Toddlers and Furniture Tip-Over Risk

The combination of toddlers and furniture such as dressers and bookshelves that are not properly secured can make for a particularly concerning and potentially dangerous combination. That’s why I was more than happy to share some parenting and “toddler brain” insights with Consumer Reports’ Rachel Rabkin Peachman about this very important safety topic.

Nov 5, 2018 by Rachel Rabkin Peachman

After her 2-year-old son, Shane, died from a furniture tip-over in 2011, Lisa Siefert started attending health fairs and other events to hand out furniture wall anchor kits – delicate-looking hardware packaged like picture hooks that are meant to secure furniture to walls.

She was tormented by the idea that families with small children didn’t know about this hidden tip-over danger in their homes. So spreading the word became her life’s work. Now, six years after……(read more)

Car Seat Directions: Don’t Rush Switching Your Child to a Forward-Facing Car Seat

Originally posted on my US News & World Report parenting blog (March 19)

IN THE WORLD OF parenting, we’re conditioned to treat anticipated transitions as cause for celebration – like when a child reaches a new developmental milestone or advances to the next grade. And we’re led to believe that sooner is usually better (think potty training). But this way of thinking has its limits and it’s particularly problematic when it comes to car seats, where the safest approach is to take time with each transition.

Whether you’re moving a child from a rear-facing seat to one that’s forward-facing or a child is “graduating” from a five-point harness to a booster seat and ultimately to vehicle seat belt use – it’s best to make these changes as late as possible. The same holds true, by the way, for moving older children from the back seat to the front – which, in case you’re wondering, isn’t generally recommended before age 13.

With respect to transitioning from rear-facing to forward-facing, the consensus of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Safe Kids Worldwide and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is that children are safest when kept rear-facing as long as possible within the height and weight limits of their rear-facing car seat, which typically translates to age 2 if not older. As with most aspects of parenting, however, actually committing to keep toddlers rear-facing longer and following through is easier said than done.

I was recently reminded of the additional practical challenges involved when a senator in my home state of Nebraska introduced new and improved car seat legislation requiring appropriate child safety seat use up until the age of 8 (instead of 6), rear-facing until the age of 2, and keeping children under the age of 13 in the back seat. In the spirit of helping this important bill become law, I made my way to the state capitol a couple of weeks ago armed with nearly two decades worth of professional insights and information about the life-saving benefits of the proposed changes.

Read more…..

Kids & Cars Seats, Why Safety Shouldn’t Take a Back Seat When You Fasten in Your Kids

Originally posted on my US News & World Report parenting blog (Sept 22)

THIS WEEK HAPPENS TO BE Child Passenger Safety Week – a week specifically dedicated to ensuring that parents, as well as anyone else who transports children, use the correct car seat and properly buckle kids in each and every time children ride in motor vehicles.

As a pediatrician with 15 years of experience being a child passenger safety technician and instructor, I am most definitely a fan of this week-long focus. That’s because the stakes are high when it comes to buckling kids in properly. Motor vehicle-related injuries continue to be a leading cause of death for children in the U.S.; and buckling up is the best way to save lives and reduce injuries. Child safety seats, when used correctly, can reduce the risk of death by as much as 71 percent, according to SafeKids.org.

Yet, despite all we know about the importance of passenger safety, nearly three-fourths of cars seats are still not being used or installed correctly.

Adding to this problem is a second challenge that’s by no means exclusive to car seats, but which stands to seriously thwart our collective efforts to keep our children safe in them. I’m talking about the culture of “mommy-shaming.”

Consider the photo that just a few months ago managed to capture the attention of the parenting world. The photo I’m referring to wasn’t just any picture shared by any mom. It was a snapshot of the then 18-month-old son of pop culture royalty Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. It also just so happened to be a shot of a not-yet-2-year-old strapped into a car seat that was facing forward, rather than rear-facing seat as generally recommended for a child of this age.

The parenting and media response was fast and furious. While the virtual dust has settled, I still feel the need to weigh in on a couple lingering aspects of this cause celebre.

Read more….

Holiday Toy Safety Tips for Families

With December now upon us, it’s hard not to have all things holidays and winter top of mind. I’ve therefore decided to dedicate this month’s weekly blogs to what I consider to some of the most relevant parenting-meets-safety topics of the season. I hadn’t yet decided whether to first write about holiday travel tips, the selection of safe toys for tots, or addressing cold weather & frostbite concerns. But after a long weekend spent bombarded by Black Friday sales ads on television, literally three inches of ad inserts stuffed in Sunday’s paper, and a ridiculous number of CyberMonday emails filling my inbox, I am more convinced than ever that sharing a few important toy safety reminders with you now – during the peak of toy buying season – will go the longest way towards insuring that you and your family have a fun-filled and safe holiday season!

Before we get to the actual toy tips, however, I feel the need to acknowledge the fact that sharing toy-related injury information during this otherwise joyous time of year always makes me feel a bit like the grinch. Unlike the grinch, however (who was clearly in the business of indiscriminately taking away children’s toys), I hope to help you keep unsafe toys out of your children’s hands. To do that, it’s important to acknowledge that there are unsafe toys out there – some inherently unsafe, and others simply unsafe when they fall into the wrong hands.

According to Safe Kids, there were an estimated 181,900 toy-related injuries in 2009 alone – nearly half of which were in children under the age of 5. In order to avoid becoming part of next year’s statistics, I suggest using the following toy safety tips, derived from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Safe Kids, and the American Academy of Pediatrics to guide you in the purchase of safe toys for the holiday season and throughout the year.

  • Pay attention to age-restrictions. When the box clearly states that a toy is “For ages 3 and up,” pay heed! I understand that it can be tempting to assume your two-year old is smart enough to handle anything a three-year old can. But when it comes to on-the-box age limits, the recommendation has nothing to do with smarts and everything to do with safety. Simply put, the small parts inside have been determined to pose a very real choking hazard to those under the age of three.
  • Keep older siblings’ toys away from younger children. I am well aware that even getting one’s children to share or put away their toys can be a parenting challenge, but for safety’s sake it is especially important to make sure that young children don’t get their hands on the small parts or other safety risks that are meant to be played with exclusively by their older siblings.
  • Be aware of top toy hazards. Your child’s wish list isn’t the only one where certain toys rise to the top. The top 5 toy hazards identified by the CPSC include:
    • Scooters and other riding toys. It may not make me particularly popular with your children when I tell you that riding toys cause more injuries than any other group of toys. Nor are they likely to want to hear that anything on wheels should always be accompanied by helmets and appropriate safety gear. But popularity is not what I’m after when I tell you that riding toys go fast, and falls can be deadly.
    • Small balls and other toys with small parts. Remember the advice to
    • While inflated balloons certainly add life to any party, it’s the broken or un-inflated balloons that can cause choking or suffocation and consequently put a child’s life in jeopardy. While the CPSC warns about the risks for children under the age of 8, this sage cautionary advice should be applied to all.
    • Small magnets like those found in building, science and other play sets seem to have become quite popular, but have the unfortunate ability to wreak serious havoc on the intestinal tract if swallowed. They really should be avoided altogether for children under 6, and used with caution by older children.
    • Chargers and adapters. These toy accessories can pose a serious burn risk to children. If you’re going to purchase toys that require them, be sure you also require adult supervision.
  • Read instructions carefully…and then follow them.
  • Get rid of any plastic wrappings on toys as soon as your children open them so that they don’t become dangerous play things.
  • Keep current on toy safety and other holiday safety tips, as well as any recall information from the CPSC, SafeKids, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Originally posted on Omaha World Herald’s Live Well Nebraska

Giving Thanks: Things the Whole Family Can be Thankful For

I bought my turkey this past weekend. Not only did I buy it, but I even took a moment to think about how thankful I am for it. Sure I’m thankful because I love turkey, but also simply because I am fortunate enough to be able to afford a turkey. As a parent, I know full well that taking a simple weekend task like grocery shopping and turning it into a shared reflection on what our family has to be thankful for is likely to lead to some eye-rolling from my tween- and teenage children.

But the fact of the matter is that there’s no better time than the present (i.e. Thanksgiving week) to take a few moments – whether waiting in line at the grocery store or gathered with family and friends around the Thanksgiving table – and reflect on those things in your life for which you’re truly thankful. While trips to Disneyland, ipods, and the latest greatest toddler toys will understandably spring to mind first, I suggest you challenge your children, and yourself, to dig deeper. As a pediatrician and parent, I figured I’d get you started by sharing some of my own, all-too often taken for granted things to be thankful for.

Breathing through your nose. Spoken like a true pediatrician, right? But years of tending to snotty nose colds (my own, my children’s, and others’) has taught me that it’s hard to take time to stop and smell the roses if you can’t breath through your nose. You may think I’m kidding, but I’m not. Just think how many times your child’s (or your own) stuffy nose cold has kept you up at night and caused you misery. Instead of being frustrated by the annual average 6-10 colds that kids catch each year and the fact that we still don’t have a cure for the common cold, I suggest that we all remember to be grateful for each day that we wake up healthy.

Shots. I figure while we’re on the subject of waking up healthy, I’d take this opportunity to give my thanks to modern medicine and all of the medical pioneers that have given us vaccines. No, I’m not a huge fan of needles, and neither are my children. But I have such a healthy respect for the dreadful diseases we are now able to prevent by simply making sure that our children’s (and our own) immunizations are up-to-date that I count each and every shot a blessing, needles and all.

Car Seats. As someone who had 3 kids in just over 3 years – the youngest of whom only just outgrew the need for a car seat at age 10 – I am certainly aware of the parental challenges inherent in the purchasing, installing, and juggling of car seats, especially during holiday travel season. Yet despite having spent every day of the past 10 years overseeing the use of numerous seats of my own, I’m exceedingly grateful for the fact that car seats even exist, much less that they are so incredibly effective in protecting kids from harm. With nothing more important than my children’s health and safety, car seats (and all those who contribute to making sure that children are secured safely) deserve my thanks.

Cell Phones. Yes, I do have tween- and teenage children of my own. And yes, I do face the daily parental challenge posed by a world now dominated by texting tots and teens and threatened by everything from cyberbullying to sexting. But having just returned from a mobile health summit in Washington DC, I am now very, very grateful for cell phones. World thought leaders the likes of Bill Gates, Director of the National Institutes of Health Francis Collins, and the president of the Rockefeller Foundation joined over 2500 attendees from around the world who all share the belief that cell phone technology is the tool by which we will be able to reach the world’s poorest and provide them with access to better health.

Here in the United States, innovative programs like text4baby are making use of the ubiquitous nature of cell phones to put valuable health information and access to local resources right at the fingertips of pregnant women and new moms.

While I will absolutely not be thankful for any cell phones that make their way to my family’s Thanksgiving table, I will nevertheless be grateful that they exist, not just to make my life easier, but improve the health and well-being of those less fortunate than me.

Originally posted on Omaha World Herald’s Live Well Nebraska

Life-Saving Safe Sleep Tips for All Parents & Caregivers

Of all the topics I routinely discuss with parents, sleep has to rank right at the top of the list. This shouldn’t come as a big surprise, given that a good night’s sleep (or the lack thereof) can have a significant effect on just about everything else we do. When it comes to children’s overall health and well-being, it’s hard to sleep through all of the studies that reinforce that teenagers need more sleep (9 hours a night as compared to 8 for adults) in order to perform well at school, and that plenty of nighttime sleep (on the order of at least 10 hours a night) appears to be as important for keeping obesity at bay in young children as diet and exercise.

What I want to discuss today, however, isn’t just children’s need for an adequate amount of sleep, but the importance of safe sleep. While there are certainly aspects of safe sleep that apply to older children (bunk beds spring to mind), safe sleep has held a particularly prominent place in the national parenting consciousness every since the 1990s when the identified link between belly sleeping and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) led the American Academy of Pediatrics to recommend back sleeping in 1992. This was followed in 1995 with the official launch of the Back To Sleep Campaign.

While over a decade of subsequent parent education efforts have resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of back-sleeping babies (from 25% in 1992 to 85% in 2008), recent years have brought no additional increase in back sleeping. In fact, we may have started to backslide when it comes to insuring babies’ safety while sleeping. In the course of little over a single devastating month back in Feb/March of 2008, six babies died in Douglas County alone – all classified as SIDS attributed to bed sharing and suffocation.

While any increase in infant deaths is concerning, to say the least, the good news is that we know a great deal about what we need to do to keep babies safe while sleeping and reduce their risk of SIDS. The much larger task at hand is simply to make sure that all new and expectant parents and infant caregivers know the most effective ways to create safe sleep environments for babies.

This is the challenge being addressed in a new National Safe Sleep Education Campaign by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, the American Academy of Pediatrics and Keeping Babies Safe. Their latest recommendations for providing a safe sleep for all babies include:

  • Place infants to sleep on their backs
  • Use a firm, tight-fitting mattress
  • Never use extra padding, blankets or pillows under baby
  • Remove pillows or thick comforters
  • Do not use positioning devices – they are not necessary and can be deadly
  • Regularly check cribs for loose, missing or broken parts or slats
  • Do not try to fix a broken crib
  • Place cribs or playpens away from windows and window covering cords to avoid fall and strangulation hazards
  • Place baby monitor cords away from cribs or playpens to avoid strangulation

These life-saving safe sleep tips can also be found in the campaign’s newly released 7 minute video, narrated by renowned journalist Joan Lunden and available for viewing or download on the AAP’s HealthyChildren.org and on the Keeping Babies Safe website. Additional information about safe sleep can also be found on in the newly revised 2nd Edition of my book, Heading Home With Your Newborn (AAP, Sept 2010), and on the Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services Website.

Originally posted on Omaha World Herald’s Live Well Nebraska