curtain cord - tragic death

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Honkyblues

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Dear all

some of you may not be aware, but last Tuesday an 18-mth-old little boy died in Discovery Bay, strangled by a curtain cord. There are conflicting reports as to how it happened (whether he was in his cot or whether he was left alone playing), but what is certain is that dangling curtain cords are a death-trap. I wrap mine around hooks, but I have to confess that sometimes I'm a bit lazy about it. Well, no more!

I just wanted to let everyone know about this potential lethal hazard in our homes. Get to Park n Shop today and buy stick on hooks to wrap your cords around! Ikea have cord shorteners, but they didn't work for my Roman blind cords (the cords were too thick).

My heart goes out to the poor parents.

Here are a couple of news reports. I haven't seen anything in the SCMP but I suppose it must have been in it.

Toddler Dies After Being Found With Cord Around His Neck On Family Yacht Off Hong Kong | World News | Sky News

British toddler dies after strangling himself with curtain cord on parents' luxury yacht | Mail Online

Take care, everyone.
Honkyblues
 
Thanks HonkeyBlues for posting this. It's such a tragic story, and our thoughts are with the family.

We've published the Baby Proofing articles written by Yvonne Heavyside on the front page. Hope everyone will take a few minutes to read through them and take the necessary steps to baby proof their homes.
 
This is really tragic, my heart goes out for the parents. We never leave our daughter napping alone, always check up on her every 20- 30 mins to see she is alright. I think the helper should be charged with neglect in this case, the toddler would have cried for help when he was suffocating. How could she leave him alone for 90 mins????
 
Our son sleeps in his room we dont go in and check every 20 mins to see if he is ok. We have a monitor and when he is awake he calls us out and we go get him.
 
Slightly un-fair to blame the helper!! - its our responsibility as parents to ensure nothing is within reach of our chidlrens cots!!
 
totally agree with neha and kharel. if there is nothing dangerous within reach of the child, i don't see why the helper should have had to check him every whatever minutes. by that logic, are you up every 20 min in the middle of the night to check on your daughter?
 
Perhaps we are very cautious about our daughter's safety so check every now and then to make sure she is alright.
Of course I agree that its the parents resonsibility to make sure their child is safe and protected. But many people do pay their helpers to share this responsibility and trust them completely with their precious little ones. And in this case if the helper wasn't doing her job properly and it has resulted in a serious tragedy like this she should be charged with neglect.
Also things dangling about around the cot is not the only way a child can get hurt.
Zac08 I co sleep with my daughter at night and even if I wasnt I would still check on her every few hours. I know many mums who do the same. And as it is most kids nap for a short time during the day (Often unpredictable how long) and night time they sleep longer and deeper.
 
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Nobody is saying that the helper should not be held responsible. But living on a boat with a small kid is a risk in itself according to me. I can just imagine how paranoid I would be on that boat.
 
From reading this article, the circumstances of the poor little boy's death are unclear - therefore speculating about the helper being charged with neglect is unfair. The parents and police are the ones in possesion of all the facts.

This is an awful thing to have happened but it highlights how important it is to babyproof your home (as far as you can) and any environment in which you child spends time.

I don't have my eyes on my 19 month old every moment of the day around the house, nor do my helpers - we try of course, but inevitably when housework / cooking / work is required shes often wandering around rooms between us. We don't check on our daughter whilst napping, but this has made me relook at our house and any potential danger zones.
 
Neha said:
Nobody is saying that the helper should not be held responsible. But living on a boat with a small kid is a risk in itself according to me. I can just imagine how paranoid I would be on that boat.
Click to expand...

I am afraid you should read the thread more carefully, some don't agree with me that the helper should be held responsible. They have a right to their opinion and I respect that entirely :)
 
I really didn't post about this to start a thread apportioning blame (especially when we don't know the exact facts of the case - who are we to judge?), but as a warning so that a tragedy like this doesn't happen again.

Like MayC, I am re-visiting the child-proofing of my home; and I'm going to try not to let things slip ("oh, I'll fix that tomorrow," "I really must find a safer place to keep those scissors,") etc. I know I am guilty of keeping dangerous medicines in an unlocked drawer. Fair enough, I thought the drawer is high enough that my two little boys can't reach it. But they are resourceful, and there are step-stools in the bathrooms that they could easily drag into the bedroom to investigate those mysterious, high-up drawers! I bought a lock-box from CitySuper about 3 months ago, and it was only last week that I finally read the instructions on how to set the code, and filled it with all the Panadols, Aspirins, mercury thermometer, and anything else that was hazardous.

We all want to protect our children. I'm sure these poor parents were doing their best too. And the helper was probably doing her best. But accidents happen... Let's not pass judgment, but let's just all act positively after this tragedy and keep our children safe.

Peace and health to all!
 
Well shoot me, I don't routinely check my children when they are sleeping. I do exactly what the helper did, just check if they are sleeping more than normal.

Having said that, I provide a safe sleeping environment. The cot is not against he window and in any case, we don't have curtain cords. Curtains can be easily pulled together without using a cord.
 
clearly the culprit IN THIS INSTANCE is the curtain cord being in the wrong place.

this is so so so sad.
 
The best you can do is make sure your child's sleeping environment is 100% safe. It is not at all practical to check on you child every 20 or 30 minutes while they sleep. How could anyone get enough sleep to function if they woke up every 20-30 minutes to check on thier child all night long. Children can weake up an night, just as they do at nap time so I really don't see the logic in only checking at nap time. Also it is a false sense of security. What if your child strangled on minutes 5, by minute 20 when you check again your child would already be dead. Your child can't make noise when they are strangling, you need air to make noise and if there was enough air to vocalize, you would also have enough air to breathe. Choking people make no sound. In our room as babies they were in a crib with no bumperpads or pillows or stuffed things, in a grobag so no blankets, crib not near a window and couldn't get out of the crib, once they could get out of the crib then went to a matress on the floor at first, covers on all outlets, cut the blind cord very short, only an adult can reach it, and the blinds cords are all within the fabric of the blind so they can strangle inside of the blind either, locked windows and if it is ummer and the windows ar eopne then there is nothing near them they can climb to get to the window. everything is 100% safe so that I know for sure nothing can happen when I am not in there. The room was pretty bare, but I can sleep at night.
 
Wonder why are people harping upon "We never leave our daughter napping alone, always check up on her every 20- 30 mins to see she is alright." I was never advising anyone here on this forum to do the same, just sharing what we do ourselves. Whats so wrong if we have the time and patience to do it, if it assures us, our daughter is sleeping well. We all do whats best for our children.
And babymommy2 you should have read my second comment before making caustic remarks. How can you have the heart to say this about anyone's child "What if your child strangled on minutes 5, by minute 20 when you check again your child would already be dead."???? And need I mention we have baby proofed our home as far as possible.
 
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I didn't say it be caustic or to offend you, I said it because that is how I rationalized it myself, that is what I told myself and why I don't check on my children when they are asleep. I didn't mean to imply your child, or anyones child in particular, When I re-read what I wrote, I can see how it came across that way and I apologize. I used to check all the time when I had my first baby and was a new mom, and I got no sleep. After awhile I thought exactly that, why am I checking every half hour? I was making myself more paranoid. If something had happened to the baby unless I came in at that exact moment that something happened, I wasn't doing anything helpful by checking frequently. At the time I was thinikng more of sids than blind cords, but the principle is the same. Unless I came into the room at the exact moment the baby stopped breathing, or got caught in the blind, nothing is changed. If it happened 5 minutes after I left the room and I check evey 30 minutes, too late. this made me more and more paranoid, unitl I just accepted that the room was completely safe, and there was nothing more that I could do to prevent anything so I stopped checking. This is what made me able to get a full night sleep ( other than breastfeeding). It no longer seemed logical to me to check.

I agree you have to do what puts you mind at rest, if checking every 20 minutes makes you feel better, then do it. That didn't work for me, it made me feel worse, and it was the knowledge that I had done everything that I can child proof wise, that made me feel better and let me sleep.
 
After reading all the posts, I think all parents here are good parents, but with different approach to protect their babies. It is good to know what others are doing in raising a kid, and through this we can enrich our own how-to-raise-a-kid bible.
Personally I do check on my baby during his nap from time to time. We are not living in a huge castle, checking on him is just a few steps away, why not? Just try our very best to make sure he is alright, make sure he is well blanketed (my baby refuses to stay in a grobag), make sure he is not sleeping on his face down, etc. To provide a baby proof environment doesn't give me 100% peace in mind as you really never know about accidents. At nite, I will check on him usually once, sometimes twice ( am not a "deep sleeper", not sure if this is the right term) for the same reasons mentioned above. Well, being a mom is never easy, and that's why mothers are widely praised by all for our selfless love for our children.
 
The point isn't being personal about who does and doesn't check on their babies whilst they are asleep. The point is the posts saying that the helper should be charged because she didn't until the baby overslept. I think this is ridiculous and anyone saying that the helper should be charged needs some perspective - most parents don't constantly check their children whilst they are asleep. Why should the helper be charged for doing the same thing?
 
Agree jane01, it is our responsibility, not our helper's to ensure our homes are babyproof.
My helper just does what I do, I don't check on my children after they have been put down for naps.
I'm sure that this helper is devastated by what has happened, I know mine would be. Unfortunatley she has to live with the what if's for the rest of her life.
There is nothing to say that this tradgedy couldn't have still happened if the child had been in the parents care.

It's just a horrible incident, that hopefully others can learn from.
 
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