Is your home safe from everyday hazards? Is your child riding safely in a car seat? Do you need help protecting your child against accidental injuries? Here are some tips for keeping your infant safe.
 

• NEVER EVER SHAKE YOUR BABY! Babies cry a lot. If you’re stressed, place your baby in his crib and walk out of the room for a few minutes until you can calm down. Shaking your baby can seriously injure or even kill him. Please make sure any caregiver knows this as well. For more information, go to www.dontshake.com.
   
• Get your baby regular medical check-ups. Babies need vaccinations often in their first year of life. And your doctor needs to make sure your baby is growing and developing. Check-ups are the best way to do that.
   
• Put your baby in a secure car seat whenever you travel in a vehicle. It’s the law and it’s a lifesaver. If you need help paying for a car seat, or help installing one, click here to learn about Palm Beach County Fire Rescue's Car Seat/Child Passenger Safety Seat Checks.
   
• Talk to, read to and cuddle with your baby. Your baby needs you close. Hearing your voice, feeling your arms around him and knowing you love him will help stimulate his brain and prepare him for a successful life.
   
• Understand how babies learn and grow. Babies develop so fast, it’s sometimes hard for parents to keep up. But if you know what to expect when you’re baby is one month, three months, six months and so on, you’ll understand why he’s doing what he’s doing. You’ll be less likely to get upset or frustrated when he’s crying if you know the reason, like he’s teething. And you’ll recognize his amazing accomplishments, like when you see him hold his head up for the first time. For more information about child development, click here to visit The Ages & Stages of Childhood page. 
   

Looking for more specific information? Here are some additional topics related to keeping your infant safe:
 

Sleeping
Drowning
Excessive Heat
Poison Prevention

Or click here to visit Safe Kids USA for other safety tips on ways to keep your child safe.

Sleeping

• Babies should sleep alone, on their back, on a firm, flat surface such as a crib, bassinet or cradle. The area should be smoke-free. Adult beds, couches, chairs, waterbeds and the like are not safe for babies to sleep in.
   
• The crib mattress should be covered with a tightly fitted sheet that tucks well under the mattress pad. Use a sleep sack instead of a blanket and keep pillows and stuffed animals out of baby’s bed.
   
• Babies should sleep on their backs during naps and at night until age 1, unless the baby’s doctors says another position is better. Don’t forget to remove the bib before putting baby to bed.
   
• Parents should talk about safe sleeping to anyone who cares for their baby.                            

 For more information on safe sleeping please click here to view a Safe Sleep for Babies video.

Drowning

Three children die every day in the United States as a result of drowning. Here are some steps to protect the ones you love:

• Actively supervise children in and around water. Keep a phone close by in case of an emergency.
   
• Establish barriers to keep curious children away from water. Secure pools with four-sided fencing and self-closing, self-latching gates.
   
• Cover and lock hot tubs. Empty buckets and other containers of standing water. Children can drown in a very small amount of water.
   
• Learn CPR. In case of emergency, CPR can be performed immediately, even before paramedics arrive. This can prevent brain damage and be the difference between life and death.
   
• Enroll your child (and yourself, if necessary) in swim lessons.
   
• Put a life jacket on your child every time you are all boating or on a dock.
   
• Avoid or moderate alcohol consumption while boating. If you boat frequently, consider taking a boating safety class.

For more information on safety around water, click here to read CSC's newsletter, For Our Children or click here to visit the Drowning Coalition of Palm Beach County.

Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Drowning Prevention Coalition of Palm Beach County
 

Keep Your Child Safe from Excessive Heat Exposure

When temperatures rise, so does the risk of an unthinkable tragedy of kids accidentally left strapped
in a car seat and dying from excessive heat exposure (hyperthermia). Parents and relatives aren't the only ones who forget a child in the back seat while going to work or running errands; each year there are reports of child care providers who accidentally leave kids in a daycare bus or van. According to an Associated Press analysis, the number of incidents of child heat exhaustion deaths from being left in a hot car has risen dramatically since the mid-1990s.

Having a visual reminder such as a pacifier or other small baby item on your keychain can help to make sure you don't leave your child in a hot car. Other ideas include: A sticky note with the word "baby" stuck on the dash, or even a small picture of baby placed in a highly prominent position that the driver can't overlook.

Child care center operators driving multiple children can utilize body counts, two-part tagging systems (where a driver collects one part as kids board a bus and then re-distributes them when they exit), or a simple name roster
check-in/check-out system to offer additional safety assurance.

Parents can set up a simple "reminder" system for babysitters, grandparents or other relatives watching their young kids as a memory jogger as well.

 Poison Prevention

If you have questions about a possible poisoning, call 1-800-222-1222. 
 
If this is an emergency and someone is having trouble breathing, call 911.

When it Comes to Poison, Knowledge is Power:

• Did you know a poison is anything that can harm someone if used the wrong way, by the wrong person or in the wrong amount? This can include plants, animals, bugs, food, chemicals and medications.
   
• Did you know different poisons can be harmful in different ways – through your skin or eyes, by breathing it in or swallowing it?
   
• Did you know more than 2 million possible poisonings are reported to poison control centers every year?
   
• Did you know 93 percent of poisonings occur at home?
   
• Did you know 51 percent of possible poisonings involve children under 6? 
   

That’s why poison control, especially around children, is so important. Here are some recommendations from the American Association of Poison Control Centers to help you protect children from poisons:
 

• Post the telephone number for your poison control center (1-800-222-1222) near your phone, in a place where all family members would be able to find it quickly in an emergency. 
   
• Remove all nonessential drugs and household products from your home. Discard them according to the manufacturer's instructions. 
   
• If you have small children, avoid keeping highly toxic products, such as drain cleaners, in the home, garage, shed, or other place children can access. 
   
• Buy medicines and household products in child-resistant packaging and be sure that caps are always on tight. Do not remove child-safety caps. Avoid keeping medicines, vitamins, or household products in anything but their original packaging. 
   
• Store all of your medicines and household products in a locked closet or cabinet–including products and medicines with child-resistant containers. 
   
• Crawl around your house, including inside your closets, to inspect it from a child's point of view. You'll likely find a poisoning hazard you hadn't noticed before. 
   
• Never refer to medicine or vitamins as "candy." 
   
• Make sure visiting grandparents, family friends, or other care givers keep their medications away from children. For example, if Grandma keeps pills in her purse, make sure the purse is out of children's reach. 
   
• Keep a bottle of syrup of ipecac in your home–this can be used to induce vomiting. Use it only when the poison control center tells you to. 
   
• Avoid products such as cough syrup or mouth wash that contain alcohol–these are hazardous for young children. Look for alcohol-free alternatives. 
   
• Keep cosmetics and beauty products out of children's reach. Remember that hair permanents and relaxers are toxins as well.

For information about poison prevention, please visit the following sites:

www.poisonhelp.hrsa.gov

www.miamipoison.org