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By: Ikedi Ani-okoye
Each year, thousands of children are treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries associated with high chairs. Deaths also occur. The majority of the injuries result from falls whenever restraining straps is not used and when children are not closely supervised. The majority of deaths occurred if children slipped down under the tray and strangled. Most often, these children were either unrestrained or were restrained only through a waist belt.
To aid prevent injuries and deaths, toddler high chairs should have a waist strap and a strap that runs between the legs. Although in the high chair, children should always be restrained through both straps. The tray should not be used as a restraining device in place of the straps.
Without these two straps, children can stand in the chair seat and topple from the high chair, or slide under the tray and strangle on the waist strap or if their heads become trapped between the tray and the chair seat.
Other accidents occur whenever the chair tips over. Toddler high chairs may tip whenever an active child pushes off from a table or wall, stands up in the high chair, or rocks it backward and forth.
Select one that has a wide base for stability. Examine the restraining straps to ensure that the waist belt has a buckle that cannot be fastened unless the crotch strap is also used.
Since the restraining straps must be used every time a child is placed in the chair, look for straps that are easy to use. if the straps are hard to fasten, you might not use them.
Consider toddler high chairs that have a post between the child’s legs to prevent the child from slipping down and becoming trapped under the tray.
Check the circumstance of straps and their attachments to make sure they are securely attached and work properly. When the high chair does not have adequate safety straps, contact the producer for replacement.
The crotch strap and belt approximately the waist should be fastened as soon as a child is laid in the chair and unfastened only when the child is removed. Remember, the feeding tray is not a restraint. Only safety straps keep the child from climbing out or sliding down and strangling.
Be sure that the locking device on a folding high chair is locked each time you set up the chair. Never permit a child to stand up in a high chair. Don’t stray too far from the high chair especially if the child has shown an ability to unfasten safety straps. Keep the high chair far enough away from a table, counter, wall, or other surface so that a child can’t use them to push off. Don’t let children play roughly a high chair or climb into it unassisted. Also, don’t let senior children hang on to a high chair whilst a toddler is in it. The high chair could tip over.
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