Safety products that can do harm

I have a bathring, but it attaches securely to the side of the bathtub and provides me with a comfortable padded area for my arms. While it is bulkier than the normal bathrings I never trusted the ones that secured with only suction cups on the bottom.

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How is a wipe warmer a "safety product?" Also on #8, "Syrup of ipecac" it suggests throwing out your ipecac even though only SOME substances cause more harm on the way back up. Obviously if your kid swallows something toxic you should call poison control, but if you do call poison control and they DO tell you to induce vomiting, isn't ipecac preferable to shoving your finger down her throat? I find the link generally amusing just in contrast to the post yesterday that was talking about how much people hate Parenting Magazine because of it's alarmist tactics in garnering readers.

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The only two that we ever had were the plug covers and bed rail. I can see their point, but in both cases I think that the benefit of the product FAR outweighs the risk. The other products did seem a bit iffy and we never had any in our home.

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We have the outlet covers. I can barely pry them off, let alone my kids, but I guess it depends on the brand of outlet overs and the size/shape of your outlets, and how determined your kids REALLY are to get their little fingers in those outlets. I've never owned any of the other products.

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I have the outlet covers and they are pretty big and awkward-shaped and poky. I would be surprised if any child were determined enough to get that down his throat. Anyhoo, you have to pay attention to what your kids are doing. If they can get the outlet covers off, it seems you have more problems than just a choking hazard.

I have the bumpers. I would not have bought them, but they come in those "all in one" bed bags and I wasn't about to throw them out. They are really cute, and I suspect safer to sleep with than a lot of other things my kids have in their beds. I attach them only to the crib sides that are against the walls or other furniture, so they won't likely use them to try to climb out.

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Bath rings. Bath rings are unsafe when parents are sitting right next to their child. It is idiotic to trust a bath ring to hold your child and then leave the room. The problem isn't the bath ring, which is mightily handy for someone having trouble washing a squirmy baby, but that some people have no sense at all. You child cannot drown because of a tipped over bath ring if you are sitting right there next to them. The safety hazard there is stupidity.

I don't use the outlet covers because I find them annoying. I actually replaced the face plates with childsafe ones that slide over to accomodate a plug. Then I don't have to pull them out when I want to plug something in and I don't need to keep track of them. Elfe sells them and they are pretty inexpensive.

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