Posted on 08/23/2012 8:07:53 AM PDT by Altariel
Hi Folks! Just read about this warning regarding Bumbo Seats — little seats that look even safer than normal seats because there’s a big, hmmm, I guess “bumbo” in front of the crotch, wedging the child in. (See below.) About 4 million — that’s 4,000,000 — have been sold. And now they are being recalled for retooling — basically adding a safety belt — after reports of 2 baby skull fractures. (Two, that is, while the seat was on the ground. Another 19 occurred when the seat was on a raised surface and presumably the child fell out or off.)
Now, look, nobody wants a baby’s skull fractured. (Do they?) But listen to this quote in USA Today:
“Too many children were injured while using this product,” says Consumer Federation of America product safety director Rachel Weintraub. “The fact that the manufacturer is changing the product by including restraints is incredibly significant.”
It is INDEED significant, in that it indicates that any manufacturer can be coerced into a product recall if someone insinuates that without it, the manufacturer DOESN’T CARE ABOUT BROKEN BABY SKULLS. The specter of a lawsuit, or boycott, or just a glaring TV talk show host is enough to make any company quake in its booties.
But when something is safe 99.999% of the time (I’m sure one of you will do the actual math), is that not SAFE ENOUGH? As the reader who sent me notice of the recall said, “Why don’t we recall laps, while we’re at it?”
Well? Why DON’T we? After all, laps are non-standard, germy, and once in a while there’s a cat vying for the same space. Unsafe! Unclean! Unfair! Let us officially recommend parents come in for an emergency lap repair kit allowing a neighborhood surgeon to graft a restraining belt onto all adult tummies.
Oh — not willing to have a belt grafted on? I guess you don’t CARE about babies’ skulls. – L.
Wow does that seat look extremely unsafe.
We have one. They’re fine. Just keep an eye on the kid. Once he’s big and mobile enough to tip it over ... pack it up.
SnakeDoc
It is an awesone seat, we used it all the time, even in the bath tub and on a chair at the dinner table. I think those that have trouble with it are putting kids in there that are too old. This seat is for babies that cannot yet sit up on their own and certainly aren’t heavy enough or strong enough to tip the thing over.
Our daughter did just fine in hers. I’d like to see one in my size with a cup & TV remote holder...
I had a Bumbo for da baby and it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. She ate in it, played in it, never fell over, and used it until she outgrew it. When she got too big for it, she was heartbroken and so was I. She will be five on New Years Day and she still tries to sit in it when we visit the baby I gave it to.
The straps won’t save kids from falls off of counter tops.
Love our Bumbo, especially the fact that it can be hosed down when needed!
I’ve seen these things, and never have and never would have put my kid in one of these, they are not as you want to claim remotely as safe as other seats and products to hold a child among this age group. They can very easily wiggle out of them.
Now I am sure most times the kids manage this nothing happens other than a little bump and some tears, but the things are not remotely something I would put my kids in, with or without the Consumer Recall or product warnings.
Anyone who’s ever tried to hold a little one who is squirmy can tell you, no chair without a full restraint of some kind is going to keep them in place.
I as a consumer looked at this thing years ago when my son was born and said, nope. Did it again 10 years later when my daughter was born and said, nope. Just no damned way this will keep any child who is mobile from getting out of it. I’m sure a child can sit in it 1000 times with no issues, but once they can squirm hard, or develop the ability to squirm hard, this thing is useless, and I suspect this is where the issue comes in.
When used on a newborn with no muscle strength the kid is fine, its used over and over and the parent comes to rely on it because they trust it because its been safe so far, then one day Jr is now big enough to move and wiggle and does so and thump, they are on the ground. And I am sure most of these thumps are little more than a few tears and done, but some when the kid hits hard on a hard surface more severe.
We had one for our kids. It’s absurd and completely useless to add a seat belt. The kids are basically wedged into the Bumbo. If they fall over — enough to crack a skull, and I DON’T see how that could happen if the seat is on the ground — then the entire thing will tip over, and a seat belt will just go with it.
(Call me suspicious, but those skull fractrues that supposedly happened while the seat was on the floor just don’t seem like they could happen. Unless the kid has a skull like an eggshell. Coverup for child abuse, perhaps??)
You put the kid in a Bumbo barely on the edge of a counter? And when did you stop beating your wife? ;-)
So sad. The whole point to Bumbo, in my mind, was to be an alternative to straps and belts and locks and snaps.
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