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Building Baby Safety From the Ground Up
Find more information here.WASHINGTON, D.C. – A warm bath, lullaby and bedtime stories are staples in your child's nighttime routine. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) urges parents and caregivers to add a safe sleep environment to the daily routine of placing baby to sleep.CPSC staff is aware of 97 crib related deaths from 2002 through 2004.
A CPSC staff analysis (pdf) of reports of deaths related to cribs found that about half of the deaths were in cribs containing pillows, quilts and other bedding. About half of these were due to suffocation when infants ended up face down on pillows or face down in a crib with pillows, quilts and other bedding.
Thirty-percent of crib deaths were attributed to entrapment between components of old cribs that were in bad condition, with broken or missing parts or loose hardware, and entrapment in spaces generated between the sides of a crib and an ill fitted mattress. The remainder of the deaths were associated with accessories situated in/around the crib (such as window cords or curtain tie backs), falls out of cribs, alterations made to cribs, or entrapment when the child became wedged between the crib and other furniture or a wall.
As CPSC works to remove defective products from the marketplace, parents and caregivers are being asked to take action as well.
The CPSC is urging parents:
- To reduce the risk of SIDS and suffocation, place baby to sleep on his or her back in a crib that meets current safety standards
- To prevent suffocation never use a pillow as a mattress for baby to sleep on or to prop baby's head or neck
- Infants can strangle to death if their bodies pass through gaps generated between loose components, broken slats and other parts of the crib and their head and neck become entrapped in the space.
- Do not use old, broken or modified cribs
- Regularly tighten hardware to keep sides firm
- Infants can suffocate in spaces generated between the sides of the crib and an ill fitted mattress; never allow a gap larger than two fingers at any point between the sides of the crib and the mattress
- Never place a crib near a window with blind or curtain cords; infants can strangle on curtain or blind cords.
- Properly set up play yards according to manufacturers' directions. Only use the mattress provided with the play yard. Do not add extra mattresses, pillows or cushions to the play yard, which can cause a suffocation hazard for infants.
- Routinely check nursery products against CPSC recall lists and remove recalled products from your home
- Sign-up for automatic e-mail recall notifications at www.cpsc.gov
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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of the thousands of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $900 billion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products — such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters and household chemicals — contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.
To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, go online to: www.safeproducts.gov, call CPSC's Hotline at (800) 638-2772 or teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270 for the hearing impaired. Consumers can obtain this news release and product safety information at www.cpsc.gov. To join a free e-mail subscription list, please go to www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx.