BreathableBaby Mesh Crib Bumpers

For more than ten years, parenting experts, child product safety organizations, and new parents have been talking about the potential safety hazards of using traditional crib bumpers inside infants’ cribs despite the benefits of preventing head, arm and leg injuries.

We are Dale and Susan Waters, married entrepreneurs from Minnesota who turned fear for our baby’s safety inside her crib into a mission to create something that would not only help protect babies but also provide peace of mind for parents. We invented the Breathable Mesh Crib Bumper; a product designed to reduce the risks of suffocation caused by traditional bumpers, while protecting a baby’s limbs from becoming entrapped in the crib slats.

BreathableBaby is Born

12 years ago, we woke to the sound of our 3-month-old daughter screaming in agony from her crib. Our daughter, Sierra had gotten her legs twisted and wedged between the slats of her crib. Her face was pinned against the mattress.

There were many sleepless nights for us and our daughter – no matter what we tried she kept getting her little arms and legs caught between the crib slats. In addition to the obvious pain of being stuck, we feared she would break an arm or leg, or develop neuropathy. But we refused to use a soft, pillowy crib bumper for fear of suffocation.

Research shows that a baby can snuggle up right against their crib bumper. If the baby’s nose and mouth are too close to the bumper, it can potentially cause dangerous re-breathing of carbon dioxide or suffocation. A baby can also get wedged between crib slats and the mattress, unable to escape and possibly suffocate. Because the safety and potential dangers of crib bumpers has been in the news recently, many parents are unsure about how to keep their babies comfortable and safe.

As parents, we were frustrated and upset to learn there was no practical solution available in the marketplace. As designers and entrepreneurs we decided we had to do something about it and devoted ourselves to developing a safer, “breathable” solution – preferably one that was affordable and easy to use. So, we took a break from the media, marketing and music company we owned, and focused on creating a safer solution for babies.

We researched and sourced fabrics, designed and engineered prototypes, held focus groups with mothers and sought extensive third party safety evaluations by a world-leader in safety consultation before finally introducing a safer, smarter crib bumper to the market three years later in 2002.

What makes BreathableBaby bumpers so much safer is our Air Channel Technology™ (A.C.T.) designed to prevent suffocation. A.C.T. maintains air access should a baby’s mouth and nose press up against the fabric. When the BreathableBaby fabric is compressed it is virtually impossible to form an airtight seal. In fact BreathableBaby has “fabric cards” available so that parents can experience the A.C.T. safety feature for themselves — just send in a request along with your address information to customercare@BreathableBaby.com and we’ll send you one free of charge.

Since its launch, we’re proud to say that the BreathableBaby™ brand has forged a new category in “breathable” bedding, and is embraced by parents worldwide. Our products have won numerous awards including The Child Safety House Calls Award of Excellence, and National Parenting Center Seal of Approval for innovation, functionality, design and contribution to creating a safer, healthier crib environment.

It’s imperative that parents are aware of the potential dangers that may be part of a baby’s sleep environment. New information is available all the time, so we urge all expectant parents – first time or otherwise – to seek relevant news, alerts, studies and guidelines from news and safety organizations such as the ones listed in our Healthful Hints below.

Wishing you and your little one sweet dreams.

HEALTHFUL HINTS:

Six Steps to a Safe Sleep Environment For Your Baby

1. Crib Mattress Should be Firm. A soft mattress may increase suffocation risks. Select a firm mattress that fits the crib tightly and a fitted sheet. You should have a fitted not be able to fit more than two fingers between the mattress and the crib side. Before purchasing a crib, visit www.cpsc.gov to make sure the crib you selected has not been recalled.
2. No Blankets for Baby. Do not place anything in baby’s crib that could be a suffocation hazard, including blankets. If you’re worried about keeping your baby warm, a better solution is an infant sleeper or wearable blanket that zips around your baby and can’t ride up over her face.
3. Breathable Mesh Crib Bumpers. Crib bumpers that are plush, pillowy, and made of non-breathable fabric can increase the risk of suffocation. A safer crib bumper option is one that is mesh or breathable and allows for air flow – even when pressed against a baby’s mouth.
4. De-Clutter the Crib. For most parents, all those cute stuffed animals and soft blankets might seem a natural fit for the crib, but unfortunately they all pose suffocation risks. Toys and stuffed animals are best saved for interactive play time.
5. A bottle. Parents of older infants who have started holding their own bottles may be tempted to slip a bottle into the crib in case their baby wakes at night. But even a bottle can pose a suffocation risk. Plus, babies who fall asleep with a bottle in their mouths are prone to tooth decay from the milk sugars that sit on their teeth all night.
6. Pacifiers. Some studies have shown that giving your baby a clean, dry pacifier reduces SIDS rates.

Resources For More Information On Safe Sleep and Crib Safety

• Consumer Product Safety Commission www.cpsc.gov/info/cribs
• Keeping Babies Safe www.keepingbabiessafe.org
• American Academy of Pediatrics www.healthychildren.org
• First Candle www.firstcandle.org
• Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association http://cribsafety.jpma.org

Speedbump

Hi, my name is Jon Fischer. I have always had an interest in technology and was the Massachusetts Middle School Robotics Champion 3 years in a row. I wanted to enter the Massachusetts State Science Fair in 2006 (my Junior year of high school), but wasn’t sure what I could do for an original technology project.

Then one of my older friends crashed his car speeding on a back road, severely injuring him and 2 others. After his recovery, the driver told me he knew he was driving much too fast for that road but never thought he would actually crash. I had seen similar stories in the local papers and continued to learn more about the issue in drivers ed. I noticed a recurring theme with teen driver accidents: they almost always seemed to happen on back roads. I decided to do some research and proved my theory, speeding on non-highway roads (local or back roads and secondary roads) is statistically much more dangerous than on highways. I realized that this was a big problem and set out to solve it for my science fair project.

My first step in the project was to research what products already existed for teen safe driving. I found a few products out there, but they were all “constant tracking solutions” to continuously track your teen, which have a number of issues. First, parents would have to dig through mountains of data to find if their teen was ever speeding. Second, this approach is just too invasive for teens. I knew I could build a better solution for both parents and teens!

By the end of the science fair, I had developed a hardware prototype running my own custom software that allowed monitoring of speeding by road class. Although very rudimentary and by no means a useable product, my prototype worked. It was able to be mounted into a car and detect the type of road being driven on with GPS, and then determine if the car was traveling at an appropriate speed for the road. If the car was speeding, the prototype would save the location and speed data which could be viewed on a computer. But if the driver was being safe on the road, the prototype wouldn’t log any kind of data about the driver.

I got an honorable mention in the science fair and was happy with the prototype I had made. Following the science fair presentation, my dad (who was running a small business he had started several years earlier) suggested trying to commercialize my prototype into a real product. I then wrote a business plan over the summer and entered the Mount Wachusett Community College Business Plan Competition in the fall. To my surprise, I won! And took home almost $20,000 to start my business.

I used some of this money to file a patent on “the ability to monitor speed by road class” and used the rest to incorporate the business. Because of this business plan competition win, I was also able to get several entrepreneurial scholarships for college and attended Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. I chose Champlain because of their BYOBiz (Bring Your Own Business) program. BYOBiz is an extracurricular program at Champlain that provides student entrepreneurs with resources to build their business; primarily mentorship and a shared office space on campus.

It took another 2 years, and a partnership with a hardware manufacturer before release of my first version of the product, Speed-Demon, a commercialized version of the hardware I developed in the science fair. Unfortunately I was only able to sell 52 in a year’s time. Every parent that bought one said they loved the product and saw a vast improvement in their teen’s driving while using the product. However, I received a lot of feedback from parents who could not afford the $250 dollar upfront cost of the box, plus a $15 dollar a month subscription to the service.

I could not bring the cost of the hardware down any further and now, for the first time, thought the business might not make it. One night while playing with my friend’s new Android phone, I realized that times had changed; I no longer needed to sell hardware! Smart phones now had all the technology I needed to provide the same teen safe driving service but without selling my own hardware!

I immediately started researching platforms and found Android OS to be the best for the first version of Speedbump – The Teen Driving Safety App.

The app launched on Android phones at the beginning of summer 2011 (just as I graduated from college) and the iPhone version of Speedbump will be available in early 2012. Speedbump now has more users than Speed-Demon ever did, in less than a quarter of the time! Parents have continued to tell me how much they love Speedbump for its ability to make their teens safer drivers. As an added bonus, they also mention that their teens have become safer passengers, often telling their friends to slow down because of Speedbump reporting. Speedbump is bringing parents and teens together to encourage driving safety and I couldn’t be happier. I’d like to offer any readers of this article a Free 1 Month Trial by using the promo code “PSafety” to sign up at www.SpeedbumpGPS.com. In addition, it would be great to hear any comments or suggestions you may have for me! Please reach out to me on Twitter @SpeedbumpGPS or on Facebook: Speedbump.

HEALTHFUL HINTS

1. Safe driving is green driving. By following the posted speed limits, you can save a lot at the pump!
2. Help your teen drive safely:
   • Know the facts/risks – and talk to your child EARLY. Car crashes are the number one killer of teens in the United States – more than cancer, homicide and suicide combined. And risk begins to increase as young as age 12 – because young teens are also at risk as passengers of cars driven by older teen drivers (AAA gives a good overview).
   • Use a parent-teen driving contract (click here for example).
   • Always remind your teens to wear their seatbelts.
3. Set a good example for your teens with your own driving! According to AAA, good driving habits include:
   • Always wear your safety belt.
   • Obey traffic laws.
   • Do not use a cell phone while driving.
   • Watch your speed.
   • Don’t tailgate.
   • Use your turn signals.
   • Don’t drive when angry or tired.

NannyTest

My name is Yossi Pinkas and I am the founder of TakeCare. NannyTest, TakeCare’s online personality and risk assessment tool, helps parents choose the best nanny, au pair or babysitter for their kids by providing better insight into a caregiver’s personality traits and potential risk factors.

How did I come up with NannyTest? My previous position was with a company that developed tools for investigations, truth validation and pre-employment integrity checks. During the three years I was working with the company, I became familiar with this world and the various tools and methods used extensively by both government organizations and corporations to screen employees, including personality tests. When my wife returned to work after my youngest son (now 2.5 years old) was born, we were looking for a nanny and it was then that I realized how useful such a test could be for parents.

Parents today already know they should interview applicants and check references. Some also perform background checks. Yet, all those screening measures have their limitations.

• Interviews often fail to reveal important facts or problematic personality traits, and their predictive value is limited, even when conducted by properly trained interviewers. Most parents are not trained interviewers and are usually lacking the necessary experience to properly formulate interview questions, read between the lines of what the applicant says, interpret non-verbal signs and body language, etc.
• Reference checks are highly subjective and in some cases past employers may even prefer, for various reasons, to omit certain details which may harm the candidate in his search for a new position.
• The quality of background checks varies and may be affected by the scope and accuracy of the databases used. Furthermore, a clean criminal record does not guarantee that a person has no criminal tendencies and there is always a first time for every offence.

Personality tests help overcome some of the limitations of existing screening measures. They allow parents to learn more about the nanny’s personality and traits and highlight possible risk factors.

Looking for a suitable test, I found that all available tests were targeted at large customers and parents just couldn’t gain access to them. Also, none were designed for screening caregivers. This led me to found TakeCare and launch a service that would answer this need.

NannyTest was created for TakeCare by Psiphas Psychological Applications, which has been supplying computerized psychological tests for over 20 years to government organizations, placement agencies and corporate customers such as FedEx and IKEA. It uses the CPI (California Psychological Inventory) as the basis for its personality assessment. (CPI has been used in the US for many years and has been validated by many researchers in various studies).

Still, although it is based on a well-accepted standard, in several ways NannyTest is unique:

• It is designed to be simple to use and the report is easy to understand – no professional background in Psychology or hiring is required, allowing the test to be used by parents themselves.
• For the sake of simplicity, it combines both personal traits suitability and risk assessment into a single test, rather than two separate tests.
• Being available on line means that any parent can use NannyTest, anytime and anywhere.
• Finally, and most important – traits assessed are specific to the role of a caregiver.
  • Risk assessment includes issues such as violent behavior, drug abuse, drinking habits, truthful reporting, theft and more.
  • Personality traits evaluated are responsibility, obedience and discipline, self-control, coping with pressure, service awareness and positive attitude.

It’s important to note that personality tests will never be 100% accurate and have their limitations. That is why combining several screening methods together improves the overall accuracy of the process and helps parents make an informed choice, selecting the best possible caregiver for their kids.

NannyTest was launched only several months ago but has already received excellent feedback from both experts and parents. We still have a long way to go but we hope that one day NannyTest, or similar personality tests, will become a standard component of the caregiver screening processes and be used by all parents.

HEALTHFUL HINTS:

When hiring someone to look after your child, know that:

• No single screening tool is 100% accurate. Parents should combine several screening tools together to gather as much information as possible before making a hiring decision.
• When screening a caregiver for your child combine interviews, reference checks, personality tests and background screening.
• Never ignore your intuition. If something feels wrong to you, move to the next applicant.

S.A.F.E.R. Child Car Seat Cover

To clean most child car seats covers requires complete removal of the car seat from the vehicle. As a result, there are two groups of parents, those who are constantly taking their child’s car seat out of the car for cleaning and those who never remove it from its secure position in the vehicle.

My husband (an award winning pediatrician) and I used to fall in the first camp. Then we came up with a solution. The S.A.F.E.R. Child Car Seat Cover provides a washable cover that doesn’t require removal of the child seat from the car.

Here’s our story:

We spend a lot of time in our car. Whether it’s taking the kids to school, afternoon or weekend activities or the long drives to grandma and grandpa’s house. All that driving often equals hungry and restless kids. The Cheerios® that used to pacify our kids at a younger age, soon turned into sticky apple slices, crumby granola bars, and drippy drinks. These snacks didn’t always make it into our kids’ mouths. More times than not, we’d find the leftovers in the child car seat. And after playground dates, our worn out kids mixed their dirty bottoms with this flavorful mess.

The only way to try and return their car seat to “like new condition” was to unfasten it from the vehicle, unhook the harness straps from the back of the seat, and then peel away the manufacturer’s car seat cover. Into the wash it went and if we were lucky, some of the stains disappeared. Then we’d reverse the process to put the seat back together. This process is not easy and takes plenty of time. When we’d go to put the child car seat back into our car, we could never quite get it right and would have to venture to our local Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for a trained technician to properly resecure it.

Sitting and talking with other parents, we knew we weren’t alone. Our frustrations were echoed amongst our friends. Some told us stories of leaky diapers and potty training accidents. Others, had kids who easily became carsick and frequently vomited. We’ve all experienced runny noses and drool that finds their way onto sleeves and nearby surfaces.

Searching the shelves at our local baby and toddler store, we found all sorts of mess-preventing items, like sippy cups, bibs, and high chair mats, but we couldn’t find something that would protect our child’s car seat cover from the inevitable every day dirt and grime accumulation. How could we create a better way to clean our children’s car seat covers while keeping them safe?

We turned our frustrations into action. Once we put our children to bed, we turned “together time” into “brainstorm time”. We carefully looked at both outgrown and current seats and we tried to figure out how to remove a car seat cover without having to disassemble the seat. We put our ideas on paper. We drew car seats and cut out the paper models. We did the same thing with scrap fabric. We even cut apart the manufacturers car seat cover to fully explore some options. Our late nights led to creation of specially designed release elements for a child car seat cover…5 years and many prototypes later, the S.A.F.E.R. Child Car Seat Cover was born!

The S.A.F.E.R. Child Car Seat Cover – (Secure And Fast, Easily Removable) – allowed us to remove and wash an otherwise disgusting car seat cover without having to jeopardize the car seat’s secure position in our car. It took less than 1 minute to remove and put back the cover. Our kids could now sit in a clean seat and we could eliminate removing the entire seat from the car, and avoid additional trips to the DMV. And, since proper hygiene is the first line of defense in keeping your child well and safe from illness, we now had an easy way to ensure our car was as safe an environment as our home!

But there were other ways we wanted it to be “SAFER” too. During the manufacturing process, we made sure the S.A.F.E.R. Child Car Seat Cover underwent lab testing that included checking for absence of specific toxins and against flammability. The testing also included proper washability, ensuring that it will hold up to multiple washes in the washing machine. In the end, we came up with a cover that was <1/8 inch thick and slipped easily on top of an existing car seat cover.

Once we were comfortable with our solution we knew we wanted to market it so kids like yours could be S.A.F.E.R., too. We were granted two patents for our designs and received a “Gold Medal” at INPEX 2008- America’s largest invention trade show.. Most important of all we received numerous comments from parents like you that their child’s car seats were a mess and they hated cleaning them…the S.A.F.E.R. Child Car Seat Cover made all the difference.

HEALTHFUL HINTS:

Car Seat Safety

• Always check that your child car seat is tightly secured in your vehicle by pushing and pulling it side to side. It should not move more than one inch in either direction. We encourage a child car seat to be installed at least initially by a certified child passenger safety technician. Locate one in your state here
• Shoulder harness straps for children in a forward facing car seat should always sit at or above the child’s shoulders. The S.A.F.E.R. Child Car Seat Cover has 3 levels of slots, designed to line up with a manufacturer’s original design.
• Harness straps should be pulled tightly against your child and the chest clip should be at armpit level. Do not wear winter coats in a child car seat.

Keeping your child seat cover clean:

• When washing a child seat cover, wash it in a mesh bag on a gentle cycle to minimize damage (the S.A.F.E.R. Child Car Seat Cover can be washed in the mesh “wash me” bag in which it was originally packaged).
• Since the cover needs to maintain its shape to function properly, hang it to dry overnight – do not put it in a dryer. This will reduce the possibility of shrinkage.

Sign Language for Emergency Situations: ASL, English & Spanish

It has been about two months since the first run of my newest video – Sign Language for Emergency Situations -ASL, English and Spanish appeared at my front door. I carefully opened the huge boxes and looked at the “zillion” copies that were all over my living room floor. How funny, that this little DVD carried so much history with it… none which is reflected on the DVD itself or its’ cover.

You see, I first decided to create this DVD on a date that will be easy to remember- September 11, 2001. It was a date in which many families, including mine, were intimately impacted by the days’ events. I had a brother and a cousin within sneezing distance of the World Trade Center that day. I had other relatives and numerous friends who all had Manhattan addresses. I also knew that many deaf individuals resided in NYC and wondered how terrified were they on that fateful and tragic day when communication was minimal at best and fear was at an all time high. In addition, my own family lives within a half hour to the nation’s capitol. Our local area, including our neighborhood, has dozens of families who work for government agencies, many of them deaf.

That is the day I decided that I wanted to be part of the communication solution for those in the deaf community. I knew that my brother had benefited that day from the ability to ask questions of others that day as he walked the streets looking for a way to get home. He was able to assist others with the information he received and be a benefactor of the generosity of total strangers. He also could hear. But, what happened to the people who were not able to communicate during the flurry of madness on this unbelievable nightmare of a day? Pencil and paper was not practical when there was so much happening and the need for safety was tantamount. If only the emergency response workers knew simple signs such as – EVACUATE!, GO INDOORS, ARE YOU HURT?, WHO IS MISSING?, WHAT IS YOUR NAME? EXPLOSION! DO YOU NEED HELP?

It took me a long time to wrap my head around the events of 9/11. I know that I am not alone. But, then it came to me- I needed to develop something to help people who speak two of the four most common languages, other than English, in the United States to get assistance during natural disasters, medical crisis or if ever there was another 9/11! So, with help from my friends, especially Karina Prizont Cowan, I developed Sign Language for Emergency Situations with ASL and narration in Spanish and English. The entire DVD is signed and open captioned – for all to have access.

I started this journey by querying people who would be first to respond during an emergency. I went to fire stations throughout our local area and ask them what they would include. I asked emergency personnel such questions as – How much time would they dedicate to learning a new skill, such as basics of sign language and what they would want to add, if anything? I also talked to school nurses, health care providers within hospital settings (including pediatrics), educators, parents of special needs children and even people I “met” through social media. I made sure to include deaf people in my “focus” groups. Showing them list after list of vocabulary words and phrases. Finally, the final list was generated and a DVD was filmed. Afterwards, I showed it to many who helped with their initial input. Modifications were made to the video at the very strong request of First Responders who wanted it “short and sweet- 25 minutes or less!”. We also decided to add the Sign Language for Emergency Situations mini-chart that accompanies the DVD as an enclosure. The last piece prior to duplication was two super endorsements- Alison Rhodes the Safety Mom and Mackenzie Kelly of NORCAL Ambulance.

When the DVD was completed we put it up on YouTube and asked many people to “check it out”. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Then I began to think how can I get this to the people who it could benefit most. Twitter, Facebook, friends and good old word of mouth were very effective. Harris Communications- a large distributor of products for the deaf and hearing community who wish to learn ASL, etc. “hopped on board”. Hilary Bilbrey, owner of InspiredbyFamily.com and the creator of the Brecker Bunny Series took my DVD to a safety conference and was kind enough to give me feedback from the very people who I wanted to reach- emergency personnel!

Dozens of phone calls later I have talked to people from all over the country who wanted to know how to access the product, workshops and more. They are excited about the DVDs and the mini-chart for emergencies. They are thrilled that we have a unique product, which no one has encountered before, a TRILINGUAL emergency communication series with English, Spanish and ASL! Also, they like that our little company is accessible and affordable since so many areas have been hard hit financially.

I know that it has only been a very short while since those boxes appeared but I have booked guest speaking appearances to help train emergency personnel around the country. I am hoping this is only the beginning!

Healthful Hints:

Tips for getting started when learning American Sign Language (ASL):

• Learning ASL can be loads of fun! Start with a few words at a time and practice with your family, friends, and co-workers to help your skills to improve quickly (and teach others!)
• Parents should start with signs such as: MORE, HELP, FINISHED, BE CAREFUL with their children (depending on the age and developmental level of the child would determine where to start)
• Also, knowing the letters of the alphabet and numbers 0-10 should be essential for beginners. Why? Because in a true emergency these would be the words most needed to help convey personal information and get an immediate response. If you can spell or read the ASL alphabet (known as the manual alphabet or fingerspelling) then you can convey any information to a deaf person who can “read ASL” and vice versa, such as names, email addresses, and phone numbers.
• Children and adults with special learning challenges often need to sign adaptively. However, adults who live and work with these individuals should sign correctly. The same is true for parent of young children. “Baby sign babble” will give way to correct signing if the adults are good language models.

Signs for Emergency Situations

• Knowing the Signs for CALL 9-1-1! HELP! PAIN, EVACUATE! could save LIVES!
• If Emergency Responders, Law Enforcement officers, Health Care providers, School Nurses and Educators knew basic emergency ASL signs they could help communicate and facilitate assistance during natural disasters, acts of terrorism, emergency health care situations, or if a person is lost or has been abducted.
• Non-emergency situations also can be a reason to learn sign language such as in the case of looking for a lost puppy or fixing a “boo-boo” that occurred on the school playground.

Enjoy your journey and let me know if I can help you along your way.

Brecker Bunny Safety Books

You don’t leave the hospital with an instruction manual on how to protect your child…you learn only by doing. I would do anything to not have learned this lesson the way we did, but it is our reality. Laying on the hospital gurney, cradling my 21-month-old, I sang our favorite lullaby, “Gentle Breeze” through tears. I tried to wish away the moment, but his screams and cries of, “Mama hurts, mama hurts” kept me firmly grounded in the heartbreaking reality…this was happening…and it was happening to my baby. All the wishing and singing could not ease his pain.

On April 6, after returning home from a walk, I received a frantic call from my husband. He was in the ER. Our son had been badly burned in the tub. Now, my initial thought, before I reached the hospital, was that it couldn’t be too bad. Like all concerned parents, upon moving into our newly constructed home, we made sure to have our son’s tub installed with a device to prevent him from turning the water on too hot. We also had asked to have our water temperature set appropriately. After seeing our son in the hospital, I knew something had gone horribly wrong.

In the time it normally takes for our son to go upstairs and get his blanket and then come back down, my husband heard screams. Rushing up the stairs with our one-week-old in his arms, my husband found our son sitting in our master bath whirlpool tub, crying frantically as the skin peeled away from his legs and feet. His diapers and overalls provided some insulation for the rest of his body, but his feet were horribly damaged. After three weeks in the hospital and skin grafts, our son was allowed to come back home. But care was not over. He had compression socks for over a year and another surgery as well. And the time it took for this to happen?

Less than 10 seconds…

After careful investigation, it was discovered that our water temperature was set above 135 degrees Fahrenheit, which can cause third degree burns for a child in 10 seconds. At 126, third degree burns can occur in under two minutes. Legally, all water heaters must be set by the manufacturer at 125 degrees Fahrenheit, however, it is best if temperatures are set at 110 when there are small children in the house.

Sitting in the hospital and feeling helpless and like a failure did nothing to help Breck or heal the emotional wounds my husband and I had, so we began the process of reaching out. What could we learn? What could we do to teach our child and ourselves about safety? We were disappointed by what we found. We decided to do something about it.

It became our family’s mission to find out the top reasons why toddlers get burned and create a book that was a bedtime story with a purpose. Brecker Bunny Learns to Be Careful was born. It is the loving collaboration between burn nurses and doctors at University of Madison Hospital and Clinics , Wisconsin Alliance for Fire Safety (WAFS) www.wafs.org and me, the mom. After meeting with experts from the Burn Center in January of 2005, much research, finding an illustrator, a partner (WAFS), funds, a printer, and learning the publishing ropes, the first printing of Brecker Bunny Learns to Be Careful! A Lesson in Fire and Burn Safety was handed out to survivors and supporters at the WAFS Camp for Burn Survivors in August of 2007.

To date we have delivered over 120,000 of this title alone. We printed it in Spanish and Brecker has a lighter safety book called Brecker Bunny Asks for Help too! Next on the agenda…the rest of the safety series: water safety, passenger safety, bicycle safety, even stranger danger. All books with real lessons, about real kids (now bunnies), made easy and fun to read at bedtime. I wish that my Breck never had to experience his burns, but seven years later, my eight year old has helped to keep many children a little safer…and he even has the thank you letters to prove it!

HEALTHFUL HINTS

1. Tips when reading a safety book:

• Sit in close proximity with your child while reading. A snuggle goes a long way to help children’s brains chemically calm making them more receptive to what they are learning.
• Choose one to three things to emphasize each time you read a safety book. To stop and point something out on every page is confusing and overwhelming.
• Don’t be afraid to get up and move the book. Most kids and adults learn best by moving their lesson. If you are learning to stay three feet away from a fireplace…pace of three feet and practice.
• Make children partners in safety, rather than merely the recipient of the lesson. Look for opportunities to ask them how they can make a room or situation safer.

2. Tips on Burn Safety in and around the home (based on the top 3 accidental reasons toddlers in my area end up in the Burn Centers):

• Keep children 3 feet away from stoves, ovens and microwaves. There are so many children in burn clinics who have been scalded by caramel, coffee or hot water spilling as it comes out of the microwave. Usually these burns occur on little ones’ faces.
• DO NOT TRUST YOUR HAND TO TAKE THE TEMPERATURE OF THE BATHTUB! Test your water temperature by holding a water thermometer or candy thermometer under the stream of water after it has had the opportunity to heat up. If it is over 120 degrees Fahrenheit, change your water heater immediately. Consider setting the temperature below 110 degrees Fahrenheit if you have very young children or elderly people in your home. Their skin is thinner and easier to burn. Also, it is more difficult for them to get out of tubs quickly to avoid a burn.
• Candles and fireplaces should never be allowed to burn unattended.
• Keep a three foot rock perimeter around campfires and do not allow children within the ring. I get letters from moms telling me that they thought if they were standing next to their child, the child would be safe; yet, one quick trip or fall and hands and feet can end up in a fire.
• Most importantly, stay vigilant. Periodically do safety checks around your house. There are many great checklists online and of course, in the back of Brecker Bunny!

Be Bunny Buddies and keep your family safe!