Lisa R. Trofe, CAE

To participate in Baby Safety Month, health care providers can visit BabySafetyMonth.org to access JPMA’s turnkey Baby Safety Month toolkit. The toolkit offers many baby safety tips across the four themes selected for this year, including: 

Locks & Latches: 

According to Safe Kids Worldwide, in the United States, nearly 7.7 million children are treated for injuries in emergency departments every year, and these are often serious injuries that can affect them for a lifetime. Many injuries can be prevented by using locks & latches to secure household items that are dangerous to babies and young children. 

• Place locks and latches on all cabinets in the bathrooms, the kitchen, the garage, and the laundry room. 
• Even with locks and latches, make sure to move all chemicals and medicine to a high location where little hands cannot reach them. 
• Keep the number of the poison control center on your phone and your refrigerator in case of an emergency (1-800-222- 1222). 

Safe Sleep: 

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, each year in the United States, about 3,500 infants die of sleep-related infant deaths. For this reason, parents and caregivers need to learn and implement safe sleep practices for babies and young children. 

• The safest place for a baby to sleep is in a bare, JPMA Certified crib or other approved sleep product. 
• Use a new crib that has not been recalled. 
• The crib must be assembled with manufacturer hardware and following manufacturer instructions only. Keep instructions for future use. 
• Always use a properly fitting mattress in the baby’s crib. 
• Never add extra bedding, pillows, blankets, or stuffed animals to the baby’s crib or other sleep products. 

Car Seats & Child Passenger Safety: 

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, car crashes are a leading cause of death for children ages 1-13. Car seats can help reduce the risk of crash injuries overall and can reduce the risk of fatal injury by as much as 71 percent. However, mistakes in choosing, installing, or correctly using car seats can compromise the protection they offer. 

• Delay transitions from rear-facing to forward-facing, forward-facing to booster, and booster to the seat belt. Use each restraint mode until reaching the maximum height or weight allowed by the instructions for that mode. 
• Keep car seat harnesses snug. Correctly adjusted harnesses limit how a child’s body would move in a crash to help reduce injury. 
• Properly attach and adjust the top tether on your forward-facing car seat to reduce head injury risk. 
• Use a booster seat from when your child outgrows a forward-facing car seat with harnesses until the seat belt alone fits correctly. Booster seats help keep seat belts on strong bones to protect internal organs. 

Safety & Sustainability: 

According to BabyCenter and What to Expect, 42 percent of mothers surveyed who are pregnant or have a baby under six months old acquired or plan to acquire baby products secondhand. While reusing products is sustainable, baby and children’s products must adhere to the latest safety standards. Beyond using secondhand products, there are other ways parents can take care of babies safely while also protecting the environment. 

• To create a sustainable nursery, look for products with sustainably sourced materials, organic cotton, or recycled components. 
• Clothes, toys, and books are great to buy secondhand, but prioritize buying new baby gear like car seats, cribs, and mattresses. 
• Rely on manufacturers with buy-back or repair/replacement programs and retailer trade-in programs where products are recycled sustainably. 

JPMA has several initiatives planned for Baby Safety Month and encourages the health care community to become involved. Its social media channels offer monthly updates (Facebook: JPMA: Built for Baby and JPMA Parents; Instagram: @jpmabuiltforbaby and @jpmaparents; Twitter: @JPMA and @JPMAparents; and LinkedIn: JPMA: Built for Baby). And its turnkey Baby Safety Month toolkit at BabySafetyMonth.org provides safety tip images, blogs and videos focused on baby safety topics and more resources and information to share with parents and caregivers. 

About the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA): 

The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) is the industry’s voice on quality and safety for baby and children’s products in North America. It works to advance the interests of manufacturers, parents, children, and the industry at large by advocating for safety through product certification programs and legislative and regulatory involvement. It supports a broad and diverse membership through member-only programming and industry promotion and acts as a comprehensive source for baby product information and education. Established in 1962, JPMA marks its 60th year of helping protect future generations by advancing the availability and safety of products used to care for babies and young children. 

References: 

• https://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/phys7.asp