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. (more…)

Today I went online to see what was new and found, yet again, that cribs are being recalled. And I felt nau­seous. That’s 500,000 cribs in the newest recall. Why do I say “newest”? Because in Novem­ber 2009  the Con­sumer Prod­uct Safety Com­mis­sion recalled 2.1 mil­lion cribs and just last month another 500,000 cribs were recalled. In fact, in the last 2–3 years alone there have been well over 7 mil­lion cribs, play yards and bassinets recalled. These cribs run the full range of prices — the least expen­sive to the most. (more…)