October is sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) awareness month . SIDS awareness month was created to bring awareness to the impact of SIDS across the United States, where 3,700 babies die suddenly and unexpectedly each year. SIDS is the loss of an infant under 12 months of age, where the cause of death is classified as “undetermined” after a death investigation. SIDS is the leading cause of death affecting infants under 12 months. While there is no known cause for SIDS, these

Car seats can be confusing. Do you feel like you’re not quite sure if your child’s car seat is installed correctly? Do you see or read confusing things about car seats online and need some clarification? Do you know when you should turn your child’s car seat to forward-facing? Do you know how long your child should ride in booster seat?  Child Passenger Safety Technicians (CPST)  can help answer  these questions and more. One of our dedicated Child Passenger Safety Technician

Children's products are frequently recalled. Did you know that Reese's Purpose publishes an easy to use Monthly Recall Digest. Reese's Purpose is an organization whose goal is to advocate to protect children form hidden dangers and threats to their safety. Visit their website at https://www.reesespurpose.org/prodcut-recall-notices-digest The latest digest in English and Spanish is available below.

“Click it or ticket!” and “buckle up!” are likely phrases you have heard. These refer to remembering to secure yourself, and your children, in a vehicle before driving. However, also important is making sure your child is using the correct car seat for their age, and using that seat correctly. Read more for examples and resources on commonly asked questions related to child passenger safety to do your best to make sure your kiddo can be safe in a crash.   My child wants to si

Before your child goes to a friend’s home for a playdate or sleepover, parents often ask each other several questions. “Do you have any pets?” “Who will watch the kids?” “Is there a pool in your backyard?” “Does your child have any allergies?” These and many other questions are widely accepted – and even expected – between parents to keep the kids safe. However, one important question is often missing: do you have a firearm in the home? In the U.S., children are at greater ri

It’s Super Bowl Week! Lots of American buy TVs to watch the big game. Sometimes the old television ends up in a bedroom. There is one step in these purchases and moves that many families miss – anchoring the television. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 11,300 are treated in a hospital emergency room each year due to TV, furniture and appliance tip-overs. Some children don’t survive these tip-over incidents and 77% of fatalities involved children under 6

I try to keep things out of the landfill as much as possible so I love to give thoughtful and practical gifts. I tend to fill my family's stocking with a few surprises but mostly extremely practical things like toothbrushes,lotion, socks, etc. Your family's safety is important so I thought I would share a few simple ideas for safety-related stocking stuffers and gifts. Stocking stuffers Smoke detector with 10-year battery (new law in IL requires all homes to have them) Carbon

Parents ask us more questions about car seats than all other safety topics combined. Here are some of our most frequently asked questions with answers. 1) Do I really have to wait until my child is 2 to turn their convertible car seat around? Yes. And you don’t have to be in a hurry to turn them around at 2 years old. Wait until they reach the height and/or weight limit for rear-facing for the seat. 2) My child is tall, and their legs touch the back of the seat when

by Guest Blogger, Andrea Coulis Andrea Coulis recently completed her MPH at Northwestern University and is now Director of Program Strategy at a breast cancer nonprofit organization. She has been a court-appointed special advocate for abused and neglected children in Cook County for over 8 years and holds a special interest in keeping children safe . Almost all of us have been guilty of letting social media affect our moods: a quick jolt of excitement after receiving a “like

Azucena Lopez is a Master of Public Health candidate at Northwestern University in the Community Health Research concentration. She is a Chicago native passionate about creating safe and healthy neighborhoods through conducting and applying public health research. Children and Guns “Is there an unlocked gun in your house?” Asking [SK1] about guns and safe storage can keep your child alive. Too often children gain access to a loaded firearm and tragically shoot themselves o

You may have seen the major recall for the MamaRoo Baby Swing and RockaRoo Baby Rockers sold by 4moms. About two million units were recalled after a death of a toddler that got entangled in a strap that formed a closed loop below the seat. We’ve seen a lot of questions on social media, so here are a few answers. What’s being recalled? About two million MamaRoo swings and 220,000 RockaRoo rockers sold in the U.S. are being recalled. The recall includes the MamaRoo models that

Although fall is coming, we are still having hot days in the Chicago area. Keep in mind, that heatstroke deaths can happen on 75 degree, sunny days, too. Young children left alone in a hot vehicle can die of heat stroke very quickly, and on average 38 children lose their lives each year – with more than half under the age of two. In just 10 minutes, a car can heat up 20 degrees. Even on mild or cloudy days, temperatures inside vehicles can reach life-threatening levels and l

As a sexual health educator in Chicago Public Schools, I carried around a question box with me to all my classes. At the end of each lesson, I would tell all the students that they could write any question imaginable they had about sexual health and place it into the box, so that the students could retain their anonymity. Before I began teaching, I thought the responses in the box would be about conventionally taboo topics such as the anatomy of genitalia, masturbation, or th

Dear Parent, Thank you for taking care of me and thank you for trying to protect me but I must ask you a favor... please avoid having a gun in the house where I am using all my senses to discover everything around me, and if you decide that my safety entails you buying one, please read the following numbers: · In 2019, there were 171 deaths related to firearms in the age group 0-19 years old in the state of Illinois. · In the age group 0-14 years old there were 17 deaths in

Safe Sleep Tips: Preventing Injuries Related to Infant Sleep by Guest Blogger, Kai Holder Kai Holder is a second year MD/MPH candidate at Northwestern University. She is interested in maternal-child health, health equity and injury prevention. The phrase “SIDs”, otherwise known as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, may frighten many caregivers, however there are numerous health behaviors that caregivers can learn and implement that lower a babies risk for sleep related causes of i

Youth League: Preventing Injuries Related to Youth Sports Ka'Derricka Davis is a current MPH candidate (2021) and Research Assistant at Northwestern University. She is an aspiring physician who is passionate about women and children's health, injury prevention, and health equity . On Chicago’s West side, the beginning of fall marks the start of public school football season. During that time, I expect to see young people on grassy fields who have improperly stretched for the

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: Prevention, Politics, and Policy Andy Rapoport is a student in the Masters of Public Health (MPH) program at Northwestern University, pursuing a concentration in Community Health Research. Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, there were several times that our house fire alarm by the kitchen began to beep; thankfully, it was a mere nuisance, due to smoke from cooking, and not from an actual fire. With my grandfather and uncle as former firefighters,

Benjamin de Young is a Master of Public Health candidate studying epidemiology at Northwestern University. He is interested in the prevention of injury and violence in the Chicagoland area. He works with preventable injury and violence frequently as an Emergency Department technician in the AdvocateAurora Health system. Title: Preventing Chicago Traffic Deaths in 2021 Going out? Grab your mask--but take your foot off the gas. Americans took fewer trips and drove fewer miles i

You may have seen crib bumper pads in nursery pictures on social media, TV shows and commercials, or on store shelves. These products may seem harmless, decorative, or even necessary to keep your baby safe, but bumper pads pose a serious, deadly risk to infants. Crib bumpers pose the risk of suffocation, entrapment, and strangulation. That’s why the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) warns against using bumper pads in their safe sleep guidelines which every family should f

This Graco Product Is the Latest Inclined Sleep Product Recall January 11, 2021 in graco , inclined sleeper , recall On December 16, 2020, Graco recalled 51,000 inclined sleep accessories included in four different models of its Pack n’ Play play yards due to risk of suffocation. The product could also be used separately. This is the eleventh inclined sleep product to be recalled since 2012. Inclined sleepers have been linked to at least 93 infant deaths. No inclined sleepe