Do Baby Wordsworth DVDs help your baby talk?

Although quite chatty now, our daughter wasn't an early talker. I clearly remember the worry I felt when her doctor expressed mild concern over her lack of words. As a parent, it's hard not to obsess over such developmental milestones, and you do what you can to help your child learn and grow.

One tool many parents turn to are educational DVDs for babies and toddlers, some of which focus on language. However, a new study suggests that such tools do not actually help young children learn new words or improve their overall language skills. The study focused on the Baby Wordsworth DVD, which is part of the Baby Einstein series.

Ninety-six children aged 12 months to 24 months participated in the study, and half watched the DVD regularly for six weeks. Parents were told to use the DVD as they would any other type of children's media, allowing them to decide whether they would watch the DVD with their child.

Every couple of weeks, the researchers tested both groups' knowledge of the 30 words featured in the DVD by showing the children pairs of pictures and asking them to point to the one showing the word. The parents were also interviewed about their child's use and understanding of these words.

At the end of the study, there were no differences between the groups in overall language skills, or in the numbers of words understood, words said, or pictures identified.

Learn more in the full Health blog post.

For related information, see Are high-tech toys worth it?

Infant carrier safety tips

Safe ways to transport infants include strollers, handheld infant carrier/car seats, and strap-on carriers. (See our Safety blog post on the safety concerns about some infant slings.)

Here are some safety tips for using strap-on front- and hip-carriers:

• Read the instruction manual and the warnings on the product before you first wear it to make sure you’re using it properly.
• Before using a carrier at any time, take time to put it on properly. Check that the straps are fitted and adjusted correctly, and the buckles, snaps, straps, and adjustments are safely fastened into position and secure.
• Sit down when placing your baby in the carrier and when taking him out.
• After your child is seated in a carrier, with her legs securely in the leg openings, adjust leg openings to the smallest size possible without cutting into her thighs or seat.
• Make sure your baby can breathe easily when in the carrier. His nose and mouth shouldn’t be obstructed in any way, and his chin should not be pressed against his chest, which carries a risk of asphyxiation.
• Don’t transport your child in a carrier on your back unless it’s made to be worn that way. Note that infants who can’t hold their heads up should never be carried on an adult’s back under any circumstances.
• Use the carrier according to the manufacturer’s weight recommendations. To avoid back and neck strain, stop using a front carrier when your baby reaches 20 pounds, or anytime you feel uncomfortable.
• Until your child can hold her head upright (around 6 months old), she should ride facing toward you with head support.

Baby & child news: BPA in child products, toy retailer banned from U.S., food borne illness

States take action on children's safety issues. The Maryland General Assembly is one step closer to passing a bill that would prohibit the sale, manufacture or distribution of children’s toys or child-care articles, such as baby bottles and sippy cups, that contain Bisphenol A starting in 2012. BPA, a chemical used in clear plastic bottles and in the linings of food and beverage cans, has been linked to developmental and reproductive problems. 

In Kentucky, state officials are seeing to it that word of recalled children’s products gets to parents and child-care providers. KY Kids Alert will e-mail recall notices to some 1,500 child-care centers and homes that have e-mail addresses on file, and mail quarterly notices to another 1,400 that don’t. The Kentucky Attorney General’s office and the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services are also working with other state agencies to get the news out about hazardous children’s products, since half the battle in preventing recalled products from harming anyone is just getting the word out that there’s been a recall. (See the Consumer Reports school safety alert program for recall information). Read the full Safety blog post.

Japanese retailer fined, banned from selling children's products in U.S. Daiso, a huge international retail chain, has agreed to pay a $2.05 million fine and to stop importing toys and children's products into the U.S., according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The company has been accused of importing children's products that violate U.S. laws on lead levels, phthalates, and small parts, among other things. "This landmark agreement for an injunction sets a precedent for any firm attempting to distribute hazardous products to our nation's children" said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. "We are committed to the safety of children's products and we will use the full force of our enforcement powers to prevent the sale of harmful products." (See our toys safety tips and buying guide.) Read the full Safety blog post.

Baby and child news from The Consumerist

Here are some recent baby-and-child related stories from The Consumerist:

Oregon Lawmakers Cool With BPA In Baby Bottles
Most people seem to agree that baby bottles that include the chemical BPA are probably less than awesome to use to feed your baby. States and municipalities have banned BPA, but the beleaguered chemical has finally found some allies in the Oregon state legislature, which voted down a bill that sought to ban it, the Oregonian reports. Read the full post.

Apple Admits To Having Underage Labor In Factories
The iCompany has issued an "oops" on its Web site, admitting that underage workers were employed in three different Apple-affiliated plants last year. In its annual compliance report, Apple confesses, "Across the three facilities, our auditors found records of 11 workers who had been hired prior to reaching the legal age, although the workers were no longer underage or no longer in active employment at the time of our audit." Read the full post.

Hey Companies, Little Kids Are Not An Acceptable Sales Force
Dale writes to us that his two kids came home tasked with a lame magazine subscription assignment on behalf of a classroom magazine called Weekly Reader. It's a little sleazy to use kids to pry cash out of the pockets of relatives and friends, and I hold that opinion as both a kid who has had to do it and an adult who has received the manipulative "please help my school!" plea in the mail. Read the full post.

The Inventor Of The Easy-Bake Oven Has Died
Ronald Howes had an illustrious career as an inventor. While he did some defense work, what we care most about is his work at toy maker Kenner. There, he helped make Play-Doh less toxic, helped create the modern version of the Spirograph, and invented the Easy-Bake oven. He died last month at age 83. Read the full post.

Scalpers Charged With Swarming Online Ticketers So You Couldn't See Hannah Montana
The feds charged four guys in Nevada with hitting online ticket sellers with tons of simultaneous requests, snapping up tickets and then scalping tickets to shows like Hannah Montana and Bruce Springstein. Their company, "Wiseguy Tickets," hired a Bulgarian programmer to bumrush the sites of Ticketmaster, Livenation and MLB and outsmart their crappy CAPTCHA systems to grab up all the prime seats. Read the full post.

Babies & kids safety news roundup

Fourth stroller recalled because hinges pose amputation hazard. Britax has recalled 15,000 "Blink" umbrella strollers because the hinge mechanism poses a fingertip amputation hazard when the stroller is being opened or closed. This is the fourth in a series of stroller recalls because of hinge hazards. Learn more in the full Safety blog post.

CPSC chair takes hard line on defective cribs. Inez Tenenbaum, the chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, had some harsh words for manufacturers who blame the victim when their products are recalled. In her recent keynote address to the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization, Tenenbaum said her agency is cracking down on the makers of defective products, especially children's products. She pledged that the CPSC would issue a new, safer crib standard sometime this year and "not let special interests hijack the process," according to the Washington Post. Learn more in the full Safety blog post.

Should hot dogs be redesigned? In a policy statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics said that food manufacturers should design new foods and redesign existing foods to avoid shapes, sizes, textures, and other characteristics that increase choking risk to children, to the extent possible. "If you were to take the best engineers in the world and try to design the perfect plug for a child's airway, it would be a hot dog," says statement author Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. "I'm a pediatric emergency doctor, and to try to get them out once they're wedged in, it's almost impossible." Lean more in the full Safety blog post.

Babies & kids health news roundup: MMR and autism, childhood obesity, more

Lies, autism, and fear of the MMR vaccine. This month the Lancet retracted a twelve-year-old study proposing a link between autism and the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, following an official repudiation of its ethical and scientific standards by the British General Medical Council, which found that the researchers behind the study had brought “the medical profession into disrepute.” Harsh words that come a little late in the day given the staggering public health consequences the study helped foment. Learn more in the full Health blog post.

Does your child need the ER? Mild infections are common during childhood. But parents often face a difficult decision if they suspect a more serious illness, about whether they need to get medical help. Researchers have come up with a checklist of “red flag” symptoms, and they’re the factors most likely to indicate a dangerous infection. Learn more in the full Health blog post.

3 household habits can offset childhood obesity. A new study has found that a trio of basic household routines—having dinner as a family, limiting TV time, and making sure kids get enough sleep—may substantially lower the risk of obesity for young children. The researchers found that kids were much less likely to be obese if they watched less than two hours of TV on weekdays, slept at least 10.5 hours a night, and ate family meals more than five times a week. Learn more in the full Health blog post.

Is packaged salad clean? You might think that "pre­washed" and "triple-washed" salad greens sold in plastic clamshells or bags are squeaky clean. But our recent tests found room for improvement. In our samples, we did find bacteria that are common indicators of poor sanitation and fecal contamination—in some cases, at rather high levels. Whether the greens came in a clamshell or bag, included "baby" greens, or were organic made no difference. Learn more in the full article from the March 2010 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.

Interview with toxicologist Linda Birnbaum on BPA (bisphenol A)

BPA is a chemical used in the linings of most food and beverage cans as well as in many clear plastic containers. At least 7 billion pounds of BPA are produced annually for use in products ranging from dental sealants to medical equipment to coatings on cash-register receipts, as well as food containers and packaging. (See our report about BPA in a recent Consumer Reports article, and listen to an interview with Consumer Reports' Dr. Urvashi Rangan about the effects of BPA on WNYC's Leonard Lopate radio show.)

Recently, at the same time that the Food and Drug Administration announced a significant shift in its view on the potential health risks posed by Bisphenol A, the Department of Health and Human Services said that it is investing $30 million in human and animal studies over the next two years to yield further information about BPA’s health effects.

Shepherding this crucial research effort is Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a federal research center based in North Carolina. Birnbaum, an award-winning microbiologist and toxicologist, has served as a federal scientist for nearly three decades. During that time, her research has focused on the health effects of environmental pollutants such as dioxin, which like BPA is thought to be an endocrine-disrupting chemical.

Below is an excerpt from an interview with Dr. Birnbaum just a few days before the FDA’s policy change was announced.

Recall: All Generation 2 Worldwide and “ChilDesigns” drop-side cribs, child deaths and injuries reported

Cribs from a cribmaker that went out of business at least five years ago were recalled this week by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The agency has learned of three deaths and multiple injuries attributed to the cribs. All Generation 2 Worldwide and “ChilDesigns” drop-side cribs have been recalled and families are strongly advised to stop using them.

The CPSC believes that more than 500,000 cribs were sold. The recall notice lists some model numbers but emphasizes that all Generation 2 Worldwide and “ChilDesigns” drop-side cribs are included in the recall. The recalled cribs were sold at numerous furniture and retail stores including Buy Buy Baby, Kmart and Walmart nationwide for between $60 and $160.

Problems with the cribs date back at least eight years when a six-month-old who suffocated when he became entrapped between the drop side and crib mattress. In 2003, an eight-month-old child from Richmond, Ind. suffocated when he became entrapped between the drop side and the crib mattress. And in July 2007, an eight-month-old child from Newark, Ohio suffocated when he became entrapped between the drop side and the crib mattress.

Recall widened: Maxi-Cosi infant car seats

In the summer of 2009, Dorel Juvenile Group recalled more than 28,000 infant car seats because the shell could become detached from the base. Recalled then were certain models of Dorel's Maxi-Cosi Mico infant seats. Today, that recall was broadened to include even more Maxi-Cosi seats—now including those manufactured for four months after the previously recalled seats.

The affected products include Maxi-Cosi Mico infant child restraint systems with the model numbers 22-371 HFL, JUC, LMD, PNG, and ORE, and 22-372 TTH. It also includes the base of the Maxi-Cosi Mico infant child restraint system with the model number 22-515 BLK. The items were produced from February 18, 2008 through June 28, 2008. (See the image above—or Dorel’s Maxi-Cosi “safety notice"—to learn where to find the manufacturing sticker on this seat.)

According to the recall notice on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Web site, interference between the restraint system’s mounting bracket and the base, caused by warping of the base or inadequate mating between the shell and the base mounting bracket, can result in difficulty attaching or detaching the shell from the base. If the shell is improperly mounted to the base, the child could be injured in the event of a crash. See the recall notice on the product’s Web site, as well.

Dorel will notify all registered owners of the problem and send a free remedy kit with instructions. For more information, non-registered and registered owners may also contact Dorel at 1-877-657-9546, or NHTSA’s Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153).

See our infant car seat buying advice and Ratings (available to subscribers), and how to get the right installation angle, for related information.

Baby & child safety roundup: 2 recalls, plus bike helmet news

Cosco and Eddie Bauer car seat recall. In a week or so Dorel Juvenile Group (DJG) will announce a recall of more than four million Cosco and Eddie Bauer car seats. The models affected are Cosco Alpha/Omega, Touriva and Hi Back and Eddie Bauer Touriva and Hi Back car seats. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says there are two problems: The webbing on 3,957,826 Dorel seats fails to conform to standards for abrasion; and the webbing on 54,400 car seats may degrade when exposed to sunlight. In both cases, the concern is that the seats won’t provide sufficient protection in a crash. Learn more in the full Safety blog post.

Cybex strollers recalled because hinges pose hazards. A third stroller has been recalled for problems with the hinges after a child suffered a broken finger when he caught it in the stroller’s hinge mechanism. This recall involves 1,200 Ruby, Onyx and Topaz models of Cybex umbrella strollers, sold at department and juvenile product stores nationwide between August 2009 and November 2009 for between $140 and $260. Learn more in the full Safety blog post.

Cheap bike helmets offer same protection as expensive ones. When it comes to bicycle helmets, spending lots of money to get good protection is not necessary. The Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute bought and tested six helmets—ranging in price from less than $10 to more than $200—and found they performed almost identically on standard impact tests. So find one that fits well so that it will be positioned correctly when you hit and then choose based on what you can afford to pay. Learn more in the full Safety blog post.

Baby & child health news roundup

Tylenol recalls include children's OTC medications. The maker of Tylenol, Motrin, Rolaids, St. Joseph, Benadryl and other over-the-counter medications is recalling certain lots of those drugs following consumer complaints of an unusual moldy, musty, or mildew-like odor that, in a small number of cases, has been associated with temporary gastrointestinal distress. The list includes children's medications. Learn more in the full Health blog post.

Family-friendly winter activities. If you’re like me, I’m trying to find ways to stay healthy and beat the winter bulge during these long months when playgrounds and beaches are a distant memory. So my kids and I sat down and made a list of our favorites. Learn more in the full Health blog post.

Kitchen spoons and cold medicines. If you’re like many Americans and often use kitchen spoons to measure liquid cold medicines, it’s likely you’re over- or under-dosing, according to a January 5th study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. That’s because the amount of liquid dosing varies based on the size of the silverware spoon you use.  Learn more in the full Health blog post.

Slower eating helps with children's weight loss. Research out this month from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine tells us that overeating is becoming a bigger health risk than smoking tobacco. So finding ways of fighting obesity, especially in children, is becoming ever more important. Could slowing down the rate at which we eat help us lose weight? The answer is yes, according to a BMJ study of 106 overweight children and teens at a hospital in England. Learn more in the full Health blog post.

Graco strollers recalled due to fingertip amputation and laceration hazards

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Graco Children’s Products Inc., of Atlanta, Ga., today announced a voluntary recall of about 1.5 million Graco Passage, Alano, and Spree strollers and travel systems. Consumers should stop using recalled products.

The stroller’s canopy can pose a fingertip amputation and laceration hazard to the child when the consumer is opening or closing the canopy. Graco has received seven reports of children placing their fingers in the stroller’s canopy hinge mechanism while the canopy was being opened or closed, resulting in five fingertip amputations and two fingertip lacerations. The affected products were made in China.

The recall involves Graco Passage, Alano, and Spree strollers and travel systems with 64 different model numbers and two different styles of hinge mechanisms. Only strollers or travel systems with a plastic, jointed hinge mechanism that has indented canopy positioning notches (see photo) are included in this recall. (Learn more about strollers, and see our ongoing stroller Ratings, available to subscribers.)

The recalled strollers were manufactured between October 2004 and February 2008, and sold at AAFES, Burlington Coat Factory, Babies “R” Us, Toys “R” Us, Kmart, Fred Meyer, Meijers, Navy Exchange, Sears, Target, Walmart and other retailers nationwide from October 2004 and December 2009 for between $80 and $90 for the strollers and between $150 and $200 for the travel systems.

The model number and manufacture date are located on the lower inside portion of the rear frame, just above the rear wheels.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled strollers and contact Graco to receive a free protective cover repair kit. Contact Graco at (800) 345-4109 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. (ET), Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.gracobaby.com.

See Maclaren recall: Fingertip amputations, Stroller hinges: A closer look at the standards, and 7 common stroller mistakes for related information.

Baby & child safety news roundup

Recalls of cribs, baby food. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has posted a recall notice of 1,000 Caramia “Diane” drop-side cribs. The slats on the cribs drop-side can detach from the top and bottom rails. And Nurture Inc. recalled selected varieties and date codes of HappyTot Stage 4 and HappyBaby Stage 1 and Stage 2 pouch meals that were sold in 300 retailers nationwide. Learn more in the full Safety blog post.

FDA fails to ban BPA. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg last week announced a shift in her agency's stance on the health risks posed by Bisphenol A, a chemical used in clear plastic bottles and in the linings of food and beverage cans, but did not call for a ban on its use in food contact substances. Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports, had recommended that manufacturers and the government take that step after our recent tests of canned foods found that nearly all of 19 name-brand foods we tested contained BPA. Learn more in the full Safety blog post.

Wear a helmet on the slopes. This is skiing’s National Safety Awareness Week. The National Ski Areas Association’s list of facts shows that close to 40 people, on average, die skiing or snowboarding every year, and another 43 or so are seriously injured—and they mean serious—becoming paraplegics and suffering serious head injuries. Learn more in the full Safety blog post.

Lead in children's charms replaced by other toxic metal. Now that tough regulations governing lead are in effect, some Chinese manufacturers of cheap metal jewelry have turned to something just as dangerous—the heavy metal cadmium, according to aninvestigation by the Associated Press. "There's nothing positive that you can say about this metal. It's a poison," Bruce A. Fowler, a cadmium specialist and toxicologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the AP. Scott Wolfson, a spokesman for the CPSC, said that his agency would investigate the charms and pendants cited in the story. He added: "We will not accept the substitution of dangerous heavy metals in place of lead." Learn more in the full Safety blog post.

Infant and toddler product-makers must now have registration-card programs

When you buy a child car seat, there’s a little postcard attached to the product. That card is important. When you fill it out and mail it in to the company, the company can then contact you (via mail, e-mail, or phone) if that car seat is recalled. Not all infant and toddler products have these cards—putting children and families at risk of harm—but that is about to change.

Last month, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, acting on a mandate by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, approved a measure requiring manufacturers of 18 categories of durable infant or toddler products to establish and maintain a registration card program.

In a statement on the CPSC’s Web site, Commissioner Thomas Moore said, “Too many of these products are ones that children have died in. But it is especially troubling when a child dies in a product our agency has recalled because the owner of the product was unaware of the recall.”

Categories affected by this ruling include full-size cribs, high chairs, strollers, play yards and infant bouncer seats, as well as toddler beds, booster chairs, hook-on chairs, non-full-size cribs, bath seats, infant bathtubs, gates and other enclosures for confining a child, stationary activity centers, infant carriers, walkers, swings, bassinets and cradles, children’s folding chairs, changing tables, portable toddler bed rails, and infant slings.

Baby & child health and safety news roundup

How swine flu gets around. How H1N1 spreads in a sample of households and in a high school were the subjects of two recently published papers in the New England Journal of Medicine, both of which demonstrate that children have been the most susceptible to this epidemic. Children 18 or younger were twice as likely to catch swine flu from a family member as those who were 19 to 50 years old. See the full Health blog post.

Is it a cold or the flu? The most characteristic sign of flu is its abrupt onset. A cold can build over a few days, but the flu strikes hard and fast—fever, chills, severe muscle aches, a hacking cough, and general malaise. Fever is a good yardstick, because a cold rarely raises body temperature more than a degree or so. See the full article from the Consumer Reports February 2010 issue.

H1N1 vaccine now widely available. The H1N1 vaccine has become so widely available that many retailers, including pharmacies and supermarkets are offering it. The price of the dose? $10 to $18 to cover the administrative costs of providing the vaccine which the government gives to retailers for free. See the full Health blog post.

Drawstrings can strangle children. Drawstrings in the hoods or necks of kids’ clothing can and do cinch up and strangle children. Drawstrings at the waist can get caught in buses and result in a child being dragged. In 1996, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued guidelines to prevent these tragedies. But as recently as last February, a 3-year-old boy strangled when a string in the hood of a sweatshirt he was wearing became caught on a playground set. Read the full Safety blog post.