In a study released earlier today, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) identifies many common nursery products as being the cause or involved in 66,400 injuries to children age 5 and under that required emergency room attention in 2006. Many more minor injuries, such as cuts, scrapes, and bruises, are suspected as well but the report uses only data from emergency rooms for this report. In addition, the report says an average of 81 children died each year from 2002 through 2004, about 40% of which involved infant cribs although the cribs alone did not always cause the deaths. The remainder of deaths were linked to cradles, playpens, and baby bath seats. Deaths caused by Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) are not included in this report.

Records indicate a rather sharp rise in injuries occurring in the year 2006 after the number of similar injuries had dropped for 2005. Not all the injuries were caused by failure of the products in question. Instead, falls are cited as the leading cause of injury associated with nursery products, with 42% of them leading to head injury.

Nevertheless, nursery product recalls were issued in record numbers during 2007 for product-safety issues. Most product recalls and safety concerns involve cribs, play yards, strollers, and baby baths but other nursery equipment has been recalled, too. It is important to note that while product recalls have been issued for many nursery-related products, not all of them have been recovered or repaired. Many of them are still in use and continue to pose a risk to child safety whenever they are used.

Nearly half the crib deaths were due to suffocation from an abundance of soft bedding materials placed in a crib, such as comforters, quilts, and pillows. An additional 25% of them involved cribs with broken or missing components, such as rails, screws, and sides.

Nancy Nord, Acting CPSC Chairman, urges parents to be particularly mindful of two critical issues to ensure the safest environment for their children. One is to avoid placing soft bedding and other items such as stuffed animals, blankets, and pillows in a crib and to refrain from using any crib that has missing or defective parts.

Source: CPSC

• Given this stunning report, how do you make sure that your baby’s surroundings are safe?