OnSafety is the Official Blog Site of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Here you'll find the latest safety information as well as important messages that will keep you and your family safe. We hope you'll visit often!
¿Recuerdas la felicidad que sentiste la primera vez que sostuviste a tu bebé en tus brazos? ¿Acaso te preguntaste “y ahora qué”? Mantener a tu bebé seguro fue probablemente una preocupación. ¿Sabías que hay algunas medidas simples que puedes tomar para aliviar un poco esa preocupación y crear un hogar más seguro para ti y tu bebé? ¡Pues bien, las hay!Así que, relájate este Día de las Madres y ofrécete el regalo de la seguridad. A continuación, algunas medidas y dispositivos de seguridad que pueden darte tranquilidad y ayudarte a reducir el riesgo de lesiones a bebés y niños pequeños. La mayoría de ellas son fáciles de recordar; los dispositivos son relativamente baratos:
Sin mucho es mejor: pon a tu bebé a dormir en una cuna sin colchas, edredones ni almohadas. Casi la mitad de las muertes infantiles en cunas y dos tercios de las muertes en moisés reportadas a la CPSC cada año son por asfixia causada por almohadas, colchas y/o aglomeración de cosas en el sitio donde duerme el bebé. Las pijamas con pies deben ser suficiente para mantener al bebé calientito.
Dispositivos estabilizadores o contra volcaduras de muebles: antes de que tu bebé comience a andar, gatea por tu casa y explora. ¿Ves una cómoda, un librero u otro mueble? Parece divertido subirse a él, ¿no crees? Compra e instala dispositivos de bajo costo para fijar muebles y prevenir la tragedia de que uno de ellos se vuelque sobre tu hijo/a.
Peligros acuáticos: cada vez que tu bebé esté cerca del agua, debes mantenerte en alerta máxima. Solo bastan unas pocas pulgadas de agua y un instante sin supervisión para que un niño se ahogue. Mantente enfocada en tu bebé constantemente cuando esté en el baño. No dependas de asientos para bañera como ayuda ni dejes a tu bebé a cargo de sus hermanos a la hora del baño. En el sitio PoolSafely.gov encontrarás simples medidas de seguridad que los padres deben seguir en y alrededor de piscinas y spas, incluyendo el uso de cercas de protección y alarmas.
Baterías o pilas pequeñas: las pilas tipo botón, que son del tamaño de una moneda y usadas en productos como controles remoto, juegos electrónicos, tarjetas musicales y aparatos auditivos, pueden causar quemaduras químicas dentro del cuerpo capaces de ocasionar la muerte en tan solo dos horas. Incluso pilas agotadas pueden causar lesiones graves. Los compartimentos donde van las pilas deben asegurarse con un tornillo fuertemente apretado o una cinta adhesiva fuerte si el producto carece de tornillos. Coloca cualquier artículo con una pila no asegurada en sitios elevados y lejos de la vista y el alcance de un niño. Desecha las pilas usadas de modo que los niños no puedan recuperarlas.
Alarmas que funcionen: nunca se sabe cuándo se necesitará una alarma de monóxido de carbono (CO) o una detectora de humo que funcione – hasta que ocurre un desastre. Las alarmas de CO y de humo deben colocarse en cada piso del hogar. He aquí una guía con más información sobre las alarmas de humo.
Nota del editor: Babycenter también publicó este blog en español e inglés.
This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2013/05/regala-seguridad-en-este-dia-de-las-madres/
Remember the happiness you felt when you first held your baby? Was your next thought “Now what?” Keeping your baby safe was likely one concern. Do you know there are some simple steps that you can take to lessen your worry and create a safer home for you and your baby? Well, there are!
So, relax this Mother’s Day and give yourself the gift of safety. Here are a few safety steps and safety devices that can give you peace of mind and can help reduce the risk of injuries to babies and young children. Most steps are easy to remember; the devices are relatively inexpensive:
Bare is Best: Put your baby to sleep in a crib that doesn’t have quilts, comforters or pillows. Nearly half of the infant crib deaths and two-thirds of bassinet deaths reported to CPSC each year are suffocations caused by pillows, quilts and/or clutter in the baby’s sleeping space. Footed pajamas should be enough to keep your baby warm.
Safety Latches and Locks: These are a no-brainer to help prevent children from accessing medicines, toxic household cleaners (including single-load liquid laundry packets) and sharp objects.
Furniture Anchors: Before your baby gets mobile, crawl around your home and explore. Do you see a dresser, bookcase or other piece of furniture? That looks fun to climb, doesn’t it? Buy and install low-cost anchoring devices to prevent a tip-over tragedy.
Water Dangers: Any time your baby is near water, you should remain on high alert. It only takes a few inches of water and a short lapse in supervision for a child to drown. Stay focused on your baby constantly when your baby is in the bath. Do not rely on bath seats or siblings to assist with bath time. PoolSafely.gov also has many simple steps for parents to take in and around pools and spas, including using fences and alarms.
Small Batteries: Coin or button-sized batteries that power devices like remote controls, electronic games, toys, musical cards, and hearing aids can cause life-threatening chemical burns in the body in as little as two hours. Even dead batteries can cause serious injuries. Battery compartments should be secured with a tight screw or strong tape if there’s no screw on the product. Put any item with an unsecured battery up and out of sight and reach of a child. Throw away used batteries in a way that children can’t get to them.
Corded Products: Cords such as those on window coverings and baby monitors have strangled children. Keep all cords out of a baby’s reach. Baby monitor cords should be at least 3 feet away from your child’s reach. CPSC urges parents to use cordless blinds or window coverings that have inaccessible cords in homes with young children.
Working Alarms: You never know when you’ll need a working carbon monoxide or smoke alarm—until a disaster happens. Working CO and smoke alarms should be placed on every floor of a home. Here’s a guide to more information on smoke alarms.
Editor’s Note: Babycenter has cross-posted this blog in English and in Spanish.
This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2013/05/give-the-gift-of-safety-this-mothers-day/
Community education programs work. That’s a message we at CPSC hear regularly through our Neighborhood Safety Network.
Last week, during Window Safety Week, Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel in Portland, Ore., touted that message while spreading the word on preventing window falls. “According to Oregon Trauma Registry data, the rate of children’s window falls has decreased 46 percent from 2009 to 2011,” the hospital says in a news release.
The Oregon hospital, along with Safe Kids Oregon and a mom whose child died in a window fall, formed the STOP at 4” campaign to raise awareness about window safety. The campaign’s slogan means that when you open windows, you should stop and lock the window at 4 inches to prevent children from falling from open windows. According to that campaign’s website, the campaign was launched by injury prevention specialists who were concerned by the large number of children in Oregon who fell from second-story windows in warm weather.
Window fall safety is a topic we’ve written about before. We have a fantastic video and a safety alert that you can post on your website and in your community or share in your social media channels to spread the message: Five minutes is all it takes to prevent your child from falling out of a window. We encourage you to follow these simple steps:
Install window guards and window stops to prevent children from falling out of windows.
Don’t depend on screens to keep children from falling out. Screens keep bugs out; they won’t keep children in.
Whenever possible, open windows from the top, NOT the bottom.
Keep furniture away from windows to limit a child’s access.
We applaud local safety campaigns such as those in Portland, New York City and other cities and towns. Our Neighborhood Safety Network sends free safety materials including posters, videos, pamphlets and alerts to subscribers around the country to help spread safety in local communities.
Do you want to help address a consumer product-related safety need in your community? Let our Neighborhood Safety Network team know at nsn@cpsc.gov.
This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2013/04/window-falls-a-community-acts-for-safety/
Paquetes o cápsulas de detergente líquido para una carga de ropa
En el 2012, el personal de la CPSC supo de unos 500 incidentes de niños y adultos que sufrieron lesiones causadas por paquetes de detergente líquido similares a los mostrados arriba. Los niños requirieron hospitalización por perder el conocimiento, experimentar vómitos excesivos, somnolencia, inflamación de la garganta y dificultad al respirar (la cual requirió entubación).
NO permita que los niños manejen los paquetes de detergente. Manténgalos bajo llave y fuera del alcance y de la vista de los niños.
A new CPSC data report shows that 349 people (84 percent of them children under 9) were killed between 2000 and 2011 when TVs, furniture, or appliances toppled over onto them. The 41 reported deaths in 2011 were the highest number reported in one year. That’s an increase from 31 in 2010 and 27 in 2009.
Here are excerpts from our Twitter chat in February with more information and safety tips from CPSC, Kids in Danger and Dr. Gary A. Smith of Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Help teach all parents to prevent these tragedies. Share the poster above on Facebook. Pin it on Pinterest. Post it on Twitter. Print and post it for parents in your communities.
This address for this post is: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2012/12/cpsc-research-1-child-dies-every-2-weeks/
