Baby-proofing big business

By JOHN ANASTASI
Bucks County Courier Times

Baby-proofing the house has become big business not only for the companies that produce home safety products, but for a growing number of baby-proofing professionals.

“Child safety has become a big issue,” said Mark Gottlieb, who runs Upper Southampton's Safe at Home Baby-Proofing. “These days, you've got both parents working, they're living in larger homes than before and there's more reliance on babysitters.”

Gottlieb started his baby-proofing business 11 years ago. It is a full-time job. His services include safety gates for stairways, latches that secure cabinets and drawers and door locks.

“I have grandchildren myself and you really need to be aware of child safety [issues],” he said. “People aren't aware of all the little pitfalls.”

Gottlieb said he started his business just as baby-proofing professionals were organizing the International Association for Child Safety. The nonprofit trade group promotes education about child safety issues and provides a forum for companies to communicate with each other.

“There were 42 companies when I joined. Now there are 150,” he said.

Every year, about 2 million children under the age of 5 are treated in emergency rooms for injuries that occur at home, according to the association.

Gottlieb serves Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania and Camden County in New Jersey. He has clients fill out a survey about their homes and then he provides them with a list that shows what baby-proofing options are available and how much each one costs.

“The customer can pick and choose what they want to do,” he said.

For do-it-yourselfers, stores like Babies R Us, which has locations in Falls and Bensalem, stock a variety of baby-proofing products.

They include straps that prevent furniture from toppling over, corner guards that attach to the edges of tables and other items, outlet covers that prevent children from shocking themselves, knob covers that stop them from turning on the stove and toilet seat latches that keep the lid down.

“Safety items are always very popular,” said Babies R Us spokeswoman Jamie Beal. “They sell very well. September is [National] Baby Safety Month, but these are always big things [people buy].”

Serious household accidents have occurred locally.

Among them is a January 2005 accident in which a 3-year-old Abington girl was killed when a large, mirrored wardrobe fell on her. Following the accident, the girl's parents — Judy and Bob Lambert — founded the Katie Elise Lambert Foundation in their daughter's name.

Since the nonprofit was started, it has worked to raise awareness of various household dangers and has pushed pediatricians to cover baby-proofing topics during children's checkups.

Common child injuries

• Falls, usually on steps or from furniture or windows
  
  
• Accidental poisoning
  
  
• Burns from the stove, hot liquids, steam or from electrical current
  
  
• Choking
  
  
• Drowning
  
  
• Finger and head entrapments
  
  
• Toppling of furniture or appliances such as TVs

Source: International Association for Child Safety.

John Anastasi can be reached at 215-949-4170 or janastasi@phillyBurbs.com.

From:http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/147-05252008-1539065.html

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Britax Roundabout Convertible Carrier Cover Set

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Baby traffickers arrested on China-Vietnam border

Chinese and Vietnamese police have arrested six baby traffickers in a border town and rescued two newborn baby boys, Vietnamese authorities said.

The four men and two women, all Vietnamese, were arrested in the Chinese border town of Dongxing and handed to Vietnamese police, who had tipped off their counterparts, said a police officer in the Vietnamese town of Mong Cai.

"We have a cooperation hotline with the local Chinese police. With their help, the smugglers were arrested on Monday," said the Quang Ninh province police officer who asked not to be named.

The suspected baby smugglers, who were aged between 15 and 66, were transferred to provincial police for further investigation. The two babies were turned over to a social welfare centre, the officer said.

"This is the third baby trafficking case we have detected this year, bringing the number of rescued babies to five," he said.

Vietnamese police busted a trafficking syndicate in February, which sold babies to China for adoption, reportedly charging about $US500 each for girls and $US1,000 for boys.

The US embassy in Hanoi recently issued a damning report about widespread baby selling and rampant corruption in the adoption system in Vietnam, which led Hanoi to cancel a bilateral adoption agreement.

Great gear when traveling with children

After almost 10 years of traveling around the country and to Europe with children, I have learned this: Less is more.

All that stuff you hear about packing little toys for kids to unwrap on the airplane or stocking up on travel games to play in the car is, in my experience, pretty much useless. Such things will distract the kids for about 10 seconds and leave parents with more stuff to clean up. Snacks are important, especially on planes where food is increasingly limited, but jamming a thousand toys into a backpack or buying every new travel gadget on the market is only going to ensure that you have more stuff to keep track of.

Which isn't to say I'm anti-stuff. I live and die by the portable DVD player, two if your kids are at an age, as mine are, when they will fight about the air molecules they breathe. Books are good, though remember it's always fun to buy new books on your travels, so you don't have to take a library. Ditto for crayons and a coloring book. If your child is consistently soothed by a stuffed animal or two, by all means take them. My kids tend while packing to develop sudden attachments to toys they then ignore or lose during the trip, so our stuffies stay home.

Still, the questions most parents ask of those who have traveled more or farther most often begin with "Should I bring ..." the stroller, the car seat, the portable crib. Here, based on this mom's experience, is a brief guide to good travel stuff.

CARRIER

For infants, I swear by the Baby Bjorn Infant Carrier ($79 to $99 at www.babiesrus.com), which keeps your hands free, the baby warm and takes up no room. When we went to Paris with our 2-month-old, we didn't bother with a stroller (which is a pain in any city with a subway or metro -- all those steps). Because it was winter, we also got a Baby Bjorn carrier cover ($39 at www.babierus.com), which kept little Darby warm and dry. (You know you have made a good purchase when a Parisian mother asks you where you got something.)

For older kids, if you are going to do a lot of hiking, a Kelty Child Carrier backpack ($119 to $240 at Sport Chalet, www.sportchalet.com) is a must. Yes, you tough dads can go miles with a kid on your shoulders, but when that kid falls asleep (and he or she will), you are balancing a sack of cement on your head.

STROLLER

When your baby is too heavy or squirmy for a Baby Bjorn, you need a stroller, and if you're going to travel a lot or go to places with cobblestones or off-road walking, you should invest in a really good umbrella stroller. I have a Chicco C6 ($59.99 at www.amazon.com) that works well, and Maclaren has great lightweight portable urban strollers ( www.amazon.com, $174.95).blogger said : Cheap triple Strollers Here !

CAR SEAT

The great debate -- take or rent. I say take. You can check them with your luggage or at the gate, and nothing's worse than renting an infant seat you don't like or trust. Also, the car seat guarantees you have somewhere safe to put an infant when you're in your hotel room or apartment, which is nice. For older kids, a very cool thing is a Gogo Kidz Travelmate ($89 at www.gogobabyz.com) -- a car seat that turns into a stroller by pulling out a handle and wheels. Although it's too low to the ground to act as a real stroller, it is great for airports. And if the airline allows it, putting a car seat in the plane seat makes things much easier. Your child is more secure, for one thing, and there is a soporific effect about a car seat that cannot be overlooked.

GROBAG

These British zippered blankets are like big sleep sacks, and they come in handy because they will keep a child as warm as any blanket and not fall off during the night or get lost during the flight. Get a size up from your child's regular size, and it will also work in a stroller. At $55 ( www.amazon.com or www.gro-group.co.uk), they aren't cheap, but they're worth it.

PORTABLE CRIB

Leave it at home. Most hotels and rentals will provide a crib, and even the good portables are heavy and bulky. You can take a Travel Bed (Gentle Air Dr. Watters Portable Overnight Bed, from $60.75 at www.amazon.com, is popular) but frankly, if it's a question of a bed being too high, you can just pull the mattress onto the floor. Or with an older child, you can pack a collapsible bedrail.

In the end, it's best to remember two things about travel stuff: You should take only things you know are going to make your life easier, and if there is something you need but do not have, you can probably buy it wherever you are. You might even find products that are better than the ones at home. I still believe every parent with a newborn should travel to Paris or Italy to choose their stroller because the strollers are so much better there and -- even with the value of the dollar against the euro -- less expensive. And it's fun to have a sippy cup from Germany or a teething ring in the shape of a Maryland crab. Kids' products are everywhere, just like kids. That's why it's so great to travel with them.

article From:http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-tr-kidstuff4-2008may04

mary.mcnamara@latimes.com