Laundry-room dangers to toddlers and young children When I was a kid, one of my favorite hide-and-seek hiding places was in the clothes dryer. Sounds innocent enough, but it can have tragic results. Last year, a 4-year-old Mission Viejo, Calif., girl climbed into the family’s washing machine. Her 15-month-old-brother managed to turn on the machine, and she died of related injuries. A disturbing number of kids—more than 2,000 each year—are seriously hurt, and a few die, after reaching, climbing, or falling into washers and dryers or toppling down from them. The now-popular frontloading washers can be particularly dangerous because the controls are often located on the front panel, within easy reach of a young child, and the doors lock when the machine is started. And many people leave the doors of those machines open to minimize mold growth around the rubber gasket, a common complaint with front-loaders. Plus laundry machines are now being moved into the living quarters, where young kids can have unrestricted access. (Learn more about childproofing your kitchen, basement, garage, and other areas of your home .) Manufacturers warn about allowing kids to play on or in those appliances, and one manufacturer has developed a child-entrapment warning system. Take precautions to keep kids away from the washer and dryer, whether you’re doing laundry or just playing hide-and-seek. See our related childproofing video: Baby danger zones . —Donald Mays, safety director and consumer advocate Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences

Baby and child news from The Consumerist Here are some recent baby-and-child related stories from The Consumerist : Baby Bracelets, Pacifier Clips Recalled Because Lead Is Apparently Not Good For Your Infant A cute little baby bracelet made by Allreds Design (also known as Hidden Hollow Beads) of Utah may be the perfect little trinket to bling up your toddler—and give her lead poisoning. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a voluntary recall of baby bracelets and pacifier clips produced by Allreds. It's not a mammoth recall-only about 900 units—but it's been discovered that the metal used in the bracelets and in the clasps for the pacifier clips contains a high level of lead. Allreds has already received one report of a 10-month-old child who received treatment for elevated lead levels due to their products. The bracelets being recalled were sold in the following sizes: 0-6 months, 1-4 years, and 4-8 years of age. Read the full post . TSA Makes Disabled Child Remove Leg Braces, Walk Through Metal Detector The TSA forced a disabled 4-year old to get out of his stroller and remove his leg braces and walk unassisted through the metal director. After the humiliating and frightening incident, the boy's father, a cop, told the supervisor, “This is overkill. He's 4 years old. I don't think he's a terrorist.” The supervisor then said, “You know why we're doing this,” and walked away, according to the father. It turns out that this didn't even follow TSA policy, which would have allowed for the boy to be privately screened and swabbed for explosive material traces, without having to remove his braces. Read the full post . Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences

The crib’s plastic hardware can break which can cause the drop side of the crib to detach from a corner of the crib. When the drop side detaches, it creates a space into which an infant or toddler can roll and become wedged or entrapped. When a child is entrapped between the drop side and the crib mattress, it creates a risk of suffocation or strangulation. In addition, the crib’s mattress support can detach from the crib frame, creating a hazardous space in which an infant or toddler could become entrapped and suffocate or strangle.

Child news roundup: Hospital infection rates, used baby products, toy recall Hospital infection rates. When we had to hospitalize our infant for “minor” surgery, the anxiety was unlike anything we’d ever suffered. Of course we worried about the big hazards, like a surgery mishap. But we also worried about the smaller mistakes like a nurse forgetting to wash his hands or the anesthesiologist miscalculating the dose. Unfortunately, we weren’t just paranoid new parents. Not only are mistakes like these commonplace, they’re much more likely in some hospitals than others. Learn more in the full Health blog post. Toys ‘R Us accepting used baby products. The chain's “Great Trade-in” is in full swing at stores across the nation. From now until February 20 they are accepting trade-ins of used cribs, car seats, bassinets, strollers, travel systems, play yards, high chairs and toddler beds. This is a good way to get damaged and unsafe products out of homes and off the secondhand market. During the store's first event in September, it got many items that were decades old and definitely not compliant with today's stricter product safety standards. Learn more in the full Safety blog post. Tinkerbell toys laced with lead. This week, Playmates Toys, of Costa Mesa, CA, recalled 252,000 Disney-branded Tinkerbell charms for lead content that exceeds federal limits. The recall involves charms sold with the Tiny Tink and Friends toy jewelry sets. The sets were sold from November 2008 through November 2009, so kids may well have gotten them as holiday gifts or stocking stuffers. If your child has one, take it away immediately and contact Playmates Toys at (888) 810-1133 or www.playmatestoys.com for a replacement or refund. Learn more in the full Safety blog post. Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences

For a Super Sunday, keep an eye on the kids AND the game The big game

The drop side hardware can fail causing the drop side to detach from the crib. When the drop side detaches it creates a space in which an infant or toddler can become entrapped and suffocate or strangle. In addition, the recalled cribs can pose a serious entrapment and strangulation hazard when a slat is damaged. This can occur while the crib is in use, in storage, being put together, taken apart or reassembled; or during shipping and handling.

Infant and toddler product-makers must now have registration-card programs When you buy a child car seat, there’s a little postcard attached to the product. That card is important. When you fill it out and mail it in to the company, the company can then contact you (via mail, e-mail, or phone) if that car seat is recalled. Not all infant and toddler products have these cards—putting children and families at risk of harm—but that is about to change. Last month, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, acting on a mandate by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, approved a measure requiring manufacturers of 18 categories of durable infant or toddler products to establish and maintain a registration card program . In a statement on the CPSC’s Web site , Commissioner Thomas Moore said, “Too many of these products are ones that children have died in. But it is especially troubling when a child dies in a product our agency has recalled because the owner of the product was unaware of the recall.” Categories affected by this ruling include full-size cribs, high chairs, strollers, play yards and infant bouncer seats, as well as toddler beds, booster chairs, hook-on chairs, non-full-size cribs, bath seats, infant bathtubs, gates and other enclosures for confining a child, stationary activity centers, infant carriers, walkers, swings, bassinets and cradles, children’s folding chairs, changing tables, portable toddler bed rails, and infant slings. The rule requires each manufacturer of a durable infant or toddler product to: provide a postage-paid consumer registration card with each product keep records of consumers who register their products with the manufacturer permanently place the manufacturer’s name and contact information, model name and number, and the date of manufacture on each product The CPSC’s notice says the new rule is to “greatly promote a higher rate of product registrations, and in turn provide better notification for product owners, thereby increasing the overall effectiveness of our recall process.” It will go into effect in about six months for all categories except for children’s folding chairs, changing tables, infant bouncers, infant bathtubs, portable toddler bed rails, and infant slings. For those items, the new registration rule will go into effect in about a year. In the meantime, parents should keep a running list of the brands and models of any products they buy that fall into in these categories, and periodically check for recalls in the CPSC’s children’s product recall search . ( Toy recalls are listed separately.) —Artemis DiBenedetto Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences

Organize your child’s play area When you have kids,

Childproof your home office, part II Since your home office is filled with stuff that could be dangerous to kids, it might be helpful to be able to lock the door to it when you are not there. If you need to have the kids with you while you are working there, be sure to childproof the room with anti-tip devices, outlet covers, and other means. (See Childproofing your home

Childproofing your home office Kids love to explore every nook and cranny of your home—including the home office. Here are some handy childproofing measures you can take: Anchor any furniture that’s on wheels. If furniture can move, your toddler will push against it and the next thing you know his legs will be out from under him. One good choice is to use those rubber coasters sold to protect floors from furniture feet. They capture the wheels to prevent them from moving. Just be sure they’re large enough not to be a choking hazard, and check periodically to be sure that they are securely fastened to the wheels and that no small pieces are loose. Keep wires out of reach. In a home office, your computer, monitor, printer, and other devices may have resulted in a nest of wires beneath or behind your desk. You’ll want to keep those wires organized so you can tell which ones go where, but also so you can keep them out of your youngster’s reach to prevent her from trying to use them as a jump rope, or worse. (Learn more about the increase of computer-related injuries .) Also, use a covered power strip to keep your child away from the plugs and outlets. Keep little hands out of your electronics. Make sure your children can’t get their hands inside any of those high-tech devices. Either keep your electronics in an enclosed cabinet or buy a guard that will prevent little hands from exploring them. Install sliding outlet covers. Some caps designed to keep fingers out of outlets are small enough to be a choking hazard. A better idea is to replace your outlet covers with ones that incorporate a panel that automatically slides closed when you remove a plug. To use the outlet, you have to use the plug to align the holes in the sliding panel with the outlet holes. Another option is to use a device that fully covers the outlets, even when they are in use. Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences