How to care for cloth diapers

Many cloth diapers come with laundry instructions, which you should follow carefully. If you don’t wash them correctly, they won’t get clean; urine crystals can form and bacteria can fester, which can contribute to diaper rash and odor. Here’s the basic drill.

Before first use, wash cloth diapers in hot water with a small amount of detergent to enhance their absorbency. If diapers are made from unbleached fabric, such as organic cotton, you may need to wash them two or three times, drying them in the dryer between washes to remove their natural oils and waxes. Check the label. Test your diaper’s absorbency by pouring a small amount of water into one. If the water beads at all, you should wash them again.

For dirty diapers, knock solids into the toilet (or if you use a flushable liner, toss it with solids into the toilet) and store used diapers in a dry or wet pail. Wet pails can help eliminate diaper stains because dirty diapers soak until you wash them. But the elastic on diapers that have it, such as fitted, pocket, and all-in-ones, will wear out faster when used with a wet pail. Dry pails are the most popular choice among parents. Lining the pail with a washable bag makes collecting diapers for the laundry room easier.

Wash cloth diapers every two days so your diaper pail doesn’t get too stinky. On laundry day, unfold cloth diapers before washing. Diaper covers don’t need to be washed every time; you can wait until they’re wet, soiled, or smelly. Run a cold-water rinse or a short-cycle rinse with no detergent in your washing machine; it helps reduce the chances that stains will set. Then, using your washer’s hottest water at the highest water level, wash diapers (and covers) with no more than one half of the laundry detergent recommended on the package. Using too much detergent can leave an irritating residue that can affect a diaper’s absorbency and smell.

If you have a front-loading washing machine, set your water levels to the highest settings, and use one-fourth of the amount of laundry detergent recommended on the package. If your detergent is formulated for High Efficiency washers— you’ll see “HE” on the package or the instructions label will explain—you can use the lower amount recommended on the detergent package. Seemingly clean diapers can smell right after your baby wets them if you don’t wash with enough hot water, which is a common problem with high-efficiency front-loading washing machines. “If you can’t adjust the water level on your machine manually, you may have to trick your machine into adding more water by tossing in a wet towel,” Bummis co-owner Thomas says. Minimal amounts of hot water won’t rinse diapers well enough to eliminate urine.

After the wash cycle, diapers should be rinsed well, in cold water. Don’t use straight liquid fabric softener or dryer sheets. Your baby may have an allergic reaction to the fragrance. Fabric softener will leave a buildup on diapers, which blocks a diaper’s absorbency.

Cribs recalled in record numbers in 2008

The year 2007 was dubbed the year of the recall, but 2008 could be called the year of the crib recall, according to a new report released by the nonprofit Kids in Danger.

The report, called Toxic Toys and Faulty Cribs, said that children’s product recalls by the Consumer Product Safety Commission remained high in 2008, with 190 recalls accounting for more than 18 million items, including 12 recalls of cribs that were responsible for five deaths.

The findings agree with Still Not Safe, a special report issued by Consumers Union last December that provided an analysis of all CPSC recalls from Oct. 1, 2007 to Sept. 30, 2008.

“These products together caused at least 210 injuries and seven deaths,” said Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids In Danger. “And those incidents include only those already reported at the time of the recall. More needs to be done to protect children from these hazards." (See the report's highlights.)

Read the rest of this post on our Safety blog.

4 things to do before buying a backpack carrier

1. Take your baby for test rides. When your baby old enough to be carried in a backpack carrier (she can sit up independently, typically around 6 months old) take her shopping for a backpack carrier and if she is game, do test runs in the store. Try a backpack with a coat on you and your bundled-up child in the pack if you expect to wear it during colder months. (See more backpack carrier safety tips.)

2. Get the hang of it. With the help of a knowledgeable salesperson, practice putting the carrier on and taking it off. Have your spouse do the same to make sure it fits you both comfortably. If you and your spouse will be switching the pack back and forth, try adjusting the straps to fit your torso to see if it’s easy to do. Walk with the backpack to be sure the frame doesn’t hit the back of your head, that it’s not too long for your height, that the straps fit properly so they won’t slip off your shoulders, and that the frame doesn’t start to dig into your lower back after a few minutes. “You should be able to walk comfortably with your arms at your sides,” says Anne Coffman, a physical therapist from New Berlin, WI. Carrier directions should be clear and easy to follow.

3. Look for a snug-fitting safety harness. The safest backpack carriers have a five-point harness for the child that connects the shoulder straps with the crotch, torso, and hip restraints for a snug fit. Don’t purchase a carrier that relies on a lap belt that’s separate from the shoulder and crotch straps, leaving openings at the side that could potentially be big enough for a child to slip through. Such slips can sometimes occur when children pull their legs up and subsequently put both feet and legs into one opening; they’ve been the reason for the recall of several models. We consider that style of harness inadequate for a small child.

4. Do a background check, especially with second-hand equipment. Many parents pick up a backpack carrier at a tag sale. Whether you decide to buy new or used, check for recalled models first at www.cpsc.gov. Inspect preowned carriers for excessive wear, which can dangerously weaken straps and seams. Make sure the instructions/owner’s manual come with the used backpack carrier. Don’t use a carrier for which you have no instructions, no matter how simple it might seem. Accidents can happen too easily. (See more child safety tips.)

Toys 'R Us to stop selling drop side cribs

Toys 'R' Us has stopped ordering drop-side cribs because of safety concerns, the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Jerry Storch last week told the Wall Street Journal. The decision comes as new safety standards for cribs are being considered by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

A record number of cribs have been recalled over the past few years and five infant deaths have been associated with faulty cribs. Drop-side models figured in many of the recalls in which missing or loose hardware caused the drop-side to separate from the crib, creating a gap in which a baby can become trapped or strangle. "There are enough concerns raised about drop-side cribs that we're moving forward and we're going to phase them out," Storch said in the Wall Street Journal interview.

To help parents identify recalled cribs, the CPSC has set up a crib information center on its Web site that lists recalls made over the past two years plus other safety information.

As we've written before, although cribs are regulated by the CPSC, there are no federally mandated crib durability test requirements. In a meeting at the CPSC yesterday, crib makers and consumer safety advocates, including Don Mays, senior director of product safety for Consumer Reports, began discussions on how to improve the safety of cribs. 

Read the rest of this post on our Safety blog. And see our full cribs report.

1 in 10 kids are gaming addicts

Back in high school, I’d spend hours on end in front of my computer playing Tetris. There was one weekend in particular I didn’t leave my bedroom—it was like I was under some sort of trance and I couldn’t break away from the computer screen.

According to a new study by an Iowa State University psychology professor, one in 10 kids is not only stuck in a video-game induced trance, but is addicted to gaming. Assistant Professor of Psychology Douglas Gentile found that in one in 10 gamers between the ages of 8 and 18 are pathological players, meaning their habits may cause family, social, school, or psychological damage, based on standards established for pathological gambling.

Gamers were classified as "pathological" if they exhibited at least six of 11 symptoms including skipping household chores and homework to play video games, playing video games to escape problems, and performing poorly in school. A small percentage even reported stealing video games or stealing money to buy games.

The study also found that pathological gamers were twice as likely to have been diagnosed with attention problems such as attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). (See Does my child need high-tech toys?)

Read the rest of this post on our Health blog.

Pacifiers--good or bad?

Weaning my son off his pacifier will not be fun. At 16 months old, he has become a determined little person in general, and I expect his reaction to this relinquishing to be no less strident than my taking away his favorite orange car.

I’ve half-heartedly started not giving it to him already (as opposed to removing it forcibly from him), and I think he manages OK without it, though he really appreciates it when sleep approaches. And with his recent teething and ear infections, I haven’t had the heart to deprive him of this source of comfort.

But a recently released review of studies on the risks and benefits of pacifiers has made me pause. It states, among other things, that children may actually get chronic ear infections because of pacifiers in some cases, due to the sucking which causes a reflux of secretions in the middle ear. After two separate ear infections that took almost two months each (and two different antibiotics) to get rid of, I’m wondering whether weaning my son off the pacifier may actually prevent future ear infections.

The review also noted that pacifiers may help relieve pain and prevent anxiety in infants from birth through six months who are undergoing minor medical procedures (such as venipuncture, immunizations, or heel sticks), and are associated with shorter hospital stays among infants who are born preterm. There’s also a strong association between pacifier use and a reduction in the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, though it should be avoided until breastfeeding habits are well established. As for concerns about teeth, the review shows that dental effects may occur after 24 months of pacifier use, but that the effects are more significant after age 4.

When the time comes to wean a child off the pacifier, the review recommends swaddling, rocking, soft music, singing or infant massage to soothe a younger infant. For older infants and toddlers, try distracting them with activities or a favorite toy.

For related information, see our pacifier safety tips, and check the CPSC's list of recalled children's products to make sure your child's pacifier has not been recalled.

--Artemis DiBenedetto, Web associate editor

Bare beds are best for babies

I was thrilled to receive a first look at my co-worker’s precious baby after chatting with her at length in the months leading up to his recent birth.

My joy at seeing the baby was immediately tempered, however, by the sight of a pillow and a cushy blanket underneath him in the bassinet. Why should this worry me? A recent report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission explains it best.

Between 2003 and 2005—the latest for which the most complete data are available—the majority of infant deaths associated with cribs and mattresses were attributed to bedding that often suffocated a child. Perhaps my coworker only had those items in her child’s bassinet to prop him up for the photo, but they’re not safe for a child’s sleep time. (See CPSC’s safe sleep guidelines.)

The same was true in play yards, in which the majority of infant deaths were due to strangulation, suffocation, or asphyxia when the child became wedged between the mattress and side of the play yard. More than half of the wedging incidents involved an extra mattress or cushion added to the play yard. (See play yard safety tips.) The majority of bassinet and cradle deaths were also caused by bedding that suffocates infants—similar to the kind of bedding that my co-worker had in her baby’s bassinet.

Bottom line: Bare is best when it comes to an infant’s sleep space. A bare crib, bassinet, or play yard with only a fitted sheet (that's tight-fitting) is the safest way for a baby to sleep—no pillows, blankets, sleep positioners, bumpers, or other soft bedding. Also see our safe sleep tips for more information.

--Artemis DiBenedetto, Web associate editor

Why product designers should think more like kids

Bunk beds, ATVs, fireworks, shopping carts, play grounds—these are just a few of the causes of injuries to children that concern Dr. Gary Smith.

Founder and director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, Smith spends his time studying the safety of products and activities from a kid’s point of view.

“The world around us is designed by adults for the convenience of adults,” says Smith, who is also an associate professor of pediatrics, emergency medicine and epidemiology at Ohio State University. “What is perfectly safe for adults sometimes isn’t safe for children.” (See our tips for outdoor safety.)

Smith says the makers of many different products often don’t do a good job addressing child safety issues at the initial design stage. “There often isn’t good testing until products are on the market,” says Smith. “There are many safety issues that should be considered pre-market, not post market. It would be nice to prevent the problems rather than deal with them after they have occurred.”

Read the rest of this post on our Safety blog.

Avoiding 99 cent store party favors

After forking over the big payment for my 4-year-old daughter’s birthday party at a “jumpy-place”--a facility padded to the nines for little kids to go nuts in--and then adding the cost of a fancy birthday cake, I struggled with the idea of providing goody bags to her little guests.

These party favor bags are always full of 99-cent store items that are useless and get tossed quickly. But even as few as four dollar-store items add up, especially when you’re buying them for 15 kids. The tyranny of this seemingly required gift for the guests reminds me of wedding reception favors. Aren’t the open bar, hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, multi-course meal and live DJ enough?

While I have always enjoyed saving money here and there, I do splurge from time to time. Case in point: having the party at the overpriced jumpy place. And though I’ve appreciated reading things like Amy Dacyczyn’s Tightwad Gazette and Judith Levine’s Not Buying It, it’s been more out of sociological fascination than anything else. But with two kids, our family budget requires we balance our splurges with some thrift.

My instincts told me it was ungracious to let the guests leave empty-handed. Certain that I wasn’t the only party parent who wanted to give something worthwhile, I did an online search that was full of enthusiastic recommendations of dollar store items as a way to save on goody bags. But Consumer Reports has reported on problems with products sold in dollar stores.

What to do?

Could I bake cookies and give two or three to each child? Not only was I short on time I truly believed that after pizza and cake, they would end up left on the floor of the car as the kids fell asleep on the way home.

I tried to come up with something useful, like coloring books. But at $4 a pop or so, even coloring books for 15 kids cost $60, which was more than I wanted to spend.

A small, potted plant? A little pricey, and visions of dirt and broken pottery on a car or bedroom floor… But wait, we were getting closer…

I went to the supermarket and bought five bunches of long-stemmed flowers (about $4 per bunch), cut all the flowers down to four-inch stems, and bundled them into mixed bouquets for each child. Not too expensive, not too wasteful, not too time-consuming. And how often do children receive fresh flowers? Bingo! Problem solved.

After a very fun play session, pizza, and cake, all the kids were too tired to even care about goody bags. But all the boys and girls were eager to get their flowers as they departed.

--Artemis DiBenedetto, Web associate editor

Soy formula vs. milk formula for babies

Q: My baby likes one particular brand of regular (cow’s milk based) formula, but to save money, I’d also like to use up my soy formula samples. Is it okay to switch back and forth between formula types?

A: You could try it, but be prepared to ditch the experiment. You might find that your infant tolerates only a particular brand or type, the one he already likes. (See our video, "How to save on infant formula", at right.)

Some babies are fussy about formula; others aren’t. Although major brands of formula are roughly equal, it’s generally recommended that you stick with the brand your baby gets used to. It’s fine to use liquid and powder interchangeably, though.

No matter what brand or type you settle on, if your baby shows signs of intolerance, such as gas, a rash, persistent vomiting, bloody stool, diarrhea, or any other unusual symptom, consult your pediatrician. You may need to switch brands or change to a hydrolyzed or soy-based formula or to a formula specially formulated to combat your baby’s issue, whether it’s diarrhea, spitting up, or colic.

See our report on baby bottles for related information.

Magnetix maker fined $1.1 million for failing to report incidents

Mega Brands, the company that made Magnetix building sets, has agreed to pay a $1.1 million civil penalty to settle claims that the company failed to give the government timely information about the dangers of the magnets in the building sets. (Magnet is pictured at bottom of image at right.)

After the death of a 22-month-old child who had ingested Magnetix pieces in 2005, Rose Art (the forerunner of Mega Brands) filed an "initial report" with the Consumer Product Safety Commission in which it attributed the magnets falling out to unusually abusive play by the toddler's older siblings.

In February 2006, the company submitted a "full report" that again lacked incident and product information, saying it did not retain such records. The following month 4 million Magnetix sets were recalled for users under age six.

The CPSC subpoenaed records from Rose Art, which by that time had been acquired and renamed Mega Brands, and learned that at the time of the initial report, the company had received more than 1,100 consumer complaints that magnets had fallen out of plastic pieces from dozens of different Magnetix models. In addition, the CPSC learned that the company had gotten at least one report of an injury due to magnet ingestion before the toddler's death in Washington state.

By the time the company agreed to the March 2006 recall it had gotten more than 1,500 complaints of magnets falling out of plastic pieces in more than 65 different models of Magnetix. In April 2007, Mega Brands expanded the recall for users of every age after more than 25 children suffered intestinal injuries that required surgery to remove the magnets.

Parents should note that potentially millions of recalled magnetic sets remain in homes today and may be accessible to young children. (See how to prevent choking accidents.)

Read the rest of this post on our Safety blog. And see the CPSC's guide to the Magnetix recall for more information.

Can you eat during labor?

They don't call it labor for nothing. Delivering a baby can be exhausting work, lasting 10, 20 or more hours for some women. So how can moms-to-be keep up their strength? How about a fortifying snack of...ice chips?

After eating-for-two throughout pregnancy, women are often advised not to eat at all during labor. Does food help or hinder labor? Neither, according to a large study released last month, which found that women's deliveries were remarkably similar whether they snacked or fasted.

The study involved more than 2,400 healthy women in England who were having their first baby. They were randomly split into two groups. In one, women were advised to consume only water and ice chips during labor. In the other, women were encouraged to eat small, regular amounts of food, such as bread, cookies, fruits, low-fat yogurt and fruit juice.

Researchers found little difference between the groups in:

• How long labor lasted
• How often the women vomited
• Whether they needed C-sections
• Whether their deliveries were assisted with forceps or a vacuum

There were also no differences in the babies' overall condition at birth or their chance of being admitted to a special care unit.

These findings suggests that the fast-or-snack question is perhaps best left to the mom-to-be at the time of labor, assuming she is healthy and expected to have a normal delivery.

Read the rest of this post on our Health blog.

And see our report on safer childbirth for related information.

Gliders: How to choose a glider and ottoman for the nursery

Gliders are more comfortable than an old-fashioned rocking chair and you’ll use one more than you think, especially in your baby’s first year. Still, at $130 to $2,600, a glider can feel like a splurge, especially at the high end.

You may be tempted to do without but if you’re having a baby shower, why not put it on your wish list? It’s an expensive item, but friends and family may chip in as a group to buy it for you. “Our nursery was furnished by five people,” says Danamarie DeRiggi, a new mom from Atlanta. “One set of friends bought the crib. My family bought the rest of the pieces for the nursery, including the glider.”

What to look for: Glider guidelines

• A comfy seat. When you’re testing models for your wish list, sit in the chair and glide away. That’s the best way to tell if a chair’s seat fits you comfortably. Have your spouse try it out too if both of you will be using it. Get a glider with a generously wide seat and arms that won’t hem you in. Both these features are especially important if you plan to use a nursing pillow. And with a baby on board, you’ll need the room.

• Dark-colored cushions. Stay away from natural beige or pastel fabrics. Furniture fabric can appear soiled from normal wear and tear. And, of course, washable fabrics are a plus.

• A locking mechanism. Look for a glider that locks in place or that has a base that’s constructed to hide the gliding mechanism. You don’t want to be gliding when you’re feeding your newborn if you also have a curious toddler underfoot; little fingers can get caught in the gliding mechanism. You’ll also want to lock it to keep your toddler (your baby--soon enough!) safe if he should happen to “play” with the glider when you’ve turned your back. 

• Springs under the seat. “You want to make sure the fabric underneath the seat cushion has springs attached to it,” says Seth Berger, director of operations of Kids Home Furnishings, a baby-to-teen furniture store in Stamford, Conn. You may find four small springs that secure a bottom piece of fabric to the chair frame. That’s good. The underbelly of the seat shouldn’t be just fabric glued to a frame. You won’t have much support or shock absorption.

• A warranty. If you choose a glider, you’ll want to know if the bearings, which run the gliding mechanism, have a warranty. They get a lot of wear over time. With gliders, ten years is a good warranty length, although a lifetime warranty is better.

For more information, see our tips for preparing baby formula and breast milk safely.

Travel tip: Use safety gates to childproof other people's homes

A pressure-mounted gate or two is an easy way to make a hotel room or a relative’s home more child-friendly.

When traveling with a baby or toddler and visiting friends, grandparents, or other relatives, install a pressure-mounted gate at the bottom of stairs and between rooms you consider unsafe, like the living room with a fire roaring in the fireplace or the kitchen when people are busy cooking. Also keep bathroom doors securely closed or blocked off with a gate.

Also see 3 things you should buy for kids and hardware mounted vs. pressure mounted safety gates.

Are agrichemicals causing birth defects?

 That’s the question being asked by researchers, after a large study linked rises in birth defects to levels of agricultural chemicals in the water supply.

Researchers at the universities of Indiana and Cincinnati knew that agricultural chemicals, such as pesticides and herbicides, are used more often in the spring and summer months. They checked federal records of water quality monitoring, and found levels of agrichemicals peaked from April through July.

They then looked at records of all US births—more than 30 million—during the same years. They found babies conceived between April and July were more likely to have birth defects than those conceived during other months.

It sounds like a case of cause and effect—but the researchers urge caution. They say the seasonal rise in birth defects could be down to other factors. This study shows a link, but it can’t show that birth defects are caused by chemicals in the water. In the meantime, it’s important to keep the seasonal rise in perspective. On average, there were 48 more birth defects for every 100,000 babies conceived during the higher risk spring and summer months. That’s not a huge increase in risk.

Read the rest of this post on our Health blog.

Read our report, Why organic baby food is safer, for more information.