Protect Your Baby from Product Dangers

• Shop carefully. Make sure the product is right for your baby. Check out the manufacturer’s recommended age and weight recommendations and read all the product warnings in the brochure that comes with the product before you buy.

• Follow the directions. “Honestly, now, did you read the directions?” There you’ll find the information that’s critical for your baby’s safety, and whom to contact when there’s a problem. Put all your baby-product receipts and literature into a single file so you can find them when you need them.

• Mail the registration card. Even though it may make you a target for junk mail, it’s also the way that manufacturers locate customers who have bought faulty products to inform them there’s been a recall, and there are many every year.

• Keep up with recalls. Periodically check the Web sites of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and other federal agencies that regulate baby products to see if you own recalled products. (For their contact information, see in 6. Medical and Safety Guide.)

• Use those straps. The seat straps in strollers, car seats, high chairs, booster seats, swings, and changing tables are there for an important reason: They protect babies from falling out, or getting strangled. Use them every time you put your baby inside.

• Stay nearby. Stay in the same room if your baby is in a stroller, high chair, play yard, car seat, or other contraption. Feed your baby in your arms—never use a bottle-proper.

• Always hold your baby during bathing. Do not use a suctioned bath seat that could topple over and cause your baby to drown when your back’s turned.