Baby Gear Safety: I keep hearing about how unsafe older cribs and carseats can be. Is it safe to accept used baby items?

Once upon a time we had a set of bunk beds.  We used them for about three years and never had any trouble with them. Then one night my husband was putting the kids to bed, and he sat on the edge of the bed to read them a book. And the bed broke!  I was really mad.  I believe my words were something like You're a big fat man! What were you thinking sitting on a child's bed? Of course it broke, dummy! Okay, so maybe my words weren't quite that harsh, but they were certainly close.  I was really really mad. The entire side board had split in two!

A few days later I was walking through Walmart when a sign caught my eye. It was a picture of our bunk beds (well, not our bunk beds, but ones just like them...). Under the picture, in capital letters was the word RECALL.  It turns out our bunk beds had a manufacturer's defect that caused the side board to split in two.  Oops.  It was not an easy thing to apologize to my husband about the big fat man comment.  But it was pretty easy to go online and order the free support piece to install on my kids' beds to help ensure that they would not be splitting more boards any time soon.

So let's talk about kids and the safety of the things they use.  What's safe?  How do you know? Can you use hand-me-down furniture or toys?

This is really a very personal choice.  Some people will never feel comfortable accepting a used car seat (or anything else), others only from a close friend that they can trust, while others will take whatever they find on the side of the road.

The truth is there is no one right way (and don't let people bully you into thinking there is).

We live in a very safe world.  Things are tested, and retested, so the odds of a product (whether bought at the store or elsewhere) harming your child are very low.  My sources (Google) tell me that nearly 500 Americans are struck by lightning every year, while the number of toy-related deaths is less than 20.  So your baby is roughly 25 times more likely to be hit by lightning than they are to choke on a faulty (possibly recalled) infant toy.  (This isn't a science blog here, so all you statisticians just calm down and don't even bother trying to verify my "facts.")

With that in mind, relax and take a minute to appreciate that your child has been born into a century that is set to offer him the greatest chance at a healthy life of any generation in history.

Feel better?
Okay then, here are a few websites to help further ease your fears.

If you want to specifically look up an item, click on this LINK that will take you to a website where you can enter in the product name and it will search for any possible product recalls.  So let's say you are at a yard sale looking at a porta-crib.  Just pull out your phone, look up this website, enter in the product name, and BOOM!  Instantly you'll know if the crib you are looking at has been deemed unsafe in any way.  It's easier than taking candy from a baby!  (Warning: Do not give candy to babies.)

If you don't have any particular product in mind, but just want to check out what the latest recalls are, click on this LINK for a list of recently recalled items.  If you already own a bunch of baby and kid gear, you can browse through this list and see if any of the recent recalls apply to you.  Perhaps you own bunk beds too?  This same website can also be used for mild entertainment (you know, if you get bored, and you have already watched that crazy fox music video a hundred times....).  My personal favorite on the list is this: "Gerber Recalls Machetes Due to Laceration Hazard".  Not sure how they didn't anticipate that before the product went to market!  Sorry sweetie, Mommy has to take back that new birthday machete we got you.  The government says it just isn't safe.  (Warning: Do not give machetes to babies.)


Marcia