Leading Causes of Infant Injury

mommy said

Imagine this: Every 90 seconds, an injured infant enters a US emergency room. That’s according to a CDC estimate. That’s one too many child entering ER even for non-fatal injuries.

The leading causes of infant injuries are:

  • Falls (170,000 annual injuries)
  • Being struck or crushed by an object (other than a vehicle or a machine), a person, or an animal (more than 44,000 annual injuries)
  • Fire or burn injuries (more than 17,000 annual injuries)

- source: WebMD.com

Sometimes we think we have childproofed our homes enough but I guess we have to rethink and do more to prevent or at least minimize major accidents, such as those that require a trip to the emergency room, from happening.

May
5

You Can Prevent An “Accident”

mommy said

Yes, they say accidents happen because, well, they’re “ACCIDENTS”. Unintentional circumstances.

But then, as parents, there are so many things around the home that we can rearrange to prevent accidents, sometimes fatal, from happening to our children.

We all know that as babies grow and become mobile, we have to secure cabinet doors, put away toxic substances from children’s reach, put doorstops … but there are other things that we may overlook. Like the potential threat of TV to kids. Not just from watching useless shows but real physical harm from a falling television on your child or from anything falling on them for that matter.

Coming to A Nursery Near You has a very useful and eye-opening post about the danger of falling TV on children and what can we do so this does not have to happen. As Dawn has posted, there had been children who have died from being hit by a falling TV, and to quote:

CPSC Warns about TV, Large Furniture Tip-Over Dangers
More than 100 Deaths Reported Since 2000, Most Involve Young Children

“Tip-overs” are listed as one of the top five hazards in the home, particularly to young children, who climb onto, fall against or pull themselves up on TV stands, shelves, bookcases, dressers and desks, according to the commission.

This is one area where hubba and I don’t meet eye to eye. He’s more lazierre when it comes to the baby’s safety. He’ll do the basics but does not see the point in preparing in advance [he's more "let's get burnt before we learn" ...], I on the other hand is a “safety freak” when it comes to the baby, which is probably why the hubba resists my nagging to fix things around the house. Believe me, I would have if I could have. But I’ve taken down that TV and it’s not going up anywhere unless it’s secured tight.

Apr
4