Falls from shopping carts are among the leading causes of head injuries to young children. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimated that in recent years there were about 12,800 hospital emergency room-treated injuries annually to children 5 years and under associated with shopping carts. Of those, 5,700 were head injuries. About 25 percent were more serious head injuries such as concussions and fractures. These products are often used in hardware stores, drugstores, toy stores, and grocery stores.
To prevent falls from shopping carts:
- Use seatbelts to restrain your child in the cart seat.
- Don't allow your child to ride in the cart basket.
- Don't allow your child to ride or climb on the sides or front of the cart.
- Don't allow an older child to push the cart with another child in it.
Keep in mind that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that you should 'not place a child of any age in a shopping cart.' Even if you have an infant carrier that can lock onto the shopping cart or if the cart has a built-in safety seat, the AAP warns that these shopping carts become top heavy and can tip over.
So what should you do if you have to shop with the kids? The AAP recommends that you 'consider use of a stroller while shopping with young infants or a backpack or frontpack for older children.'
These tips were partly reproduced from the CPSC.
