Since Sep­tem­ber we’ve held two Sling Flings at Colum­bia Cen­ter because it’s an impor­tant topic and many folks don’t real­ize that using a sling, car­rier or wrap can be a great way to care for your baby. At both events we emphasized—just as we would with any other product—safety. In fact, we gave out “safety tip sheets” at the events. We believe that safety and babies is always pri­or­ity one.

I wasn’t sur­prised this week when I saw that the Con­sumer Prod­uct Safety Com­mis­sion (CPSC) will prob­a­bly be issu­ing a warn­ing on slings. After all, they are sup­posed to be the gov­ern­men­tal agency that is look­ing out for the safety of our most pre­cious resources. But since Tues­day, March 2, 2010 their head has been say­ing how dan­ger­ous these prod­ucts are and that their warn­ing would be com­ing out last week. I have seen noth­ing more than a week later from them that is infor­ma­tional, edu­ca­tional or helps par­ents to know what to do. I was taken aback that they didn’t empha­size that this is an issue of edu­cat­ing the pub­lic. To cre­ate this level of worry and then not fol­low through right away is irresponsible.

Par­ents need to know how to do things safely with their babies. Period. Instead of using this fab­u­lous oppor­tu­nity to edu­cate the pub­lic about proper usage of a prod­uct that can make par­ent­ing less chal­leng­ing the CPSC is fear-mongering and imply­ing that these prod­ucts are essen­tially acci­dents wait­ing to hap­pen. Any prod­uct used improp­erly is likely to cause a prob­lem. How about if we act as if you par­ents are intel­li­gent and when given good infor­ma­tion you can make deci­sions that are right for you and your babies? I know, it’s a shock­ing thought but I insist that you can be trusted to care for your babies. Who cares more about the safety of a baby than that child’s parents.

So, what’s a par­ent to do? Let’s start with the following:

1. Always read instruc­tions pro­vided with any prod­uct prior to use. If there is an instruc­tional DVD or online video, watch it.
2. Fol­low the safety tips at one of my favorite web­sites, The​Baby​Wearer​.com:  http://​www​.the​baby​wearer​.com/​a​r​t​i​c​l​e​s​/​H​o​w​T​o​/​S​a​f​e​B​a​b​y​w​e​a​r​i​n​g​.​htm In fact, you can print them out and share them with your friends and family.
3. Use com­mon sense when using ANY prod­uct with your baby.
4. Any time this kind of “announce­ment” causes you con­cern, don’t panic. Take a deep breath and go to your trusted resources to find out what’s really hap­pen­ing. And if you are unhappy that the CPSC is not giv­ing you what you need, write to them (see my blog on the CPSC and cribs).

I hope that as you con­tinue to learn as grow as a par­ent along­side your baby that you will remem­ber the fol­low­ing: Part of par­ent­ing is deal­ing with this kind of stuff. It’s unset­tling, but I know you can han­dle this and you don’t have to do it alone.

Tags: baby slings, CPSC, safety, sling fling