It seems like a harmless place, but it attracts children as few: to play, hide, roll up ... It's the curtains. Some of them have cords, like some blinds, and there may be the risk. In fact, there have been infant deaths due to strangulation with the cord of a curtain or blind. The danger is where we least expect it, and these household items are a clear risk for the little ones.
In fact, yesterday a 15-month-old baby suffocated with a curtain rope died in Madrid, when she tried to leave the crib that was attached to the window curtains. In the European Union, about 100 injuries to children between zero and 14 years of age related to the laces of blinds or curtains are treated every year in the ER.
They seem harmless, but even the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) of the United States has identified the blinds and curtains as one of the five most dangerous household items.
To warn about this "hidden" danger, the "Children's Products Safety Guide" published by the European Alliance for Child Safety offers rules to take into account and clarification of why blinds or curtains can be a problem.
Dangers of blinds and curtains
The laces of blinds and curtains carry a high risk of strangulation when the child pulls the inner rope forming a turn in the cord in which he is trapped. Deaths also include some children who were in their crib or in the park near a window.
In many cases, the outer strings were out of reach, but the child was strangled by pulling the inner cord of the sheet blind and can be left hanging around the neck with these strings. Also playing near the curtains can cause these accidents.
Recommendations for curtains and blinds
- The European Alliance for Child Safety recommends that, if it is really necessary to put curtains or blinds, they are bought without cords.
- Do not buy cords with loop. European manufacturers and sellers are expected to reach a voluntary agreement whereby they stop manufacturing this type of cords.
- Recommend get rid of all the blinds or curtains in your home that work with laces and install others that do not have them, especially in children's bedrooms.
- Keep all cords out of reach of children.
- Do not place the child's crib, park, bed or high chair near a window because the child can climb and reach the cords or open the window.
- It is not recommended to cut the cords, even as a short-term solution. Cutting the cord through the wrong place can make the curtain useless and can also make one of the ropes longer, which increases the risk of strangulation. In addition, it can cause a dangerous loop to form in one of the strings. It is recommended that any solution adopted in this regard be definitive and that this solution consists in completely removing the cords from the reach of children.
Especially if we have small children at home we have to take into account these Recommendations to prevent the dangers of drapery curtains and blinds. There are studies that suggest that children between 16 and 36 months are the most at risk. Most of the victims are children about 23 months of age.
