By Robert E. Calem for Techlicious
#5 – Baby Monitors: Mind the Cords
Stat: Seven deaths since 2002
By definition, a baby monitor must be placed near a crib, but this raises the risk of strangulation for the child, who may be tempted to play with the device’s cord if it’s within reach.
The CPSC has noted at least seven infants and toddlers who have strangled with baby monitor cords and three infants and toddlers who have nearly strangled since 2002, with the youngest victims being six months old.
Make sure your baby monitor is placed so that the cord is more than arm’s-length away from the child––ideally, at least three feet away.
Also, it’s not just baby monitors that present this strangulation danger. Movement-monitor sensor cords also should be kept taut and not dangling, the CPSC warns.
#4 – Button Cell Batteries: Potential Poison Pills
Stat: 3,500 injuries, nine deaths since 1985
The small coin-sized button cell batteries commonly used in remote controls, garage door openers, key fobs, light-up shoes, flashing jewelry, digital ear thermometers and bathroom scales are surprisingly dangerous. According to the National Capital Poison Center (NCPC) in Washington, DC since 1985 more than 60,000 people swallowed miniature disc or “button” batteries, resulting in over 3,500 injuries and nine deaths, most of them children under six years-old.
The batteries can get stuck in children’s throats where they can cause severe chemical burns. The effect starts within minutes of ingesting the battery and within two hours can burn a hole through the esophagus where it’s lodged, says Toby Litovitz, MD, executive and medical director of the NCPC.
Parents should be careful not to leave a “dead” button battery within a child’s reach when putting a new battery in a device. Even a dead battery still has enough of a residual charge to cause the same sort of burn, Litovitz explains.
The batteries that posed the greatest risk are labeled CR 2032, CR 2025 and CR 2016, or BR 2032, BR 2025 and BR 2016, she adds.
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This post is excerpted with permission from Techlicious.
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