Give me a break!

Most of you know that I am a die-hard baby wearer. I wore Anna in a sling and a Baby Bjorn for most of the first year of her life. With Caroline, I have discovered a whole world of baby carriers, and I've used slings, wraps, Asian-style baby carriers (the current favorite), and several other types of carriers. Both my girls have hated the carseat and/or stroller, but they've loved being up where the action is and close to Mama.

Well.

Consumer Reports just issued an article warning parents against baby slings on their Safety Blog (link here, if you'd like to read the whole article). Why? Because there have apparently been 22 babies injured in baby slings in the last TEN YEARS. Yes, that's 22 babies total, or an average of about 2 a year. Most injuries were related to user error and/or falling while wearing the baby. But Consumer Reports states, "For now, we think there are better ways of transporting infants including strollers, hand-held infant carrier/car seats".

Okay, let's examine this issue. First, Consumer Reports states, "Baby slings may be fashionable among Hollywood stars and other new parents." Never mind that mothers have been carrying their babies in cloth slings for THOUSANDS OF YEARS. So yeah. They're just the latest fashion trend. Second, there were 13,000 children under the age of 3 seen in emergency rooms last year because they fell out of strollers. THIRTEEN THOUSAND. In one year. This is only the kids who fell out of the strollers. That number doesn't even include the number of children who might have been injured when the stroller collapsed or who might have gotten tangled up if they weren't strapped in tightly enough.

So obviously, strollers are not a safer option. But let's examine carseats. Surely they're much safer than slings, since they're designed to keep babies safe in cars, right? Not so much. A quick Google search reveals that Evenflo recalled one of its infant carseats because the handle mechanism could suddenly release, spilling the baby onto the ground. This resulted in 97 injuries over a 10-year period -- far more than the 22 injuries reported from baby slings, and that's just ONE BRAND of carseat. There have also been babies injuried or killed because they were sleeping in the carriers without being strapped in tightly, and they slipped down and suffocated or got tangled in the straps. Oh, and since 85-90% of carseats are installed incorrectly in cars (that number includes the misuse of the harness, which is often left too loose or positioned improperly), the user error rate is obviously pretty high, even when just using them as infant carriers. Parents also tend to prop infant carseats into the child seat part of shopping carts in the grocery store, which can cause the cart to be top heavy and tip over, causing injuries. So adding all of these up results in a much higher number of injures resulting from infant carseat carriers than from baby slings.

Caroline has gotten too big for me to be very comfortable carrying her in a one-shouldered sling these days, so I don't use it very often anymore. Instead, we've gone to a variety of two-shouldered wraps and carriers. But if I have another baby, I will not hesitate to use the sling again. Yes, there's always the slight risk that I could trip and fall while wearing him/her, but that risk would be the same if I were carrying her in my arms (or possibly higher, since I wouldn't have my arms to break the fall), and I don't see anyone advocating that people stop carrying their babies in arms!

This is just one more reason that I have stopped referring to Consumer Reports when I shop. Between this article and their recent infant carseat testing fiasco (they had to rescind all the information they put out because they tested the seats incorrectly), I just can't take them seriously anymore.