F&D to several other companies that produce baby food, such as Beech-nut, First Juice, Inc., Want Want Foods and PBM Products.
Obesity and diet-related diseases in the United States make it crucial that reliable information be contained on the food labels were reasons cited for the crack-down.
Child safety and nutrition is the reason most of us read the labels to the food items our children will be eating and it is vital to us that the information is accurate.
Carbon monoxide (CO) comes silently into your home and the only way to detect it is with an alarm installed for just that purpose. If your alarm should go off, go outside immediately and call 911 to have your home checked by professionals. The alarm should be installed close to the sleeping area of your home and you should learn the sound that the alarm will make when it detects carbon monoxide.
Deadly carbon monoxide is produced by malfunctioning of the equipment; such as, fuel-burning heating equipment, furnaces, wood stoves, fireplaces, kerosene heaters, gas-burning water heaters, gas-burning kitchen stoves.
You should always operate your family barbeque outdoors. Be sure that the family car that is parked in the garage is turned off immediately upon entering the garage and make sure you do not run the car engine for any reason while it is parked in the garage as the CO can travel through your house from the garage.
And, again, remember to install that life saving carbon monoxide detector to ensure the home safety of your baby, yourself, and all of your family from this deadly gas.
The ranch style home with everything on one floor is becoming rare as the need for building space is becoming difficult for many cities. The result is stairways in most of our homes which brings safety concerns for all of us.
Toddlers may try to reach the banister when they are walking up or down the stairs, but it causes an unsafe posture for stairways. There is a unique secondary railing system that enables a banister at a safe height for the toddler to assist them down or up the stairway. This will provide the necessary baby safety at home.
With all of the two and three story homes built today, it is advisable to have fire safety ladders in your home to aid firemen. It also adds peace of mind to know that there is a way to get out of the home in case the fire has blocked all exits and the window seems the only means of escape from the flames.
When I look out of my bedroom window and try to imagine jumping without the aid of a ladder, it is pretty scary. I feel sure that I would jump to escape the flames, but I know I would be injured. The thought of the escape ladder in my room gives me a feeling of safety. I hope I never need to use it, but just having it is a relief.
Children should be fully informed on the existence of the ladders and how to use them. This is one item that we hope will never be used, but it will help ensure the child’s safety if it should ever come to that.
Manufacturers of Baby Products should place safety of the product above asthetic appeal and price. Always look for the seal of approval of the Juvenile Products Manufacturers’ Associaiton (JPMA) when shopping for children’s products.
Their seal of certification is a symbol to depend on that the juvenile products having gone through an extra set of rigorous testing and met high performance standards. The JPMA has recently selected a more modern and updated look for their seal, so look for a change in the appearance of the certtification.
It is better to NEVER place the baby’s crib near mounted decorative accessories, long cords, near windows, draperies or blinds. These items will shortly be in the child’s crib as they explore their surroundings.
It is also good to make sure that there are no improperly installed screws, brackets or other hardware on the crib or mattress support. We should also make sure that there are no missing, loose or broken parts on the crib. We should check the crib from time to time to make sure that everything is still intact as it should be.
The sides of the crib should always be up when the baby is in the crib. They grow up much faster than we think they will.
Be sure to lower the mattress as your child gets older and starts standing in the crib. Between the child’s jumping up and down on the mattress or trying to climb out, we should make it more difficult for accidents to happen.
In order to meet current Federal and ASTM standards, the infant should ALWAYS sleep in the crib.
Only one-inch (about two fingers width) should be between the edge of the mattress and the edge of the crib. The crib mattress should fig snugly into the crib. The baby could get trapped between the side of the crib and the mattress with a mattress too small for the crib.
Pillow thick bumper pads should not be used. If you must use bumper pads, they should be the thin type.
The JPMA Certification Seal should ensure the safety standards of the crib.
We are becoming accustomed to reading labels on the foods we buy because we want to know what we are eating and drinking. We should also read the labels of our cleaning products, pesticides, medicines where they clearly display the words, “Keep Out of the Reach of Children.”
We use cabinet door locks, drawer locks to provide for child safety at home, but we should still put these hazardous materials out of reach in a locked cabinet. Most of these substances will be found in the kitchen, bathroom and garage.
It is also important to leave the hazardous materials in their original containers as they have important instructions for what to do if accidentally ingested. If left is a cup, they may be mistaken for food or drink.
It is so exciting to see the baby roll over for the first time. It is a great achievement both for the baby and the family and the beginning of new concerns about the baby’s safety. This movement comes gradually, so that we almost don’t notice the difference, but it becomes necessary to start putting tiny objects a little higher, place gates to limit the movement of the baby so you can keep track of him and still get something else done.
The older children must be educated about what they must do for the safety of the baby. We put covers on the wall electrical outlets, tie down furniture that could tip over, cover sharp edges of the furniture. Put the glasses of liquid a little further from the edge of the table so the baby cannot reach.
Some babies are great climbers. Some can climb up the drawers in the kitchen cupboards. It is best to fix the drawers and cabinet doors with fasteners so they cannot be opened by the baby. The outside door of the house can be fixed so the baby cannot turn the handle to go outside without your knowledge.
There are a myriad of safety devices to keep the baby safe. If you have something that especially worries you, with a little searching, you will probably find the solution.