Choosing a crib for your baby is the first of many important decisions you will make concerning your child. While shopping for the crib may be fun and exciting it should also be taken quite seriously. Each year many children are hurt or killed in their very own cribs. Crib safety standards have come a long way in the last 30 years but it's up to you as parents to ensure that the crib you choose isn't going to harm your little one.
Crib Design Safety
Cribs are designed with vertical bars or slats to keep the child safely contained inside. These bars can be too far apart and pose a possible threat to children if they get their head stuck. Vertical slats should be no more than 2+3/8 inches apart. All new cribs are built to meet this standard; however, to be sure you should always measure the crib.
The corner posts of the crib should be no higher than 1/16 inch above the end panels. This is so that the child can't get a loop of clothing accidentally caught on the ends. Choose a crib without cutouts on the ends as these can pose a threat for small hands and feet to become stuck. The top rails of the sides at their highest position should be at least 26 inches above the top of the mattress support at its lowest position.
Once the child can pull himself up to a standing position keep the mattress support on the lowest setting. You should stop using the crib once the height of the child is more than ? of the height of the raised rail. The drop sides of the crib should be latched securely and require at least ten pounds of pressure to release. Crib hardware should be smooth with no sharp points or protruding edges.
Crib Mattress Safety
The mattress itself is another safety concern. Choose a mattress that fits snugly into the crib. Cribs and crib mattresses are designed with specific sizes for this purpose. Infants can become wedged in between the mattress and crib if there is even a small amount of room. Use the two-finger rule. If you can fit two fingers in-between the mattress and the crib the space is too large and a new mattress needs to be obtained.
Never leave the plastic covering on the mattress once you get it home. Also, avoid using plastic sheets as these can cause a suffocation hazard to infants. Choose a firm mattress so that the child lies on top rather than sinks into it. Use tight bedding on the mattress as well.
Baby crib safety is an important consideration when thinking about using an antique crib. While the style may go well with the d'cor of the room remember that cribs made before 1974 likely don't adhere to the safety standards. When shopping for the crib be sure to measure all aspects of the crib, even those that are brand new.
Most cribs need to be assembled at home. Incorrect assembly can make an otherwise safe crib into a safety hazard instead. Follow directions completely and always test the crib features before placing an infant inside.
So when you buy your drinking water, you are assuming that it is "pure." After all, that is why you bought it. You figure that it must be cleaner and healthier for you than your regular tap water. If it was not, then there is no real point in paying the exorbitant costs of the bottled water. However, you might be wrong in your assumption.
Drinking-water may be contaminated by a range of chemical, microbial and physical hazards that could pose risks to health if they are present at high levels. Examples of chemical hazards include lead, arsenic and benzene. Microbial hazards include bacteria, viruses and parasites, such as Vibrio cholerae, hepatitis A virus, and Crytosporidium parvum, respectively. Physical hazards include glass chips and metal fragments.
Because of the large number of possible hazards in drinking-water, the development of standards for drinking-water requires significant resources and expertise, which many countries are unable to afford. Fortunately, guidance is available at the international level.
The World Health Organization (WHO) publishes Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality which many countries use as the basis to establish their own national standards. The Guidelines represent a scientific assessment of the risks to health from biological and chemical constituents of drinking-water and of the effectiveness of associated control measures.
WHO recommends that social, economic and environmental factors be taken into account through a risk-benefit approach when adapting the Guideline values to national standards. As the WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality are meant to be the scientific point of departure for standards development, including bottled water; actual standards will sometimes vary from the Guidelines.
It should also be noted that water used for making edible ice should be subject to the same drinking-water standard and include specific sanitary requirements for equipment for making and storing ice.
In applying the WHO Guidelines to bottled waters, certain factors may be more readily controlled than in piped distribution systems and stricter standards may, therefore, be preferred in order to reduce overall population exposure. This has, for example, been argued for the case of lead.
Similarly, when flexibility exists regarding the source of the water, stricter standards for certain naturally-occurring substances of health concern, such as arsenic and fluoride, may be more readily achieved than in piped distribution systems.
Contrary to this, some substances may prove more difficult to manage in bottled than tap water. This is generally because bottled water is stored for longer periods and at higher temperatures than water distributed in piped distribution systems. Control of materials used in containers and closures for bottled waters is, therefore, of special concern.
In addition, some micro-organisms, which are normally of little or no public health significance, may grow to higher levels in bottled waters. This growth appears to occur less frequently in gasified water and in water bottled in glass containers compared to still water and water bottled in plastic containers.
Both Randi Reese & Ray La Foy are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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