SAFETY PRACTICES AND POLICIES

The ultimate goal for any parent should be to make sure that their child is healthy, safe, and happy. The purpose of this blog is to identify potentially hazardous safety threats that affect infants and toddlers in both early education and home environments, and what families can do to reduce the risk and prevent these threats from happening at home. The five hazardous threats I focus on are SIDS, Falls, Choking/Suffocation, Poisoning and Drowning.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) describes the sudden death of an infant younger than one year of age that cannot be explained even after thorough investigation by medical and police authorities (Stubbs-Wynn et al, 2004). SIDS claims more child deaths between the ages of one month and one year than cancer, child maltreatment, AIDS, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, and heart diseases combined. It is estimated that there are as many as 2500 deaths per year from SIDS (SIDS Network, 1996). Twenty percent of SIDS deaths occur in the care outside the home. The hour’s children are in early education programs or facilities are the hours when SIDS strikes most commonly.

In order to reduce risk of SIDS, babies should be put to sleep on their backs. Since 1992, the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that all babies be put down to sleep on their backs. The “family bed” should not be shared with infants. Several recent studies have found that bed sharing increases risk in infants under 11 weeks of age. This risk is increased if there are multiple bed sharers, a smoker who shares the bed, or a bed sharer that had alcohol before going to bed. Babies should not be exposed to cigarette smoke. Cigarette smoke is considered to be the second greatest risk factor for SIDS. An infant exposed to cigarette smoke may be at 200% increased risk for SIDS (Wisborg et al, 2000).

Overheating is another important factor. Too much bedding, clothing that is too heavy and an environment that is too warm can contribute to SIDS. Sleeping materials should be firm. Babies should sleep on firm, flat mattresses to lessen the risk of entrapment or heavy covering side sleeping (putting a child to bed on its side) is no longer acceptable, and pacifiers should be used at naptime and bedtime for the first year of life except for a breastfeeding child, who needs to establish the breastfeeding routine. The use of a pacifier for those babies is recommended at one month (AAP, 2005).

Falls are the most common injuries related to indoor equipment. A tiny baby can wiggle and move and push. An older baby can roll over, crawl and creep. Infants if left alone in a bed or a table can fall. If teacher is using a changing table, it should have safety straps around it that discourages a child from rolling off the changing table. Toddlers can climb to get to places where formerly inaccessible. One way to prevent the risk of falls with toddlers is to discourage climbing on furniture and other equipment. When High chairs are used, they should have a safety strap that goes between the legs and around the waist. The legs should have a wide enough base so the high chair will not tip over.

Choking and Suffocation are major hazards to every young child who puts things in their mouth such as toys, foods, and small objects in their environment. Infants and Toddlers need to be carefully watched and provided with a safe environment free of small toys and objects. Ensuring that small toys and other objects are too large for mouthing is important to prevent choking and suffocation hazards. In the early education environment, the teacher should check the environment for the age appropriateness of toys, because different developmental levels affect the way children play with toys.

Consumer awareness and Age appropriateness are imperative for parents to prevent choking and suffocation inside the home environment. Age appropriateness is one of the most important tools for removing hazardous toys from the environment. Age appropriate toys for infants up to six months include squeeze toys, colorful mobiles, large pictures of faces and non-breakable mirrors.

Cleaning supplies are a risk to children whether or not they are poisonous or not. Cleaning supplies can cause serious burns, rashes and other serious problems. All cleaning supplies or chemicals should be kept at a level where children cannot reach them. Anything that might be poisonous should be kept at a high level in a locked cabinet. These items should be well labeled with the poison sign. Parents should post the Poison Control number by the phone in case poison is ingested.

Drowning can occur in a small amount of water, such as a bucket of standing water that someone forgot to clean up and put away. A curious infant or toddler could look into the bucket, fall in, and drown. Toilets, tubs, and sinks also pose risk for drowning. Toilet lids should always be closed. In the home the bathroom door should be kept closed when not in use. Jingle bells can be placed on the doors of bathrooms so that it is hard for young children to open and close. Bathtubs pose the biggest drowning hazard to infants, and swimming pools are the greatest drowning hazard to toddlers (Zavitkovsky &Thompson, 2000). Parents should never leave standing water unattended. Infants and Toddlers should never be left unattended in a tub or other device used to bathe a child.

Teachers should use observation, supervision and education to provide a safe indoor environment for young children. Teachers and families can work together to promote and practice safe behaviors in the classroom as well as in the home.

References

Robertson, C. (2007). Safety, Nutirtion & Health in Early Education (3rd ed.). Delmar Cengage Learning.