Nursery products, which can be found in almost every household that has an infant, are the leading children's product category recalled in the United States. These products include furniture, cribs, barriers, walkers, jumpers, exercisers, devices, and equipment for bathing or transporting a child and are responsible for thousands of injuries and visits to EDs each year. A recent study aimed to identify the types of injuries sustained by babies and children and the nursery products most often associated with these injuries.

About 100 hospitals contribute to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, which monitors consumer product-related injuries that require treatment in EDs. In this study, researchers analyzed a final data set that contained 48,653 cases of nursery product-related injuries in children younger than age three reported from 1991 to 2011. During the 21-year study period, an estimated 1,391,844 children younger than age three were treated in EDs for injuries involving nursery products, for an average of 66,278 injuries annually, which is a rate of 56.29 injuries per 10,000 children. More than half of the injuries occurred during the infant's first year. Between 1991 and 2003, there was a decrease in the number and rate of injuries. The decrease was mainly attributable to an 86% reduction in baby walker, jumper, and exerciser injuries during that time.

After 2003, both the number and rate of injuries increased significantly through 2011. Part of this increase was driven by a greater number and rate of concussions and closed head injuries. The increase could reflect improved awareness of concussion among parents and health care professionals.

By far the most common mechanism of injury among babies and toddlers was a fall. The nursery products most commonly associated with these injuries were baby carriers, cribs/mattresses, strollers/carriages, and baby walkers/jumpers/exercisers. These products were associated with 86.1% of the injuries that resulted from self-precipitated falls. Baby carriers were 5.52 times more likely than other product categories to be related to a caregiver fall and accounted for 57.3% of caregiver-related falls.

Interventions should focus on the prevention of falls in the home, the researchers suggest, with special attention given to the proper use and assembly of all equipment and product safety features.

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