Electrical cords on Summer Infant monitors pose strangulation risk, safety group says
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comMajor recall of baby monitors linked to 2 deaths
Seeded on Fri Feb 11, 2011 12:27 PM EST (msnbc.com)
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Leave a Comment:
Seems to me the common problem is the devices "near the crib". Hence, not a product malfunction...but a parent brain malfunction.
My thoughts exactly. When parents accidentally run over their kids with their cars, why aren't they recalling the cars?
What I really don't understand is why the Gov't allows bathtubs and stairways. They kill thousands a year!
Our Gov't is borrowing 40% of what they spend to enforce recalls like this?
Time to get back to limited Gov't.
And really, do you think a Gov't that is so irresponsible that it borrows 40% of every dollar it spends can really protect you?
It didn't have a label warning them it was dangerous. I mean, you can't really expect parents to know everything...
Good thing baby monitors are not in the shape of knives or there would be more deaths.
I think stupid parents are at fault here, but my bigger questions is the EMF these devices give off is harmful to the human body as well. However, I don't see many studies done about that which is the real crime here.
What they really need to do is start recalling the parents. In cases like this...stupidity should be a crime.
Amen - anyone can have or make babies but this is basic Parenthood 101
I found out a long time ago that baby audio monitors can pick up cordless phone conversations.
It's how wifey and I found out that the guy living in the apartment below us was gay.
Wtf? Are they kidding? This is just another reason, to be added to the long list, of why parents should be thoroughly tested before being allowed to procreate. Headline should read "Negligent Parent Charged in Infants Death".
Exactly what do the parents of today think that parents did before there were baby monitors? Ever hear of plain old responsibility and common sense?
You can't protect people from themselves.
Bravo that this was Comment #1.
Additionally:
So can lots of other things if left too close to a baby. *facepalm*
I just want to make a comment on the continually dissolving standards in journalism.
The headline, as it's written, is just as likely to make it sound like the recall is to blame for the infant deaths.
A better wording would have been, "Baby Monitors Linked to two Deaths Prompt Big Recall" or "Big Recall After Baby Monitors Linked to two Deaths," in which case the only word change necessary is "of" to "after."
LJ...exactly...I was wondering how the recall resulted in two babies dying until I read the article. What type of english/journalism is being taught in our schools?
Thank you!!!!!!
Riverdog,
You forgot to add that you baby now knows the guy is gay also.
Just a CYA so you can't say you weren't warned. In case you were too stupid to know that.
What the hell, how can that be a product defect so everything that has a wire attached will need to be recalled is this some lame azz joke or what ...... the thing that really needs to be recalled is the idiot that made the recall decision .......
40 million out there and only 2 deaths? that seems like a ridiculous recall to me.
The parents aren't stupid they made a mistake and its easy to do when you are a new parent. I am sure all these idiots blaming the parents never made a mistake that was dangerous. The reality is people screw up all the time most of the time nothing bad comes of it but every so often something really bad happens. We blame the parents because we dont want to believe that the same thing couldn't have happened to us but the reality is no matter how good of a parent you are things can go wrong.
Yes, I agree. What a horrible situation for these two families. People need to stop with the name calling.
I wouldn't blame the manufacturer for attaching cords to their product, but the exploding battery... yikes! Sorry, but no matter how far away the monitor is from the crib, an exploding battery is not okay. I don't want battery acid or monitor debris anywhere in the room, even if it doesn't reach the baby. Perfectly reasonable recall there!!
What I want to know is.....why, why, why, would you even buy a baby monitor with a cord? They're SUPPOSED to be close to the crib, so that the parents can hear if the baby is crying. And babies grab things like cords because they're fun to play with! And they get strangled. Why should a baby monitor even HAVE a cord? Whatever happened to cordless monitors? Parent, consumer, and manufacturer FAIL.
It is a video monitor -- with a ridiculously sensitive speaker, so it does not need to be anywhere near the baby. The idea is to mount it on the wall so the camera can focus into the crib.
We have one - which we mounted on the wall above the crib and have the cord placed so it wraps around a hook on the wall before it goes to the outlet. Anyway - hard to describe but the baby would need to be about 4 feet tall to reach it. It still works well. And no, no one needed to tell us to do that. We reassess the placement as she gets bigger, because they are into everything at her age--nothing is off limits.
Keeping cords out of the reach of children in cribs is really Babyproofing 101, it seems to me. This isn't new science.
sounds more like a link to not using common sense
But isn't that what the government is for? It's supposed to protect ALL of us so we need never use what little common sense that we may have. :)
NO that's what Lawyers are for Not to protect us from US but blame someone else
Once again our government overreacts when it was clearly the parents fault.
Sounds like the recall was initiated by the company not the gubment. The CPSC just issued statements and warnings about electrical cords. Not quite sure how you would relate that to government intervention.
I disagree. It may be labeled as a voluntary recall but I think there cooperation was heavily influenced by the CPSC.
“The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in cooperation with Summer Infant …” from the CPSC website.
I'm sorry but... DUH
The problem is not the baby monitors. It is the parents who leave the cord within reach of the babies. It is just common sense.
what's next? omg, my baby ate rat poison and died! You need to recall all your rat poison and make it safe for human consumption! And I'm suing you for 100 million dollars!
AMEN!!!
Unbelievable! What irresponsible parent put a device with a cord near anywhere near a baby? This isn't an issue where the manufacturer should recall, but a wake up call to use common sense. Just an FYI.......if you leave sharp objects within your child's reach, they may get injured. We should probably recall all kitchen knives, let's include forks too since those can be really dangerous if your baby gets a hold of them. Anyone mounting a 55-inch plasma television on the ceiling so your child can watch videos had better watch out - they'll be a television recall when the television falls!
Can we just apply common sense and not put cords from electronics, blinds, or anything else that could harm your child within the child's reach.
Actually this is the ideal situation for a recall. Recall the reproductive organs of the parents who lacked the minimum amount of common sense needed to keep their children safe.
When are we going to start holding parents accountable for their "common sense" mistakes?!!! Attaching a monitor to the crib???? Putting a montior within a babies reach????? I can't imagine having to deal with the death of a child, and I'm sorry for their loss. But, come on...don't have children until you are willing to be responsible!!! The monitor did not kill these children. The actions of the parent did, and what an unfortunate accident. The should not hold the manufacturer of this monitor responsible.
the parent has been held responsible....their stupidity caused the death of their child. I guarantee they feel horrible...I have no sympathy for them, but grieve for the child. Innocence lost because the parents f'd up big time.
No legal intervention needed here and no recall needed....a child died, that's all the punishment these parents should have to endure.
I don't think they were implying legal action, I think momto3 meant why would they need to recall it, if it was the parent's fault, not bad product design.
Hey Idiots, Did you ever think that maybe the Owner's Manual and advertising shows the camera attached to the side of the crib, or that the picture of the monitor shows the baby's face filling the entire monitor screen and the only way to get that is to have the camera close to the crib, or that for 3 months the baby couldn't reach the camera and then the day he/she learned how to pull up that it suddenly could reach the camera, or that the cord restraint clips failed? No, you didn't. I guess that makes you an idiot too. Too many people know too little about accidents and assume they are God and have the right to criticise the parents who lost their precious child to a series of oversights and mistakes by everyone involved - the government for poor design and oversight standards, the manufacturer for poor design and marketing (images of camera on side of crib and baby's face filling monitor screen), the nanny for failing to take the monitor with her when she went to do the laundry, etc. Until you know all the facts, don't run your stupid mouth.
You are a total idiot. Do you have a brain? Just because something says its so doesn't mean it is right. There is something called common sense. And yes, things change, that is why parenting is a 24/7 job - everyday you re-evaluate the situation and adjust accordingly. Didn't you ever hear the comment if your friends jump over the bridge do you go too? Yes, read the owners manual but if shows something obviously wrong and stupid don't do it. This is why our country is such a mess! People don't think anymore they just do what others say. Just like the Pied Piper we are all marching to our deaths! People need to stop blaming someone else for their situations, you screw up, suck it up and move on - some mistakes are small and others are huge, but take responsibility and do something good.
We might be the last people on the planet who never had a baby monitor. I wasn't even aware that there was a cord involved. Of course an electrical appliance should be kept from a crib.
Gee i wonder how i ever raised six babies without a moniter.
Glad you didn't need a monitor. Hopefully you did not homeschool any of your six children since you apparently lack the ability to use proper sentence structure, grammar and punctuation.
Unbelieveable. So if a parent leaves an infant unattended in the car, in a hot parking lot, and the child suffers heat stroke, I guess car manufacturers are going to have to recall that whole line of cars?
Common sense is a thing of the past, apparently.
how does that even happen? It'd take a minute or two for the baby to get into the cord enough to start choking - wouldn't you hear it if you were listening to the monitor? Do these people not check on their kids, even when they hear strange noises from the monitor, or leave them alone in the room without the monitor on at all?? Either way, the parent has the sad responsibility for what happened, not the company who made the product.
What you say makes sense, su. Baby monitors are designed to monitor babies, after all!
A lot of the Summer Infant ones have video cameras. The receiver has a built-in TV for goodness sake!
wonder if that transmits your Neighbor is GAY?
Comments here seem a little harsh, but I do hear what you're saying. Why was this particular brand of monitor recalled? Can't an infant strangle on any brand of monitor with a cord, or any device with a cord for that matter? The article writer should clarify.
Harsh? Really? We have become a society that has to be warned of its own stupidity! Are they going to start putting warnings on water/water pipes/faucets cautioning against trying to breathe while under the water?! I mean, there is no way they can possibly warn against every stupid thing that can be done with every product! (Just look at the improper way McGuyver uses products!)
We are too quick to blame someone for not warning us when we didn't stop to even think! This is just the lawsuit against McD's too hot of coffee all over again.
Exactly! Have you seen the warning on a bag of peanuts? It literally states, "warning, contains peanuts or other tree nuts". I was simply amazed.
Harsh? A baby died because of parents stupidity and they're getting an out.
I've never seen one of these monitors, but I imagine that since they are video they need to be placed near the crib in order for them to work. Perhaps the instructions said something like "within 3 feet of the crib" or something. While I think most parents would know not to let the cord within reach of baby, I can sort of see why this might be more likely with a video rather than an audio monitor.
"I urge all parents and caregivers to put at least 3 feet between any video or audio baby monitor cords and a child in a crib," she said. "This simple step can save your child's life."
This is simply an issue of parents exercising common sense and vigilance when it comes to providing a safe environment for their toddlers. If we recalled every potentially dangerous item in our homes, our houses would be empty. As a father of a 19-month old, I have learned that vigilance is paramount to keeping my daughter safe - she is fearless, adventurous and curious, and I have to be consciously aware of her surroundings and be thinking ahead about what she could grab hold of or get into that could potentially harm her. We've used a Summer baby monitor from the day she was born. It's mounted on a wall away from her crib. Unfortunately, there are countless opportunities for parents to make mistakes - that's all the more reason to have the safety of your child as your number one focus.
Should they recall extension cords too? When some parent tries to install the newer shorter cord model, won't they just get an extension cord of some type and then, BAM! another tragedy! Or ban/recall all shoe laces, what if a child strangled in a shoe lace?! Or what about dental floss?! Or what about a child that knocks a broom over on their head and hurts themselves--should we ban brooms!?
Come on people, do we really need BIG government telling what is and isn't stupid?! Don't be an idiot! Monitor your children, care for them and also, TAKE RESPONSIBILITY!!
The Consumer Protection Safety Commission hasn't done anything more than monitor (sorry for the pun) a problem. They have figured out that people are too stupid to know to keep the monitor away from a crib, and are so telling people to do so.
The company issued the recall because they just want to put a sticker on the unit--"big government" is not forcing them to. Their desire not to get sued by people is causing them to do it.
Yes, the government monitors what people do and tries to warn the really stupid ones. You shouldn't text and drive. You shouldn't smoke around children. You shouldn't give children too much soda.
Why do people get so freaking bent out of shape when a governmental agency whose job is to gather problems that have emerged with products and either FORCE the company to fix it (which they haven't because they know the problem is users) or warn users that there is a problem?
It seems to me that the real problem we have is with people who have never outgrown their adolescent desire not to have someone "warn" them about anything because they think they do (or that others should) know it all. That someone has found that there is a problem, notifies the media, and the media notifies us is really kind of a nothing issue. The only people to whom it applies are the stupid ones who couldn't figure it out on their own--and there are a lot of stupid people in the US.
A "nanny government" is one that takes things away from you. A government that just monitors and issues informational statements is just doing a normal thing that governments do. And, if you don't like it, try just not reading the informational statements. Problem solved.
Oh, no, big government is going to start interfering in every single issue of your everyday life! OMG! OMG!
Let's freaking over-react to an informational statement, shall we?
To most people, perhaps it just looks like a warning. But I will tell you that the government recently "warned" people about slings. I have a resale shop. Nobody will touch a sling these days. These sling manufacturers who make very, very safe products are starting to close one by one. One company is even giving away their slings for free on Groupon with hopes of upselling some of their other programs.
It is illegal to sell a recalled product. In my resale shop we will now not touch these with a ten foot pole for no rational safety reason aside from the safety of my children's home that will be lost if I am fined.
This is the United State Government and when they suggest something is risky, that is usually all people hear. They decimate industries with their so called "informational statements".
How come when someone is hurt or killed, the first reaction is to sue and blame someone else, what has happened to taking ownership of our mistakes. Who in their right mind would put cords of any kind in reach of a baby. The town I live in just spend 10 thousand dollars for 2 crosswalks on street that already had 2 in a 1000 foot area, because a teenager was killed after jaywalking, and because his family make stink, the city caved. Now there are 4 crosswalks in that area, which are causing more problems then before.
Here they installed a walk light with big flashing ights and know what? The idiots still drive right through it of SLAM on the breaks 2 feet in front of my baby stroller. People are ignorant and will continue to be so. A lot of society has became a big fat shame!!!! Sorry for the rant but this article pisses me off.
Loaded guns and knifes also found to not be safe when kept in a baby crib.
Thanks for the warning!
That can't be true. I didn't see a warning label on my gun or my knife.
LOL! My oldest son thought he was a piggy bank. Any loose coin, anywhere, and he would find it. Even with my careful watching, I had to flip him upside down and slap his back more than once. I guess I should have just tried to get coins recalled as being dangerous. Not to mention the Trix cereal he'd put up his nose when I'd turn my back for a second. Thank god we both survived his childhood. :)
think of HOW much you would Made in compensation Had consulted a Lawyer
A WARNING never hurts- imagine losing your baby because of your own carelessness. Keep the warnings coming- if they only save one infant that is fine.
Warnings never hurt, but neither do common sense or an education. Every time I read some stupid warning on a product I say to myself 'you mean someone actually DID that??' Check out the new warnings on tampons, its quite hilarious!!
Rampant stupidity is amazing, and these people should NOT be procreating and perpetuating the problem. Save an infants's life, don't get pregnant!
I don't think Babies can read at that age as the parents didn't read
Why recall the product when it is clearly not the product but the irresponsibility of the person or persons using it. IF placed away from the crib and the baby they cannot get in it to get it around their neck.
I think they are recalling them so that the next batch will have a warning with them?
Myra Again Refer to "Lawyers vs Common sense"
The manufacturer should sue the families involved for giving them a bad name.
It's easy to blame the parents, but if the product is designed to be used closer than 3 feet away from the baby, and it contains a cord, then it is not safe and should be recalled. The manufacturer designs the product in such a way that when you use it as instructed it kills your baby. Not good.
I'm going to call bullcrap on the "product desgined to be used closer than 3 feet". I had my baby monitor across the room, I could hear my child breathing and any other little movement she made. Plus three feet is plenty of room, babies arms aren't three feet long nor can they stretch that far. Why not put monitor underneath the crib?
Ditto. Our monitor is on a shelf about 10-12 feet across the room from the crib and has never had any issue picking up sounds in the nursery.
Nothing in my instructions said to put the monitor ON the crib. I'd be willing to bet that there was probably a warning in them about keeping the power cord out of the baby's reach.
Back in the olden days, we used are ears for baby monitors!
Baby monitors what for? So the parents can rush in and pick them up at the first wimper? They're babies and babies cry they'll be fine.
We have had two of these video monitors for our kids. The monitors work best when mounted at the top of the wall above the baby's crib, but that also leaves a cord hanging down the wall right behind the crib within the baby's reach. The solution we used for both cameras was just to stick a couple of thumbtacks at the top of wall to divert the cord up and around the crib so they were out of the baby's reach.
Perhaps all perspective buyers need to take an IQ, before they're eligible to buy "anything" for their baby!~ UGH!! Impossible to legislate "stupid"!!!!!!!!!!!
They should have to take a test to even have children, first...
When you have baby's consider any cords, "death sentence" to them, look at those cords like at "hanging ropes". You don't have to be smart to know that.
My 6 years old had a jumping rope, I took it from her because my 2 years old got interested to play with it. GET CORDS AWAY from your small kids.
You are kidding right? You didn't smack the 2 year old and say no, that belongs to your sister. Perfect learning opportunity to not touch things that are not theirs, and some things they are not allowed to play with.
Thank you!!!! That's part of the problem. Take something away from the people who are using it right because we don't teach the other kid they are too young, it's not theirs, whatever! Everything has to be dumbed down for us. We can't punish or teach our children, we'll just bubblewrap the world for them and then be so surprised when they don't know how to function in the real world. And then they go off and have children and don't know to keep a cord away from the crib and cry that it's someone else's fault.
And what happened to getting off your butt and actually going in and checking on your kid? Baby monitors were developed to watch children who had actual health issues, but they became mainstream so people could be lazy. If your baby is being monitored, how do you not know that it is in the room killing itself?
When my youngest son flipped his lego table over and was using it as a surfboard, fell and put his teeth through his lip I didn't think to sue the people who made the table for not putting a label on it telling me that this could be dangerous. I took him in for stitches, took him home, told him to use it correctly or I'd throw it away. Never had a problem again. And, before anyone jumps my case about not monitoring him. I heard the thump from him turning it over and had just entered the room to watch him crash to the ground. Kids are kids, we have to teach them to use things correctly. And when they are babies it's up to us, not the government or the companies to keep the safe and protect them from things like cords.
Why are these being recalled when it is clearly the parents that didn't use common sense. I have two of these monitors and use the equipment provided to mount the camera and the adhesive cord holders to run the cord up and away from the crib area!!!! The loss of those children is very sad, but parents should just use their common sense and protect their children from DANGER! wires=danger!!
Duh!!!