Pregnancy & Baby Index: Baby Checklists: The safe nursery: Choosing safe baby toys
The safe nursery: Choosing safe baby toys
From the beginning of a child's life, products intended for a child must be selected with safety in mind. More infants die every year in accidents involving cribs than with any other nursery product. Thousands of infants are injured seriously enough to require treatment in hospital emergency rooms. This article discusses baby rattles, squeeze toys and teethers.
Rattles, squeeze toys and teethers
Because children have choked to death on baby rattles, the
Commission issued a regulation in 1978 requiring 1) that rattles
be large enough to prevent them from becoming lodged in an
infant's throat and 2) that they be sturdily constructed to
prevent them from separating into small pieces that can be
swallowed or inhaled.
To date, the largest rattle known to have
lodged in an infant's mouth/throat had an end about the size of a
golf ball. Squeeze toys and teethers have been involved in
similar choking incidents. Rattles, squeeze toys and teethers
involved in incidents had handles or ends small enough to enter a
baby's mouth and lodge in the throat, blocking the airway.
Safety tips
1. Check all rattles, squeeze toys and teethers for small
ends that could extend into the back of the baby's mouth. If you
feel that the toy may be too small for safety, throw it away.
2. Take rattles, squeeze toys, teethers, and other small
objects out of the crib or playpen when the baby sleeps.
3. Teethers, like pacifiers, should never be fastened
around a baby's neck.
4. Avoid rattles and squeeze toys with ball-shaped ends.