Home cleaning tips with fewer chemicals

Parents naturally want to do everything they can to keep their children safe. But ironically, some of the same products we use to clean and freshen our homes can also introduce unwanted chemicals that linger in the air. Certain household cleaners and air fresheners fall into that category because they can emit volatile organic compounds.

Ongoing exposure to VOCs can contribute to eye, skin, and respiratory irritation; short- and long-term memory impairment; and even organ damage and cancer, depending on the specific chemicals and the extent of the exposure.

Here are some steps you can take to avoid introducing VOCs to your indoor air when you clean:

Avoid aerosol sprays. These include air fresheners, cleaners, and furniture polish.

Consider fume-free or homemade cleaners and avoid mixing and using different cleaners simultaneously. Check out these do-it-yourself cleaning recipes.

Prevent odors. Rather than using air fresheners, get rid of the source of the odor or leave a box of baking soda in the smelly area.

Limit dry cleaning that uses perc (perchloroethylene) and air out treated items before bringing them indoors. You can also try “wet” cleaning or other services that don’t use perc.

Read the rest of this and other posts on our ShopSmart blog. And learn more about low-VOC interior paints on our Home blog.

Do you try to minimize chemicals in your home? How? We'd like to hear your tips.

Stationary activity centers: Getting started

These all-in-one, molded-plastic play stations typically resemble traditional walkers—but without the wheels, which makes them a less risky way for your baby to have fun and get a little exercise.

A stationary activity center keeps your baby relatively safe in one spot while you do other things, such as make dinner—and maybe even eat some of it, too. A stationary activity center can be used as soon as your baby can sit up unassisted (some start at about 4 months and most by 6 months).

Most stationary activity centers adjust to three or more heights. Your baby will outgrow it when he’s 30 to 32 inches tall or weighs 25 to 30 pounds; that’s the maximum height and weight recommendation for most activity centers. You should stop using the activity center when your child can walk or even stand up by himself. A standing or walking child can tip it over and get injured or trapped. (See more activity center safety tips.)

Do you use a stationery activity center for your child? Share your experiences.

Baby weekender: Restaurant high chairs

Restaurant high chairs are notorious for having broken safety restraints and other defects. They can be dirty too, since chances are the chair you plop your toddler into hasn’t been cleaned since the last child used it.

One option: Bring your own portable hook-on chair (keep one in the trunk of your car). The JPMA currently certifies four brands of hook-on chairs: The Graco Travel Lite Table Chair, which retails for around $34.99, Chicco’s Caddy Hook-On high chair ($30), the Dorel Eddie Bauer Portable Hook-On Chair, ($39.99), and the Munchkin Feeding Friend Portable Hook-On Chair ($42.99). Consumer Reports has not tested them, however. Use one with a table top only, not with tablecloths or place mats.

If you do use the restaurant’s high chair, clean it with a baby wipe before putting your child in it. Clean his home high chair after every meal, too.

See our full report on high chairs for related information. And see our new baby book, Consumer Reports Best Baby Products, in our bookstore and in stores nationwide.

Child health and safety news roundup

Should you change your baby's formula?
When parents choose to bottle feed, they often interpret "difficult" behavior as a sign that cow's milk formula doesn't suit their baby. However, a new study suggests that you might not gain much by switching. Read the rest of this post on our Health blog.

Kids, camp, and flu prevention
We’re seeing an extended flu season this year partly because it has been a cool spring in many parts of the country. Schools are controlled environments with plenty of soap and water, but what about a less-controlled environment, like camp? Read the rest of this post on our Health blog.

Sam's Club entices kids to their … pharmacy?
Consumer Reports’ sister blog, the Consumerist, recently reported that a Sam's Club in Salisbury, Maryland is enticing kids to their pharmacy with pill bottles filled with candy. This is just the latest example of lousy marketing to kids. Read the rest of this post on our Safety blog.

Tag sales and recalled products
It’s now illegal to sell any product at a tag sale or garage sale that has been recalled. So before you slap price stickers on the stash in your basement, check www.recalls.gov. And if you’re shopping, we caution you not to buy a used crib, particularly one with drop sides or made before 1999. Also steer clear of car seats, play yards and any kids’ clothing with drawstrings. Read the rest of this post on our Safety blog.

Safety gates: Where you need them, how to install them

It’s crucial to get the right type of safety gate for each location in your home. Gates used at the top of stairs, indoors or outside, must be hardware-mounted. You can use pressure-mounted gates at the bottom of stairs and between rooms.

Prices range from $12.99 for a basic wooden pressure-mounted gate that extends to a maximum of 41 inches, to $134.99 for a wall-mounted gate of three 24-inch interlocking adjustable sections.

Here are more details on the two gate types:

Hardware-mounted or permanent gate
This type of gate requires screws for installation in a doorway. You drill holes in a door frame or into the studs behind a wall and attach the gate with brackets and screws. If properly secured to the doorjamb or between two walls, hardware-mounted gates are the most secure choice, although no gate can be guaranteed to keep a child in or out. Many hardware-mounted gates are made of wood, enamel-coated steel, or aluminum tubing.

Where you’ll need it: At the top of the stairs. Hardware-mounted gates are the only safe choice for stair locations. Most will swing open only one way, although you can decide which way you want a gate to swing. At the top of the stairs, a gate should swing away from the stairs (not over them) for maximum safety.

Installation: You must drill holes into the door frame or, if the opening doesn’t have a wood door frame, you must drill through the drywall or plaster into the wood framing behind. (You can fill in the holes later with wood putty or wall-patching compound when you no longer use the gate.) You can remove many of these gates from the mounting hardware when you want the doorway or opening free.

Pressure-mounted gate
A pressure-mounted gate is held in an opening by pressure against the door frame or walls. This type of gate can have two sliding panels that adjust to make the gate fit the opening. (You remove the panels or slide them to the side to walk through.) A pressure bar or some other locking mechanism then wedges the gate into place without hardware. A swing-style pressure-mounted gate, which has a gate door that swings open, is also an option. Pressure keeps it in place and installation doesn’t require drilling. Like hardware-mounted gates, pressure-mounted gates are often made of wood, enamel-coated steel, or aluminum tubing. They may also be made of plastic, wire, or nylon mesh or plastic-coated wire, which may be framed with end tubes and top rails of either wood or coated metal. A few are made with transparent plastic center panels.

Where you’ll need it: Pressure-mounted gates are suitable for less hazardous locations, such as between rooms. They’re useful in areas where falling isn’t a major concern, such as in a doorway separating two areas with same-level flooring; you might use one, for example, to cordon off your kitchen so you can make dinner without a crawling baby underfoot. You could also use one at the bottom of a stairway to discourage your little climber from venturing upstairs. Many manufacturers recommend not using a pressure-mounted gate at the top of stairs. We believe it is unsafe to use anything but a hardware-mounted gate at the top of stairs.

Installation: To set one up, you adjust it to fit the opening by squeezing it into position. A pressure bar or other locking mechanism wedges the gate in place, leaving no permanent holes, although it may mar the door frame or wall. Basic pressure gates fit openings between 26 and 38 inches, give or take a few inches, depending on the model. Many homes have wider door openings, so manufacturers offer wider models—some as wide as 62 inches. Some models have optional extensions you purchase separately. The Summer Infant Sure & Secure Custom-Fit Gate ($109, www.target.com), for example, can expand to fit openings as wide as 12 feet simply by adding more panels. (We have not tested this product.)

What does the JPMA certification seal really mean?

If you’re in the market for baby products, you’re likely to find the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) seal on many of them. JPMA certification seal means that a baby product has been tested by an independent facility and met the guidelines set by standards developer ASTM International.

JPMA is a national trade association of 300 companies that make and/or import baby products, that administers a program that certifies manufacturers. Although JPMA certification is a handy product reference point, not all babies' and children’s products, such as crib mattresses, pacifiers, and toys, are included in the certification program. However, these products must still meet federal standards—and can be recalled if they are not in compliance with the law.

Throughout Consumer Reports Best Baby Products, available in Consumer Reports' online bookstore and from all major booksellers, we note the products that are certified, which can guide your shopping trips. And for more information about the JPMA Certification Seal, visit www.jpma.org.

Child safety around cars: Two children perish in locked trunk

After the deaths last week of two Arkansas children who became locked in a car trunk, Kids and Cars has asked General Motors to recall sedans made in the 2000-01 model year before trunk-release latches became standard equipment.

Curtis Markley, 5, and his sister Virgina, 4, of Springdale, AR were discovered dead in the locked trunk of a 2000 Chevrolet Malibu. An autopsy report lists the cause of death as accidental environmental hyperthermia, or high body temperature. The temperature was in the 80s the day the siblings went missing.

Janette Fennell, founder and president of Kids and Cars, said she's sure Curtis and Virginia would have found their way out of the trunk if the car had been equipped with an emergency latch. She is pressing for a recall of older sedans.

Every year, some 10 to 20 people die trapped in a car trunk, estimates Fennell. Interior release handles have been mandatory since the 2002 model year. Entrapment incidents mostly happen in older cars, which aren't equipped with release handles.

To remedy that, some carmakers offered retrofit kits, but they are no longer available. Consumer Reports tested a retrofit kit called the Quick-Out Emergency Trunk Release that is available for $18 including shipping and handling. We found the kit easy to install using common tools. The handle glows in the dark making it easy to find, and the force required to pull the trunk release was easy for an adult.

If you are buying a sedan made before 2002, check to see if it's equipped with an interior trunk-release handle. If not, install the Quick-Out Emergency Trunk Release.

Read the rest of this post on our Safety blog, and see our Kids & cars safety guide for more information.

Family "staycations" may not be so bad after all

The “staycation” may have been created by children.

Traveling with kids is no fun, at least not to me. Call me inflexible, but to me, a vacation has always been an experience that’s more fun and pleasure than work, and traveling with kids flips that equation.

I adore my 4-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son, and want them to be happy. But their idea of a good time is as simple as going to the park for an open-ended afternoon, having my full attention while I sprawl on the floor and show some interest in what they’re doing, or going to the local diner for their favorite foods and people-watching. And when they’re happy, it makes my husband and me happy. So we may as well stay home!

After reading my colleague Tod Marks’ excellent Money blog on how to take advantage of staycations, I ran home full of ideas to start planning my family’s next one in August. Hope it offers you as many good ideas as it did me. And check out blogs like this one from Informers Corner for more local, low-cost activities. If you have other ideas, share them here!—Artemis DiBenedetto

BPA, phthalates, and other toxins in the news

It's hard to consume the news these days without stumbling upon another strange ingredient or contaminant that's been implicated in a host of health risks. Here's a glossary of toxins in the news that relate to babies and kids:

Bisphenol A (BPA)
An ingredient of polycarbonate (one of the plastics that may have the number 7 recycling mark or the letters PC on the bottom), BPA has been linked to developmental and reproductive problems, prompting some states, municipalities and manufacturers to take steps to stop using it for children's products and materials that come in contact with food. 

Phthalates
A group of compounds used as plasticizers and as ingredients in some pliable plastics, some perfumes and personal care products, phthalates mimic the hormone estrogen in ways that are linked to certain birth defects and reproductive problems.  

Melamine and cyanuric acid
These nitrogen-rich compounds have been used to artificially (and illegally) boost the apparent protein content of various human and animal food products. The adulteration of pet food and infant formula in China with melamine led to critical illnesses and numerous deaths when the compounds crystallized in the urinary tract, causing severe kidney problems, particularly in infants.

Toxic metals and minerals
Mercury and lead are probably the most familiar and among the most toxic metals. As are asbestos and arsenic. These inorganic substances (meaning they don't contain carbon atoms) persist in many older homes in the form of insulation (asbestos), old paint and plumbing (lead), pressure treated decks (arsenic) and in the environment through the food chain (mercury in fish). Though many uses of these substances have been banned or phased out, some, such as lead, continue to turn up in cheap imports like kid's jewelry. Some applications, like mercury in dental amalgams and fluorescent light bulbs, have yet to be completely eliminated.

To read the rest of this post, including what can be done about toxins, see our Safety blog.

8 ways to save big on baby stuff

Unless you’re careful, a new baby can take a surprisingly big bite out of your budget. Here’s an overview of some the smartest ways to save on baby gear. For more ideas on specific products, see the new 10th edition of Consumer Reports Best Baby Products, available in our online bookstore and at bookstores nationwide.

Take advantage of freebies and coupons. If you don’t mind getting your name on mailing lists, call the toll-free customer-service lines or register at the Web sites of formula, baby-food, and disposable diaper companies for their parenting newsletters and new-parent programs, including coupons and free samples. Even if you don’t register, you may get them anyway. Somehow, when you have a new baby, word gets out.

Consider a discount club membership. At places like Costco or BJs Wholesale Club, you’ll reap discounts on everyday items you’ll use a lot, such as disposable diapers, baby wipes, and laundry detergent. Sign on for the loyalty savings card program at your drugstore and supermarket and you’ll receive discounts that can rack up savings.

Buy as your baby grows. Except for the basics like a car seat, clothes, and a crib, don’t buy baby products until you’re sure you’ll need them. The wait-and-see approach gives you time to check with friends about their experiences with specific baby products and ultimately can save you money. You may be able to borrow some items. Others might not seem necessary once you understand what your baby’s needs are.

Watch for sales. Retailers such as Toys “R” Us, Babies “R” Us, and BuyBuyBaby routinely put out newspaper inserts and in-store fliers with big savings on brand-name baby items.

Go online. If you shop online, compare prices of cribs, changing tables, and hundreds of other baby products quickly by logging on to a shopping Web site such as www.bizrate.com, www.epinions.com (which also offers product advice from fellow parents), www.nextag.com, or www.shopping.com. For additional savings online, log onto sites such as www.couponcabin.com for online coupons from major e-tailers. Be mindful of shipping costs—they can sometimes wipe out any savings.

Consider buying some items used. Gently used baby clothes and toys can sometimes be found in thrift stores, online, and at yard sales at a small fraction of their original retail prices. But some items such as car seats and cribs always should be purchased new to ensure they comply with updated safety requirements and have no hidden flaws.

Weigh warranties. Hold on to warranty information so you can refer to it if there’s a problem. You may find a warranty being used as a sales tool. Some less expensive but adequately firm baby mattresses, for example, offer no warranties, while top-of-the-line models may have a “lifetime guarantee.” Is that protection you need to pay for? You’ll find the answer in the crib mattress chapter of Consumer Reports Best Baby Products.

Power your showers. Be sure you get the gifts you want and will use. Explore the marketplace yourself and then register with retailers that stock your choices, including major online merchants, like Amazon.com. Don’t hesitate to request practical items. Although frilly baby clothes are often a gift-giver’s first choice, a supply of diapers or formula can mean much more. Register for and request bigger-ticket gear too, like a stroller, play yard, or changing table.

Children and lawn mower injuries

At age eight, Kenleigh Merritt has undergone eight surgeries to repair leg injuries she suffered in a lawn mower accident two years ago. In a frightening instant, Kenleigh slipped and fell underneath a riding mower as the grass at her suburban home was being cut. "It scared me so much," she said later. "My life was frozen fear."

Unfortunately, such accidents occur all too frequently: 77,000 people are rushed to the emergency room each year from accidents involving lawn mowers. At least 10 percent of those are children 18 and under, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Lawn mower injuries include deep cuts, loss of fingers and toes, broken and dislocated bones, burns, and eye and other injuries. Some injuries are very serious. Both users of mowers and those who are nearby can be hurt. (Learn more about keeping babies and kids safe on the deck, porch, or yard.)

See our safe mowing tips in the full post on our Safety blog.

At age eight, Kenleigh Merritt has undergone eight surgeries to repair leg injuries she suffered in a lawn mower accident two years ago. In a frightening instant, Kenleigh slipped and fell underneath a riding mower as the grass at her suburban home was being cut. "It scared me so much," she said later. "My life was frozen fear."

Unfortunately, such accidents occur all too frequently: 77,000 people are rushed to the emergency room each year from accidents involving lawn mowers. At least 10 percent of those are children 18 and under, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Lawn mower injuries include deep cuts, loss of fingers and toes, broken and dislocated bones, burns, and eye and other injuries. Some injuries are very serious. Both users of mowers and those who are nearby can be hurt. (Learn more about keeping babies and kids safe on the deck, porch, or yard.)

See our safe mowing tips in the full post on our Safety blog.

Best outdoor summer toys for kids

With the coming of lazy summer days, when kids might complain that there's "nothing to do," Consumer Reports selected seven outdoor toys and asked kids to test them. These toys serve a dual purpose: to encourage children to enjoy the outdoors, while raising their activity level.

To do the job, we recruited eleven children ages 6 through 13, and let them loose at our headquarters in Yonkers to try each toy.

The toys kids tested included: the Razor RipRider 360º Caster Trike, SpinMaster Air Hogs Wind Chaser Remote Control Stunt Kite, Nerf Big Bad Bow, Stellar Toys Flip N Flyer Gyroscopic Flying Disc, Smart Lab Blast-Off Rocket Racer, PlaSmart PlasmaCar, and Crayola Sidewalk Paint Airbrush. Find out what the kids thought in our full outdoor summer toys report!

And to learn more about toys for younger kids, see toys for babies and young children.

With the coming of lazy summer days, when kids might complain that there's "nothing to do," Consumer Reports selected seven outdoor toys and asked kids to test them. These toys serve a dual purpose: to encourage children to enjoy the outdoors, while raising their activity level.

To do the job, we recruited eleven children ages 6 through 13, and let them loose at our headquarters in Yonkers to try each toy.

The toys kids tested included: the Razor RipRider 360º Caster Trike, SpinMaster Air Hogs Wind Chaser Remote Control Stunt Kite, Nerf Big Bad Bow, Stellar Toys Flip N Flyer Gyroscopic Flying Disc, Smart Lab Blast-Off Rocket Racer, PlaSmart PlasmaCar, and Crayola Sidewalk Paint Airbrush. Find out what the kids thought in our full outdoor summer toys report!

And to learn more about toys for younger kids, see toys for babies and young children.

With the coming of lazy summer days, when kids might complain that there's "nothing to do," Consumer Reports selected seven outdoor toys and asked kids to test them. These toys serve a dual purpose: to encourage children to enjoy the outdoors, while raising their activity level.

To do the job, we recruited eleven children ages 6 through 13, and let them loose at our headquarters in Yonkers to try each toy.

The toys kids tested included: the Razor RipRider 360º Caster Trike, SpinMaster Air Hogs Wind Chaser Remote Control Stunt Kite, Nerf Big Bad Bow, Stellar Toys Flip N Flyer Gyroscopic Flying Disc, Smart Lab Blast-Off Rocket Racer, PlaSmart PlasmaCar, and Crayola Sidewalk Paint Airbrush. Find out what the kids thought in our full outdoor summer toys report!

And to learn more about toys for younger kids, see toys for babies and young children.

Children left in hot cars: 6 deaths so far this year

It’s not yet the height of summer, but high temperatures have killed two children in the past several days. Not outside temperatures though. The heat and the children were inside closed cars.

This week, newspapers in the Bay Area reported that a four-month-old boy died when his father forgot to drop him at daycare and instead left him in the car all day while he was at work. Although the outside temperature was only in the 60s, reports say the air in the car would likely have topped 100 degrees. Also this week, a three-year-old in Warwick, RI was found dead in a car parked in front of the family’s house. His mother called the police when he was discovered missing, according to the Providence Journal. Police believe he climbed into the car on his own.

These are heartbreaking updates to data tracked by the department of Geosciences at San Francisco State University, which lists six hyperthermia deaths of children in vehicles so far in 2009.

Here are some tips from NHTSA to help prevent hyperthermia incidents such as these:

• Never leave a child unattended in a vehicle.
• Do not let your children play in an unattended vehicle.
• Never leave infants or children in a parked vehicle, even if the windows are partially open or with the engine running and the air conditioning on.
• Make a habit of looking in the vehicle—front and back—before locking the door and walking away.
• If you are bringing your child to daycare, and normally it's your spouse or partner who brings him, have that person call you to make sure everything went according to plan.
• Ask your childcare provider to call you if your child does not show up for childcare.
• Do

things to remind yourself that a child is in the vehicle, such as:        

• Writing yourself a note and putting the note where you will see it when you leave the vehicle;
• placing your purse, briefcase or something else you need in the back seat so that you will have to check the back seat when you leave the vehicle; or
• keeping an object in the car seat, such as a stuffed toy. When the child is buckled in, place the object where the driver will notice it when he or she is leaving the vehicle

Always lock vehicle doors and trunks and keep keys out of children's reach. If a child is missing, check the vehicle first, including the trunk.

If you see a child alone in a hot vehicle, call the police. If they are in distress due to heat, get them out as quickly as possible. Warning signs may include: red, hot, and moist or dry skin, no sweating, a strong rapid pulse or a slow weak pulse, nausea or acting strangely.

Learn more in the full post on our Safety blog, and go to KidsandCars.org for more information.

It’s not yet the height of summer, but high temperatures have killed two children in the past several days. Not outside temperatures though. The heat and the children were inside closed cars.

This week, newspapers in the Bay Area reported that a four-month-old boy died when his father forgot to drop him at daycare and instead left him in the car all day while he was at work. Although the outside temperature was only in the 60s, reports say the air in the car would likely have topped 100 degrees. Also this week, a three-year-old in Warwick, RI was found dead in a car parked in front of the family’s house. His mother called the police when he was discovered missing, according to the Providence Journal. Police believe he climbed into the car on his own.

These are heartbreaking updates to data tracked by the department of Geosciences at San Francisco State University, which lists six hyperthermia deaths of children in vehicles so far in 2009.

Here are some tips from NHTSA to help prevent hyperthermia incidents such as these:

• Never leave a child unattended in a vehicle.
• Do not let your children play in an unattended vehicle.
• Never leave infants or children in a parked vehicle, even if the windows are partially open or with the engine running and the air conditioning on.
• Make a habit of looking in the vehicle—front and back—before locking the door and walking away.
• If you are bringing your child to daycare, and normally it's your spouse or partner who brings him, have that person call you to make sure everything went according to plan.
• Ask your childcare provider to call you if your child does not show up for childcare.
• Do

things to remind yourself that a child is in the vehicle, such as:        

• Writing yourself a note and putting the note where you will see it when you leave the vehicle;
• placing your purse, briefcase or something else you need in the back seat so that you will have to check the back seat when you leave the vehicle; or
• keeping an object in the car seat, such as a stuffed toy. When the child is buckled in, place the object where the driver will notice it when he or she is leaving the vehicle

Always lock vehicle doors and trunks and keep keys out of children's reach. If a child is missing, check the vehicle first, including the trunk.

If you see a child alone in a hot vehicle, call the police. If they are in distress due to heat, get them out as quickly as possible. Warning signs may include: red, hot, and moist or dry skin, no sweating, a strong rapid pulse or a slow weak pulse, nausea or acting strangely.

Learn more in the full post on our Safety blog, and go to KidsandCars.org for more information.

The top tether and forward-facing car seat installations

After getting a new car recently, my parents wanted to move the toddler booster seat they keep in their car for my daughter to their newer, safer vehicle. I appreciated their idea, and watched as my husband made the switch. Since he has installed our kids’ car seats in a variety of vehicles, I was surprised that he was unable to install it, even after several minutes of trying.

Installing a car seat is difficult, and the variations among child seats and cars’ back seats don’t make it any easier. Adding to the difficulty is the installation of the top tether, a strap built into the top of the child seat with a hook at the end that fastens on to an anchor in cars equipped with the LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) system. Consumers often install it incorrectly or overlook the top tether entirely. You’ll likely find top tether anchors on the rear parcel shelf for sedans (see image above, left) and on the rear seatbacks for SUVs and hatchbacks (see image above, right).

In a survey conducted in 2006 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, only about half of the child safety seats installed in a vehicle equipped with an upper tether anchor were actually attached to the vehicle using a top tether, mainly because people didn’t know how to use it or didn’t think using it was necessary. We recently tested forward-facing convertible car seats both with and without top tethers. Based on those results, children are less likely to sustain injury in seats where the top tethers are attached. (See our new convertible car seat Ratings.)

I suggested that my husband consult the car’s instruction manual, which seemed to be the answer. Sure enough, the installation was very different from any we’d done before, particularly the installation of the top tether, which differed from the way it’s installed in our car.

Top tethers, when available, should always be attached for forward-facing seats, whether the seat is installed with the seatbelts or the LATCH system. Find more installation tips at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s LATCH page. If your vehicle isn’t equipped with a top tether anchor (many cars manufactured before 2002 don’t have them), ask your dealer about having one installed.

--Artemis DiBenedetto, Web associate editor

Bonavita and Babi Italia drop side cribs recalled

LaJobi has recalled 4,900 drop-side cribs because of two different design flaws that can result in entrapment and strangulation hazards, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reported today.

The company has received at least 49 reports of cribs failing including reports of injuries. The models in one recall include the Bonavita "Hudson" drop-side crib and Babi Italia "Pinehurst" drop-side crib. The second recall involves the Bonavita “Cabana” drop-side crib. In the notices, the CPSC is urging parents and caregivers to stop using the recalled cribs and find an alternative, safe sleeping environment for their baby. (See our crib report and Ratings, which includes the Babi Italia Pinehurst crib with stationary sides, not drop sides.)

Learn details about the recalls and find out what you can do on in the full post on our Safety blog.