How high chair safety changes may help prevent more than 10,000 injuries a year
Moneka Robinson was footsteps away when her baby kicked a table in his high chair, causing him to fall and smack his head.
The boy, Ryker, was hysterical, and she took the then six-month-old to the emergency room of a pediatric hospital.
“I didn’t think a baby could flip a chair so easily,” she said, recalling the May accident.
Responding to these types of safety issues, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission approved a new federal standard intended to improve the safety of high chairs used in homes and restaurants. The new standard, approved June 8, calls for a three-point restraint system and other safety features.
Robinson said she noticed how their high chair only has a lap restraint, but she acknowledged the straps in the chair aren’t big enough to fit around her boy, who is much more hefty and wiggly than her daughter was.
She only stepped away to get a cloth at a sink when her son fell. The kick sent the chair toppling over, and he flipped out of the chair, too, said Robinson, of Calgary.
Robinson said the wooden high chair, ordered for their family from a major chain’s website, has straps with clips and worked without any issues for her daughter, Elizabeth, who is now 3 years old.
“We’re kind of a bit freaked out … by what happened,” she said.
A doctor reassured her that he sees children nine or 10 times every day due to high chair accidents.
Medical staff did neurological tests and checked for collarbone breaks, and they said she should look for concussions. A doctor said he was completely fine.
From 2015 through 2016, there were an estimated 18,500 injuries treated at U.S. emergency departments due to high chair-related incidents, according to a federal consumer data system.
Most of those falls were due to a child attempting to climb into or out of a high chair or occurred when a chair tipped over as a child pushed back or rocked back and forth while seated or when a component like a restraint or lock failed, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Ryker had some trouble sleeping for a week, but his mother says she’s grateful he’s OK. Robinson said she and her husband make sure he doesn’t go anywhere near a table these days.
“I might not have been so lucky,” she said. “I just want other parents to be aware how quickly it can happen.”