Have a safe and Happy Memorial Day!!

A long weekend and celebrations should never end in tragedy, take a minute to remember these tips from the great people at "Safe Kids USA" before heading out for your festivities or family fun today.
http://www.safekids.org/have-a-safe-memorial-day-week.html


If you plan to be at the pool or on the beach over the holiday weekend, check out our water safety page for drowning prevention tips, and make sure to read: "Five Truths About Children Who Drown."
If you are planning a pool party, make sure to always have an adult serve as a water watcher. Print out the Water Watcher card.


Before you put the burgers on the grill, follow a few simple tips to avoid grilling injuries.
Make sure to also visit our fire, burn and scald prevention page for more tips.





Before letting your kids out the door to go play with friends, siblings and cousins, remind them about how to stay safe around traffic, on the playground and on their bikes.
Make sure to check out our sports and recreation safety tips, our pedestrian and driver safety tips for summer and our falls prevention tips.





Just another reminder to NEVER leave your child alone in a car even for a second. If you see someone's child or pet left alone in a car, call 911 immediately!

For related safety tip on kids in around cars, visit: "Car Seats, Boosters and Seat Belt Safety."


Thank you to Safe Kids for the above information on keeping our kids safe, happy and back home again after your holiday fun.

Leslie RN (ernursescare)

Should I turn him around or not? that is the question

Lets talk about car seats, yes you should leave those kiddos rear facing as long as possible, recommended up to 2 yrs old now. Read your car seat's recommendations and refer to your vehicle's owners manual always for installation guidance. Arrive alive! and make your ER nurse's happy!

Parents Shouldn’t Ignore Changes in Car Seat Recommendations

Great advice from "The Kid's Doctor" website and Twitter page
by Sue Hubbard, M.DI have been surprised at the number of parents I have seen lately, who are either unaware or choose to ignore the changes in car seat recommendations for children under the age of two. I try to discuss car seat safety at each check-up appointment, and have always been especially mindful of doing this at the one-year check up.
Previous to the newest recommendations (established in 2009), I had discussed turning the car seat to a forward facing position if the child had reached 12 months and 20 pounds. Then in April, an article was published (Inj Prev. 2007;13:398-402), which was the first U.S. data to substantiate the benefits of toddlers riding rear facing until they are two years of age. This study showed that children under the age of two are 75 percent less likely to die or experience a serious injury when they are riding in a rear-facing. That is a fairly compelling statistic to keep that car seat rear-facing for another year!
Studies have shown that rear-facing seats are more likely to support the back, neck, head and pelvis because the force of a crash is distributed evenly over the entire body. Toddlers between the ages of 12 and 23 months who ride rear facing are more than five times safer than toddlers in that same age group who ride forward-facing in a car seat. There has also been concern that rear-facing toddlers whose feet reach the back of the seat are more likely to suffer injuries to the lower extremities in a car accident. But a commentary written by Dr. Marilyn Bull in Pediatrics (2008;121:619-620) dispelled the myth with documentation that lower extremity injuries were rare with rear-facing seats.
So, it has now been over one year since this data was published and recommended, and parents continue to say, “I just turned the seat around any way” or “I didn’t know.” I did go look at car-seats the other day and I noted that the labeling on the boxes had all been changed to recommend rear facing until two years or until a toddler reaches the maximum height and weight recommendations for the model. I take this to mean that some “small” toddlers could even rear face longer as they do in some European countries.
For safety sake, rather than convenience, keep that car seat in the rear facing position. I wonder if they will begin putting DVD players and cup holders facing toward these toddlers, as that seemed to be a concern of many parents. Maybe this will make it “okay” to listen to music or talk while in the car rather than watching TV, at least until a child is older!!
 

If you need references on car seats go to http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov or http://www.seatcheck.org. http://www.buckleupnc.org/ (for NC)  http://www.safekids.org/
Drive and Live Safe!!

~~Once upon a Booster Seat~~

I am alive today because I wear by seat belt!! My 5th birthday party
The Little Princess age 3

Once upon a time,
there lived a little Princess that had outgrown her little girl car safety seat, with the 5 point harness, and was ready to move into a "big girl" booster seat just like her big Princess sister. The little Princess and her Royal Mommy set out on a journey to the booster seat store and picked out the perfect one, a pretty pink high back booster with little royal fairies on it. The new booster seat was installed into the Royal mini-van by the Royal Mommy who just happened to be a certified car seat safety technician and off they drove to the Royal kingdom. The little Princess soon learned that all she had to do was push a button and "click" she was able to get out of the seat belt. Much to the Royal Mommy's dismay she was able to get up and wave out the window at all her royal subjects so much easier while standing up unbuckled. The Royal Mommy was most upset with this behavior and decided to sternly and swiftly warm the little bottom of the little Princess every time she decided to get out of her new booster seat. This went on for a week until the little Princess decided it would be better to stay in her new pink booster seat, buckled up safe and sound, than to have her bottom warmed up by the hand of the Royal Mommy. Her little royal tooshie was starting to get a might bit sore, and the Royal Mommy was getting very grouchy. The Royal Mommy also explained to her how much safer she was in her seat, belted in correctly.

That following Monday afternoon, not even a mile from the castle, a terrible thing happened. A very large bus/RV made a poor choice and pulled out directly in front of the Royal mini-van causing a crash. The Royal Mommy was kept safely in her seat by the seat belt she was wearing. The airbags kept her from hitting the steering wheel or dashboard of the Royal mini-van. The little Princess was also kept safely in her little pink booster seat by the seat belt since she had decided to be safe and keep in on correctly. Both the Royal Mommy and the little Princess had many bumps and bruises, but both are alive today. The seat belts and airbags in the Royal mini-van did their jobs working together to keep the Royal driver and passenger safe to live another day in the kingdom. The poor Royal mini-van did not survive and the Royal daddy was most upset, but glad his family is still here today. The moral of this story: Little Princess's should always ride in their car seats or booster seats, installed correctly with seat belts on, so that one day they can meet Prince Charming and live happily ever after.

True story: by Leslie Block RN(the Royal Mommy of the Little Princess);)