It happened again today, no, not another N.Y.C parking ticket, I was at a clients house and their 9 month old baby was chewing on the play mat that I know is marked for children 3 years of age or older.
Sure, I hear a lot of criticism from people about my profession. Some say it is useless to hire a baby proofer, when all you need to do is crawl around the floor on your hands and knees like a baby. Then just remove anything that the baby can hurt himself on, oh yeah, don’t forget to put those little plugs in all the outlets.
As it turns out, the client today already did that, she actually crawled across a play mat (the one with the ABC cut outs) to do it too. What she didn’t realize that in her efforts to keep her child from hitting his head on a tile floor, she had in exchange bought him a choking hazard. When I told her about this, she insisted that it was impossible. She always fills out the product registration cards and the company would have notified her if that was the case. I reminded her that her child was only 9 months and the play mat was not intended for that age.
Child Safety Experts are not likely to go through every toy or product in your home and check for recommended ages. This is the job of each parent when a product is either purchased or received as a gift. Did you know that pacifiers come with age ranges as well? Did you know that one child died from a pacifier obstructing his windpipe because it was not age appropriate. unfortunately the injuries and deaths surrounding products used with age discrepancy go underreported because in the end it is the parents fault and. Do not use your best judgment when deciding to purchase a product for a child, at this point in your baby’s life, please read the warning label.
