High-Tech Safety For Baby

(NewsUSA) - Car seat? Check. Baby monitor? Check. Appropriate clothing, blankets and a safe crib? Check, check, check.

Before new parents bring their newborn home, they spend hours safety-proofing their homes and stocking up on infant essentials like diapers and baby powder.

But some equipment seems so minor that parents can overlook its importance. Rubberized rugs can prevent parents from slipping while carrying their child. Brightly lit areas are safer than dim ones, so parents should install bright, childproof lights.

Infants are especially sensitive to fevers, temperature changes and heated surfaces. Baby skin is thinner than adult skin, so it burns at temperatures adults barely feel.

Parents wouldn't buy a low-quality car seat. Neither should they purchase low-quality thermometers -; their infants' safety depends on accurate temperature readings.

One company, Kidz-Med, supplies a non-contact, infrared thermometer, the Thermofocus 5-in-1, that can test anything from an infant's body temperature to his or her bath water.

The Thermofocus has no contact with the child's skin. Regular thermometers take ear or rectal readings in infants. But babies' ear canals are too small to get accurate temperature readings, and rectal thermometers can disturb or upset fussy children.

With the Thermofocus, parents simply point a safe, infrared light in the middle of their infant's forehead, where the reading is most accurate, or armpit, neck or naval, then press a button for an accurate digital temperature reading. The child can sleep through the quick, one-second process.

The infrared temperature reading is as accurate as temperatures taken with a thermometer through the ear, mouth or armpit. The human head changes temperatures first, so parents can discover fevers early.

But thermometers help healthy babies, too. Parents need to make sure that their babies' bath water is at or below the safe, recommended temperature of 93.2 degrees fahrenheit. When heating up bottles for infants or food for toddlers, parents can use the infrared technology to keep formula or squash puree from scalding young mouths.

The Thermofocus 5-in-1 can take room temperature readings, too, making it a useful around-the-house tool. Parents can make sure that nurseries or car interiors aren't too hot or cold for small children.

Parents can find the Thermofocus 5-in-1 at Walgreens stores. For more information, visit www.kidzmed.com or www.Walgreens.com.

"Article By: NewsUSA"