Mike Tyson's daughter died in preventable treadmill accident

The Associated Press recently reported that Exodus, the four-year-old daughter of Mike Tyson, died after an accident on a treadmill machine.

The child was critically injured last weekend when she accidentally got tangled in a cord or rope hanging from a treadmill. Police are calling it a "tragic accident," according to the Los Angeles Times.

"Somehow she was playing on this treadmill, and there's a cord that hangs under the console—it's kind of a loop," the police said. "Either she slipped or put her head in the loop, but it acted like a noose, and she was obviously unable to get herself off of it."

While it's uncertain what happened, some treadmills feature a tethered safety key on a long cord that is meant to shut off the machine automatically if the user slips and falls. When used correctly, it also prevents children from starting the machine. But sometimes users tie the cord around the treadmill's handle to keep it out of the way.

Exercise machines such as treadmills pose special risks to toddlers and young children, who account for the greatest percentage of serious injuries. Emergency rooms around the country are reporting a growing number of severe burns on the hands and fingers of young children who reach down or under and touch a treadmill belt when it’s running.

Tyson's daughter's injuries serve as a sad and serious reminder of the dangers that home exercise equipment can pose to children. If you have any in your home, make sure the equipment is unplugged and out of a child's reach, and keep young children away from equipment without safety locks. Children should especially be kept away from exercise equipment when it is in use.

Learn more about this incident on our Health and Safety blogs, and more ways to childproof your home.

Car seats: Safe transportation for overweight kids

We’re all aware that many of us in the U.S. are heavier than we should be, but we should also be aware of the special considerations that may be needed to safely transport heavier children.

Rates of childhood obesity (kids whose bodies are greater than the 95th percentile of the body mass index or BMI, for their age) have doubled in the past 30 years for kids ages 2 through 5, and have tripled for kids between 6 and 11 years (see the report in Pediatrics.) 

At the same time, new research in child safety and the benefits of child restraints in protecting kids in a crash have become more evident. Child seat manufacturers are also recognizing the trend toward higher-weight kids and are producing seats that are more accommodating.

What’s safest for all kids

• All children of any size or weight should be properly restrained in the back seat of a motor vehicle and in an appropriate child restraint.
• Smaller kids (up to 23 months) should ride rear-facing as long as possible up until the rear-facing limits of their convertible seat.
• Toddlers should ride in a harnessed forward-facing seat as long as possible.
• Children should ride in booster seats until the adult vehicle belts fit properly (usually not until they are about 4’9” tall).
• Children should not be transported in a child restraint in which they exceed either the height or weight limits. 

Challenges for overweight kids and what you can do

• Just because a child weighs enough to move to the next level seat doesn’t mean he is behaviorally ready, or that their musculoskeletal system is strong enough to take the same forces of a vehicle crash as an older child, without additional risk of injury.
• Each step “forward” to the next type of child restraint (rear-facing to forward-facing, booster seat to vehicle seatbelts) actually represents a step “backward” in terms of the level of safety provided to your child.

Challenge: The rear-facing limit of most infant seats with carriers is around 22 lbs. Heavier children may exceed these limits as early as 4 months old.  

What you can do: When your child reaches the limits of their infant car seat, transition them to a rear-facing convertible model that has a rear-facing weight limit of 30 lbs. or more, and don’t move them forward-facing until they’ve reached that weight. Or, consider a new rear-facing infant seat that has a rear-facing limit of 30 lbs. or more as well. This option allows you to keep using an infant carrier.

Challenge: The weight limit of many forward-facing five-point harness seats is 40 lbs. and many toddlers exceed this limit long before they’re ready for a booster seat or a vehicle belt.   

What you can do: Look for new models that have higher harness weight limits. In 2005, there were only about four seats that accommodated kids weighing more than 40 lbs. In 2009, there are about 15. A list of higher-weight harness seats is available at http://www.aap.org/family/Carseatguide.htm or http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/over40.aspx.

Also, consider a model that lets your child stay in a five-point harness until she is 50 lbs. or more, and then transition to a belt-positioning booster for the next step. If a child is large enough that even the higher-weight seats are too big or if they are too wide to fit most of these seats comfortably, you may want to consider a travel vest. At least one has a limit of 168 lbs. (See http://www.aap.org/family/Carseatguide.htm for information.)

Challenge: A child in a forward-facing seat installed with LATCH weighs more than 48 lbs., but many vehicles limit the use of LATCH or the top tether after a child weighs between 40 and 48 lbs.  

What you can do: Consult your vehicle’s owner’s manual to see if a limit is specified for the lower LATCH anchors or top tethers. If your child exceeds the limit you may have to re-install your seat with the vehicle belts rather than LATCH.

If you’re not sure, or your vehicle manual doesn’t specify, consult with a child passenger safety technician or stop at a child seat checkpoint to find out. For a checkpoint in your area see http://www.seatcheck.org or http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cps/cpsfitting/index.cfm.

--Jennifer Stockburger, program manager, vehicle and child safety

Swine flu vaccine on the horizon?

The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, announced last week that the agency would be moving forward in its preparations for vaccine development. HHS is directing $1 billion in funds to be used to conduct clinical studies over the summer and to prepare for large-scale commercial production of a swine (H1N1) flu vaccine.

Also, the CDC announced that a new study has found that the virus likely emerged from pigs, and that the influenza genes that make up the new virus had probably been circulating unnoticed in swine populations for at least a decade. The study concludes that hog operations will likely need increased monitoring for flu viruses in the future, and to prevent this swine flu virus from reemerging from pigs.

The good news from the study is that most of the new swine flu viruses in humans show a very similar genetic makeup. That means that it may be somewhat easier to develop a vaccine that will be effective against the new H1N1 viruses now circulating. The CDC does note, however, that now that the virus is being transmitted in humans, they expect it to evolve more quickly than it had in pig populations.

Read the rest of this post on our Health blog, and see our ongoing swine flu coverage for more information.

Parents, kids, and sunscreen

Does being a parent of young children make you a better sunscreen user? Not when it comes to protecting yourself, according to our survey of 1,000 people about their sunscreen behavior.

One-quarter of them said they had children under the age of 12, and they were no more likely than adults without young children to use sunscreen on themselves, regardless of the length of time outside. Nor did they reapply it any more frequently than nonparents under most conditions.

But they showed more diligence when it came to their children: Even when in the sun for less than an hour, more than two in five parents said they frequently put sunscreen on their children (compared with only one in five who said they put it on themselves). Sixty-nine percent said they put sunscreen on their kids if they were going to be in the sun for two to four hours; for more than four hours, the figure rose to 78 percent. And nine in 10 parents said they put sunscreen on their children before letting them go in a swimming pool.

Read the rest of our sunscreens Ratings report on ConsumerReportsHealth.org.

Save bucks on bouncer seats for babies

Babies like to be where the action is and a bouncer or “bouncy” seat gives your baby a place to hang out near you and the rest of the family. It can also help your baby doze. It sounds like a dream except for one thing: Your baby will grow out of it by the time he’s 5 or 6 months old. Once he can sit up unassisted, he’ll likely move on to more interesting things, like playing and rolling. With that in mind, here are three ways to save money on this item. (See our bouncer seat safety tips.)

1. Go low-end. An inexpensive, lightweight model (provided it’s stable), such as the Bright Starts Bouncing Buddies Cradling Bouncer (www.brightstarts.com, $19.99), may serve you as well as a top-end design like the BabyBjorn Baby Sitter 1-2-3 (www.babybjorn, $100), which is designed to become a chair for a child up to 29 pounds. In general, more money will get you a seat that’s made to last and one that may be decked out with toys, reclining and vibrating features, realistic (not tinny) music, and plush or designer fabric. Still, more isn’t always better. Parents report product satisfaction at both ends of the price spectrum.

2. Buy either a bouncer seat or a swing. Many parents report that it’s overkill to buy both since a bouncer seat and a swing essentially do the same thing: provide a secure and soothing place for your baby to relax and stay occupied while you get some hands-free time to catch up on things around the house, while watching your baby at the same time. If you can, try your baby out in a friend or relative’s swing and bouncer or test store models, to gauge what your baby prefers. If your baby doesn’t like the motion of a swing (some don’t), go with a bouncer. If your baby seems to need more motion than a bouncer provides, opt for a swing.

3. Consider an infant rocker bouncer. It’s like a bouncer seat, only it rocks. Pricewise, a rocker bouncer is in the same ballpark as a bouncy seat—around $40—but you can get more mileage out of it. Infant bouncers such as the Fisher-Price Infant-to-Toddler Rocker can typically be used until your child reaches 40 pounds, which could be until age 3 or so. Tip: Get one that vibrates. You’ll use that mode a lot initially, especially since a young baby won’t be big enough to actually rock in the rocker. The rocking function kicks in as your baby becomes a toddler (in no time). Then, he’ll have his own little chair to enjoy.

Prevent child injuries in the home

Consumers Union recently conducted tests—demonstrated in the video, at right—to study the hazards associated with placing televisions of various sizes on top of unstable furniture.

And last Friday, ASTM International announced an important revision of its furniture safety standard to address tip over hazards.

The new standard, called “Safety Specification for Chests, Door Chests, and Dressers,” is intended to reduce injuries and deaths to children from the tip over of dressers, chests of drawers, and other common clothing storage units.

Each year, about a dozen children are killed when furniture they climb on tips over, or when a TV set atop that furniture topples on them. Recent research estimated that an average of 14,700 serious injuries per year—with a growing injury rate—are associated with tipping furniture. (Learn how to prevent tipover injuries by childproofing the bedroom and childproofing the living room or den.)

This must come as welcome news to parents like Bob and Judy Lambert, whose daughter Katie Elise Lambert died four years ago at the age of three when a large wardrobe cabinet fell on top of her. The Lamberts have worked to strengthen the safety standard.

Read the rest of this post on our Safety blog.

Help your child cope with vaccine pain

There's no getting around it: shots aren't fun for anyone—not the child, the parent, or the anxious sibling.

Although injections are over quickly, those few moments of sharp pain can be upsetting for all. But, according to a new study, there may be a simple way to reduce a child's distress when getting multiple shots: give the least painful one first. (Learn more about baby and child immunizations.)

The study included 120 healthy babies age 2 to 6 months who were getting two shots: the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and the combination vaccine for diphtheria, polio, tetanus, pertussis and Haemophilus influenzae type b (DPTaP-Hib). The PCV vaccine is the more painful of the two, which experts attribute to its lower pH (this means it's more acidic).

The babies were randomly assigned to get either the PCV or DPTaP-Hib vaccine first. Neither the parents nor the doctors knew which shots were being injected when, as the syringes were labeled only with the order they were to be given. The babies were videotaped during the injections, with a researcher scoring their pain based on facial expressions, crying and body movements. Parents were also asked to rate their child's pain on a scale of zero to 10.

Babies who were given the less painful DPTaP-Hib shot first showed less pain overall than those who had the PCV vaccine first. Parents also rated their babies' pain as lower when the DPTaP-Hib shot was given first.

Read the rest of this post on our Health blog.

Safety gates for babies

Safety gates become key equipment once your little one starts crawling. Use them at the top of stairs or between rooms. You can also use a gate to keep a pet away from a child (and vice versa), and as an instant childproofing tool that can travel with you to hotels and to Grandma’s house. Child safety gates are intended for children between 6 months and 24 months of age.

Here are some shopping tips:

Decide where you’ll use it. A hardware-mounted safety gate is harder to dislodge than a pressure-mounted gate. That’s why it is the only choice anywhere security is paramount, such as the top of a stairway. For less hazardous areas such as between rooms, a portable pressure-mounted gate may do the trick.

Size up the slats. Avoid gates with horizontal slats; they’re an invitation for a child to climb. Luckily, there don’t seem to be many on the market. Some gates have enough space between their vertical slats to let adventurous toddlers get a foothold on the gate’s horizontal bottom rail. They won’t be able to climb up the gate, but they may be able to hop onto the bottom rail and go for a ride, which could be unsafe—perhaps even dislodging a pressure gate—or strain the gate’s integrity. So look for narrow spaces between the vertical slats. Vertical slats or bars should be less than 3 inches apart to prevent head entrapment, but try to find slats even closer together.

Check construction. Look for sturdy construction and an even finish. Wood surfaces should be smooth, splinter-free, and fashioned with rounded rather than sharply squared edges. Metal is more durable than wood. Some metal gates have a support bar that crosses the floor beneath the gate, which could cause tripping when the gate is open.

Do your homework. Bring width measurements of doors or openings with you when you shop, and try to avoid gates that will need to be at their maximum width to fit; they may wobble.

Try it before you buy. Most tested models have a dual-action latch that can be opened with one adult hand. If possible, test models in the store to make sure they’re easy for you to use. Tip: Once you choose a gate, don’t forget to show people who come to your home (workers, babysitters, relatives) how it works. We’ve heard stories of hardware-mounted gates being ripped from homeowners’ walls when frustrated workers couldn’t open the latch.

What not to buy: Old-fashioned accordion-style gates
Old-fashioned, accordion-style wooden gates have diamond-shaped spaces between the slats and V-shaped openings at the top that pose an entrapment and strangulation hazard. You may run across them at tag sales, thrift stores, and other secondhand markets. If you have this type of gate, replace it with another model. Although there are newer accordion-style gates on the market that meet current ASTM safety standards—which include smaller openings to reduce the risk of trapping heads and necks—the points formed at the top by the diamond-shaped openings might snag clothing or necklaces. We recommend avoiding these new gates too, unless they have a bar across the top.

Minnesota bans BPA from plastic baby bottles

Last week, Minnesota became the first state to ban BPA (bisphenol A) from plastic baby bottles and sippy cups, when Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the Toxic-Free Kids Act into law, according to Minnesota Public Radio. Earlier this year, Suffolk County, in New York, passed a measure banning the sale of the chemical there. Other states considering similar bans, include California, Connecticut, Michigan, and New York.

There is also a bill introduced in Congress that if passed would impose a nationwide ban on the chemical plastic additive in food and beverage containers.

All of this comes on the heels of the Food and Drugs Administration’s inaction in the face of growing evidence of health risks posed by BPA—even as some plastic manufacturers and retailers have vowed to stop selling BPA-containing products.

Read the rest of this post on our Health blog.

How little kids can escape through pet doors

Because many pet doors are the size of a standard sheet of paper or smaller, parents may believe their child is safely contained inside the home. But a typical three-year-old male child weighs only 38 pounds and can easily pass through an opening that size.

One afternoon in August 2006, two-year-old Matthew Ranfone wriggled through a pet door in his Orlando home and made his way to the family’s backyard pool. A few minutes later, his parents found him floating face down. Medical personnel were able to revive the toddler on the way to the hospital, but he died 13 days later from the injuries sustained in the near drowning. (See petaccessdangers.org.)

Accidents involving children escaping through pet doors are more common than one might think, says Sean Kane, president of Safety Research and Strategies, who has been researching the issue nationally. In the past decade, more than 100 children have drowned, nearly drowned, or been injured after leaving the home through a pet door, he says.

Kane identified the incidents through news stories, public health specialists, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and coroners/medical examiners. “But the total number to date underestimates the true scope of the problem because most accidental drownings are classified only by cause of death or injury and do not identify how the child accessed the water,” he says.

“Child-injury researchers are well aware of the link between pet access doors and child injury and death, but many parents and caregivers do not appreciate the risk associated with use of a pet door, and how young children can drown, become lost, wander into streets, or otherwise become seriously injured or killed after exiting a home through a pet door.” (Read the rest of this post on our Safety blog.)

See our related report on how to childproof your deck, porch, and yard.

Q & A: Five point harness booster car seats

Q: I’ve heard that using a booster seat with a five-point harness is best for as long as possible. But is there a certain point at which five-point harnesses are no longer safe?

A: There is a point at which using a toddler booster seat with the 5-point internal harness is no longer considered safe and it’s based on your child’s weight.

Toddler booster seats with an internal harness are for toddlers 20 to 40 pounds. (For seat specs, check the owner’s manual of the seat you buy.) Some toddler-boosters can be used with the seat’s own harness for weights up to 65 or even as high as 80 pounds, for kids who are heavier than average for their age. But if the toddler booster seat you buy can’t be used that way, it’s time to trade-up to a belt-positioning booster seat when your child reaches the seat’s weight limit.

A belt-positioning booster seat is generally for children weighing 40 to 100 pounds. It uses only the vehicle’s own safety belts to restrain your child, but it’s designed to correctly position both the lap and shoulder portions of the vehicle’s belt correctly across the stronger parts of a child’s body, the collarbone and hip area.

See our car seat timeline, and learn about family friendly vehicles in our Cars blog.

Young children vulnerable to furniture tip-over accidents

This past week, researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio released their findings from a study conducted on injuries among children and adolescents from furniture tip-over. The researchers, which included Dr. Gary Smith, head of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the hospital, used data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission to analyze injuries to children in the U.S. between 1990 and 2007.

During that time, an estimated 264,200 furniture tip-over related injuries occurred that required a trip to the emergency room. That's an average of 14,700 serious injuries per year but the data showed there was actually a greater than 40 percent increase in injuries over the 18-year time period. That’s very disturbing. (Learn more about furniture straps, and see our furniture stability Ratings.)

According to the study, published in Clinical Pediatrics, three-quarters of the injuries were to children 6-years-old and younger, with 1- to 3-year-olds being the most vulnerable. Head and neck injuries were the most common, many the result of a TV falling on a child. Pulling and climbing on furniture accounted for more than 25 percent of the injuries. (Read babies, children, and TV tipover injuries and how to childproof every part of your home)

Read the rest of this post on our Safety blog.

Activity centers--parent and baby friendly features

As you may know, a stationary activity center is a safer alternative to a doorway jumper or a walker because it keeps your baby busy while he stays in one spot. Your baby is eligible for one as soon as he can sit up unassisted (typically starting at around 4 to 6 months). He’ll outgrow it when he’s 30 to 32 inches tall or weighs 25 to 30 pounds. In the mean time, he’s all set for lots of fun. (See our full report on stationary activity centers for babies.)

Use these features to help you choose the right model for your baby:

Motion. Some activity centers offer merely a stationary seat. Others feature a seat that swivels 360 degrees, with springs that allow the unit to bounce when baby moves and create a rocking motion. If you’ve got an active baby, consider getting a higher-octane model.

Stabilizers. These anchor the frame in a stationary position. They’re a must to keep a rocking activity center from becoming too turbulent or if you want to feed your baby in her activity center. Check them out. The stabilizers should seem sturdy. (See our activity center safety tips.)

Adjustable height. Many models offer legs that adjust to three heights, so the activity center can grow as your baby grows. The height of the play tray is the key. When the tray is at the proper height, your baby’s feet will touch the floor and her legs will be straight when she’s seated. If your baby is on her tippy toes when she’s seated, the tray is too high. If her knees are bent when she’s seated, it’s too low. Keep tabs on this feature. You may have to adjust the legs (without your baby in it) every month or so, just to keep pace with your baby’s growth.

Seat. More expensive models have cushy seat padding. Seat pads are typically removable for machine washing, which is a real plus. You might have to air-dry them, though. Check the care and maintenance requirements on the label or in the instruction manual.

Your battery budget. All activity centers feature a play tray with attached interactive toys, such as a fun house mirror, a spinning stoplight, picture books, and bead toys along with lights, songs, sounds, and sometimes bilingual voices. To make these gizmos work, you’ll need up to 12 AAA batteries, depending on the model. In general, more expensive models are loaded with exciting options and have lots of ways to bounce and rock so your baby feels like she’s on the go. They also require more battery power.

Bicycle seats vs. bike trailers for children

Q: I’m in the market to buy a bicycle seat so I can ride my bike with my 1 year old. Which is safer—a bicycle-mounted seat or a bike trailer?

A: Both types of bicycle seats have their safety issues. Because of its low profile, a bicycle trailer, which attaches to the rear axle or frame of a bike and can transport one child age 1 to 6 or so, can be difficult for motorists to see, especially in limited light. (If you go this route, get a 31/2 -foot- to 7-foot-tall, high-visibility orange flag for it.) Trailers are also wider than the bike, so they take up more of the roadway. If you’re riding on the shoulder of a road, which we don’t recommend because we consider trailers “off-road” vehicles, the trailer can stick out into the road if you’re not careful. And trailers can tip over if you turn abruptly or turn when one wheel is going over a bump. As you speed up, braking becomes harder, especially on wet surfaces. Trailers can become snagged on bushes or other objects.

Despite these pitfalls, however, we recommend opting for a bicycle trailer over a bicycle-mounted seat. Here are three major reasons why:

--It’s lower to the ground. Trailers, which have two bicycle-type wheels and a long hitching arm that fastens to a bicycle from behind and ride low to the ground, are potentially safer in an accident. That’s because a child would fall about three feet from a mounted bike seat compared with a fall of about 6 inches from a trailer. A mounted bike seat, which can transport one child age 1 to 5, is positioned behind or in front of a cyclist’s seat. (In either case, your child faces forward.)

--A bicycle trailer may be easier to maneuver. With the added weight of a little passenger at the back or front, a bicycle with a mounted seat might be harder to handle, which can be unnerving or just annoying, depending on how experienced you are as a cyclist. Getting on and off a bike with a baby in a mounted seat can also be difficult.

--It’s less risky. A bicycle trailer provides some protection to passengers since kids are seated, strapped in, and usually enclosed in a zippered compartment. Trailers have a rigid frame enclosed in durable fabric, which offers some protection for young passengers if the unit rolls over. Some designs have a hitching arm that allows the bike to fall without tipping the trailer. But kids still must wear a bike helmet.

Although both types of bicycle carriers have safety issues, the American Academy of Pediatrics states that is preferable for a child to ride in a bicycle trailer rather than a front or rear-mounted bicycle seat because “a young passenger on an adult’s bike makes the bike unstable and increases braking time.” (See the AAP's tip sheet.) The AAP believes that a mishap at any speed on a bicycle-mounted seat could cause significant injury to a child.

See our full report on bicycle seats and trailers.

Swine flu virus advice for parents and children

Schools have been one of the main avenues of transmission of the H1N1 (swine) flu in the U.S. Some individual schools have closed, and in Fort Worth, Texas, all public schools were closed through May 11, according to the New York Times. More closings will likely follow.

All parents should stay informed about flu incidence in their local communities and teach their children about the simple measures that can help prevent infection.

If you live in a community where the H1N1 flu has been diagnosed or suspected, stay in contact with your school or daycare, and local public health authorities to get the latest information and guidance.

Read the full post on our Health blog for the key prevention, planning, and treatment recommendations from the federal government and Consumer Reports’ medical experts. And keep up-to-date with our ongoing swine flu advice and recommendations.