The marketplace is a minefield for new parents, writes Eric Harrison in Family. Buying the wrong product can put newborns and small children at risk.
“Just because it’s out there doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s safe,” says Lessa Payne, infant mortality prevention coordinator for Arkansas Children’s Hospital’s Injury Prevention Center.
Parents need to be aware of which products are safe — and which aren’t — for their youngsters. That includes keeping up with which products have been recalled because of demonstrated or potential safety hazards and defects.
Some hazards are omnipresent, like the disc-shape batteries that power a lot of electronic gadgets. “They won’t be recalled because they’re in everything,” Payne says. “But they’re not just a choking hazard, they’re poisonous.”
But dangers lurk in places where babies ought to be safe, including cribs and car seats, which still show up in massive manufacturer recalls every month.
See Wednesday’s Family section of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more.