Toddlers Fall From High Chairs

Toddlers Fall From High Chairs.
Young children are falling out of momentous chairs at alarming rates, according to a unknown safety study that found high chair accidents increased 22 percent between 2003 and 2010. US difficulty rooms now attend to an average of almost 9500 capital chair-related injuries every year, a figure that equates to one injured infant per hour. The elephantine majority of incidents involve children under the age of 1 year. "We recognize that these injuries can and do happen, but we did not expect to see the kind of increase that we saw," said burn the midnight oil co-author Dr Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

And "Most of the injuries we're talking about, over 90 percent, include falls with babies toddlers whose center of gravity is high, near their chest, rather than near the waist as it is with adults. "So when they be defeated they topple, which means that 85 percent of the injuries we see are to the head and face". Because the surrender is from a seat that's higher than the traditional chair and typically onto a hard larder floor, "the potential for a serious injury is real. This is something we really straits to look at more, so we can better understand why this seems to be happening more frequently".

For the study, published online Dec 9, 2013 in Clinical Pediatrics, the authors analyzed dirt collected by the US National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. The figures concerned all high chair, booster seat, and rational chair-related injuries that occurred between 2003 and 2010 and involved children 3 years obsolete and younger. The researchers found that high chair/booster chair injuries rose from 8926 in 2003 to 10930 by 2010.

Roughly two-thirds of inebriated chair accidents involved children who had been either repute or climbing in the chair just before their fall, the study authors noted. The conclusion: Chair restraints either aren't working as they should or parents are not using them properly. "In latest years, there have been millions of great chairs recalled because they do not meet current safety standards. Most of these chairs are reasonably sound when restraint instructions are followed, but even so, there were 3,5 million high chairs recalled during our sanctum period alone.

However, even highly educated and informed parents aren't always fully aware of a disavowal when it happens. Still, Smith believes that a 2008 Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act will intimation to a notable drop in recalls in coming years because it calls for independent third-party testing of children's products before they're put on the market. This could rub out many serious head injuries, he believes.

According to the study, the most around at ER diagnosis after a high chair fall is a concussion or internal fount injury, otherwise known as a "closed head injury". This type of head trauma accounted for 37 percent of favourable chair injuries, and its frequency climbed by nearly 90 percent during the eight years studied. Nearly six in 10 children informed an injury to their head or neck after a weighty chair fall, while almost three in 10 experienced a facial injury, the study found.

Injuries consanguineous to falls from traditional chairs were more likely to be broken bones, cuts and bruises. For now the unequalled three things parents can do to ensure their child's safety: "Use the restraint, use the restraint, use the restraint!" The tray is not meant to be a restraint. Children distress to be buckled in. Also, supervision is a must. Stay with your lad during meal time and make sure he or she doesn't destroy the restraint.

So "Even if a chair does meet current safety standards and the restraint is used properly, there's never 100 percent on this - Parents will always require to be vigilant". Also, if the high rocking-chair has wheels, lock them in place. Make sure the high chair is stable, and position it away from walls or counters that the kid can push against.

Kate Carr, president and CEO of the Washington, DC-based place Safe Kids Worldwide, called the findings a wake-up call. "An alarming count of children under the age of 3 are seen in emergency departments. This is an important reminder for parents and caregivers to shoplift the time to make sure their children are safe and secure in their high chairs" muscle. More low-down For more on infant and toddler safety, visit the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.