Awareness

readingThe world of child health safety issues are changing at an incredible pace. Every day we are faced with new challenges, but we also discover incredible new cures and new technologies as people work to find better ways to make this a safer world for our kids…and for the people taking care of them.

We will to do our best here to keep you up to date on what’s happening: we’ll include news stories, trade publications, expert analyses and case studies. Sometimes we’ll blog about it and sometimes we’ll just tweet…most of the time it’ll be current, but occasionally we’ll dig up older material to give you something to reference…and to think about. If you find something we’ve missed and you think it belongs here, please contact us and send us the link. The point is to keep us all informed so we can make better decisions for ourselves and the little ones in our care.

Latest Awareness Posts

Finally – A Clue to Understanding SIDS

Finally – A Clue to Understanding SIDS

by Stefanie Zucker

SIDS or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or “the death of an infant before his or her first birthday that cannot be explained after a complete autopsy, an investigation of the scene and circumstances of the death, and a review of the medical history of the infant and of his or her family” is every parent’s worst nightmare. Finally, according to a new study whose findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association earlier this week, a new discovery may help identify babies at risk for SIDS, which each year kills more than 2,300 babies before their first birthday. Taking... 

Is This Toy Safe?

Is This Toy Safe?

by Stefanie Zucker

In 2008 Congress passed the first major overhaul of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) since its creation. The new compliance laws provided for tough new bans on lead and phthalates, required larger printed warning messages on toy packaging, cracked down on smaller toy pieces that could choke a child and greatly improved CPSC’s ability to monitor and hold wrongdoers accountable. Toy vendors were required to be fully compliant as of this past February. Toy recalls have dropped dramatically from 2007 when 45 million toys and other children’s products were classified as unsafe. Still... 

November is National Adoption Month: Help a Child Celebrate

November is National Adoption Month: Help a Child Celebrate

by Stefanie Zucker

Did you know it would take less than one percent of the U.S. population to provide a forever family for every child in foster care available for adoption? November is National Adoption Month and Pediatric Safety as a member of Global Influence is participating in a coordinated effort between Adopt Us Kids, the U.S. Children’s Bureau, Ad Council, and Child Welfare Information Gateway to make the difference of a lifetime for about 130,000 children who deserve a family of their own. The mission of Adopt Us Kids is to recruit and connect foster and adoptive families with waiting children throughout... 

Halloween 2009 – Happy, Healthy and Safe

Halloween 2009 – Happy, Healthy and Safe

by Stefanie Zucker

I start writing this and I almost feel like I want to apologize…because instead of writing about all the “scary things” our kids are going to be this Halloween, I write instead about all the scary things we need to protect them from. So I’d like to propose a deal: I’ll share with you some of the best tips I’ve found to keep our kids safe this year (…thank you Child Safety Examiner, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Dr Kristie McNealy)…and then I’ll share with you my favorite not so scary safety tip that should be good for at least a few smiles…and... 

First Year Developmental Milestones: Learn the Signs…Act Early

First Year Developmental Milestones: Learn the Signs…Act Early

by PediatricSafety

Have you ever wondered how your child is growing and developing compared to other children of the same age? It wouldn’t be unusual if you have.  Skills such as taking a first step, smiling for the first time, and waving “bye bye” are called developmental milestones, and they have often held a special place in the bragging hearts of grandparents everywhere.  There is however another side to developmental milestones.  One that is even more valuable to parents.  Although no two children grow at the same rate, experts agree there are “normal” signs of development.  ...