Common Products are Leading to a Rise in Infant Injuries

The market is brimming with products intended to make our lives easier or otherwise better than they were without them. The older generations often point out that they were able live without all of these modern luxuries, and they’re right. This seems especially true of all the new gizmos and gadgets available for children and babies. Perhaps we have too much of a good thing, however. Even the basic items such as carriers, strollers, and cribs are being associated with infant injuries. In fact, a recent study shows an almost 25 percent increase in nursery product-related injuries between 2003 and 2011. As many as 80 percent of the injuries were suffered in a fall, with head and neck injuries among the most common. Almost all of these incidents happened at home. While most products are safe to use, this is a startling increase in injuries to a vulnerable population. Examining a public database of nationwide emergency department records, researchers looked at almost 50,000 cases of young patients and calculated that every eight minutes, a child aged three years or younger is treated in a U.S. emergency room for an injury related to nursery products. Several kinds of products were implicated by the study including:

• Baby carriers (responsible for 19.5 percent of the injuries)
• Cribs or mattresses (responsible for 18.6 percent of the injuries)
• Strollers (responsible for 16.5 percent of the injuries)
• Walkers, jumpers or exercisers (responsible for 16.2 percent of the injuries).

Because there are so many different products out there and various products within one category, it can be hard to decipher what’s safe and what’s not. One expert suggests keeping “four Rs” in mind when buying items for babies or their rooms. Don’t buy the first thing you see. Rather, before the purchase, research the product to see what other people have to say about it. Next, check for recalls (for a list of current recalls, visit the Consumer Product Safety Commission website) and register the product (so that manufacturers can quickly find you and alert you of a recall). Last, read the manual to familiarize yourself with your new item. Think you don’t have time? Sure, you do. It takes less time than a trip to the hospital. Manufacturers are responsible for making their products safe, especially after a hazard has been identified. For example, in the 1990s, as many as 18,500 infant injuries per year were caused by baby walkers. Babies were able to move those models so easily, they could launch themselves right down a flight of stairs. After the CPSC voted in favor of a redesign, newer models were no longer capable of moving that quickly. As a result, injuries caused by walkers decreased. If you have any questions about this topic, or if you believe that you or someone you love was injured by a defective product, trust your case to the KY defective product attorneys at the Johnson Law Firm. We have years of experience helping people, and we can help you. Our knowledgeable legal team will work closely with you every step of the way and will fight hard to get you the compensation you deserve. Based in Pikeville, KY, we proudly serve communities throughout the Bluegrass State. To schedule a free, confidential consultation, contact us by calling 1-855-433-7534 or using our online form.