This is my last baby-centric post for many weeks, I promise.
The website Treehugger recently posted an interesting article based on research by a group in Germany about second-hand baby items being safer for babies than brand new items. From the Treehugger article:
Second hand articles have had time to naturally lose the dangerous chemicals which are most easily emitted or leached from the articles to which babies are exposed. New furniture, much of which emits formaldehyde from the glues and particle board constituents or chemicals added as flame retardants, will have rid itself of most of the harmful emissions by the time it comes up for second hand sale. Baby clothing has been through enough wash cycles to ensure the chemicals added during textile manufacturing and distribution are gone.
I’m eagerly taking second-hand items from my friends because of financial reasons, but was doing so completely oblivious to any positive health claims. I’m not sure I buy into this, and I definitely will NOT be using a second-hand car seat, but I’m going to keep this information in reserve for when I’m trying to unload our baby gear onto new parents. What’s the harm in sharing this article if it helps to keep old baby gear out of our home after we’ve used it?
What do you think? Fact or fiction? Share your opinions in the comments section.
As long as a car seat passes the current safety standards, there is nothing wrong with reusing one.
@Kathy — Actually, in most states, an adopting family has to produce a receipt from the past 48 hours of the car seat when they pick up a child. The car seat must still be in its original packaging. Many states have similar laws for taking home a child from the hospital. For adopting parents, at least, it’s not negotiable. The car seat must be brand new.
As a pediatrician, I encourage families to buy new car seats. A car seat involved in even a minor traffic incident may not be appropriate for further use. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ parenting magazine “Healthy Children” ran a good article about car seat safety, which mentions that “Most manufacturers recommend that car safety seats only be used for a certain number of years… older seats may be missing important parts, labels, or instructions. Secondhand seats may have damage that you cannot see, or may have been recalled.” This especially applies to car seats found at yard sales or thrift shops. The AAP has a good fact sheet about car safety tips at http://www.aap.org/publiced/br_carseatcheckup.htm.
Borrowing baby items is great; parents just need to ensure that the items meet current safety standards and are not on a recall listing; check http://www.cpsc.gov for recall information.
Totally fiction.