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I came across this article which I must definitely share with you guys as I'm very interested to know your thoughts on this. For your convenience, I have copied the excerpts from the article here:

This awful picture shows the wounds a toddler suffered after silently strangling on a window blind cord. Gavin Walla, from Wisconsin, US, can be seen in the horrifying home video hanging limply from the looped window blind cord, which is wrapped around his neck. This image, which will sicken parents, was taken shortly after the attack and shows the boy, now 17, with burst blood vessels around his eyes and a livid red welt around his neck.

Gavin's mother was filming a home video of her children playing together in their front room when she suddenly notices the toddler has stopped breathing. Immediately, she drops the camera, screaming her son's name as she desperately tries to untangle the cord.

Thankfully, her quick actions saved Gavin's life and he's heard in the video coughing and spluttering as he gasps for breath. She told ABC: "He doesn't seem to remember it and it doesn't seem to have caused any permanent damage."

Gavin wants people to see his home video in the hope of raising awareness about the very real dangers of window blind cords. (** Click on picture below to view YouTube video)

He told ABC News: "I'm glad that it's out there. It saved the lives of other children that have been fortunate enough to have parents who have seen the video."

It is thought more than 100 children have died in window blind cord accidents since Gavin's. Elliot Kaye, chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission told ABC: "I see decades, and I'm talking decades, about children once a month getting hanged to death by these products and it's got to stop."

 The government first identify the window blinds as a hidden danger over 30 years ago. But the cords remain a potentially deadly hazard to this day with many manufacturers still using them on many of their products. IKEA and Target have already removed corded window blinds from their shelves due to safety concerns. Walmart and several other stores have announced they will stop selling the products by 2018.

Ralph Vasami, the head of the Window Covering Association, an industry trade group, admitted that the hazard is still present but has been reduced by new safety features including breakaway cords and string that can be tied at a height children can't reach. They however do not recommend that corded window blinds should be used in homes with children.

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I came across this article which I must definitely share with you guys. For your convenience, I have copied the excerpts from the article here:

Pink, tiny and birdlike, doctors did not expect newborn Pixie Griffiths-Grant to survive longer than an hour. Delivered three months premature by Caesarean section, she was lighter than half a bag of sugar and smaller than her mother's hand. As she was rushed to intensive care, her parents faced the devastating prospect she may not make it. But doctors saved her life by immediately bundling her into put her into a Tesco sandwich bag, which kept her warm and mimicked the conditions of her mother's womb.

After overcoming infections, operations, and blood transfusions, Pixie, now five months old, is at home with her family, and is thriving. Pixie's mother Sharon Grant, 37, said: 'As soon as she was born, they gave her a little hat and put her straight into the bag to keep her body temperature up. 'After that they wrapped her in bubble wrap and got her straight to intensive care. 'It was so random that they had her in the Tesco bag - it must have just been what the operating theatre had at the time.'

Mrs Grant, of Goonhavern, Cornwall, was forced to give birth three months early after scans revealed her unborn baby had stopped growing in the womb at just 20 weeks. The first-time mother, who works as a florist, in Cornwall, said: 'My placenta and umbilical cord weren't feeding her properly. 'I was in and out of hospital for eight weeks being scanned constantly to see if she had grown, but she put on about 20g in those eight weeks. 'It was so scary having to get her checked all the time and I had all the doctors telling me all this bad news. It was awful. 'They wanted to get her to a certain weight before they delivered her, but she wasn't growing to that size.'

At about 6pm on May 11 - 28 weeks into her pregnancy - doctors told Mrs Grant that she needed to have her baby that day. She was transferred from the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro for a specialist Caesarean delivery at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, around an hour and a half away. But when she arrived, her blood pressure was so high that she was told it would be too dangerous to operate - so she listened to songs by her favourite singer Ben Howard, which helped bring it down.

At 3pm on May 12, - 10 weeks before her August 2 due date - she gave birth to a tiny Pixie, with the little girl's father, Edward Griffiths, 41, by her side. She said: 'There was no way she would have survived normal birth so they had to do a C-section. 'They thought they wouldn't be able to find her in my body and would have to do two cuts to try and get her, but luckily they only had to do one. 'The moment she was born they put her in a Tesco sandwich bag to keep her warm because she was so tiny and carried her off to intensive care.'

 Premature babies are susceptible to hypothermia, and the bag acts as a warming blanket, heating their tiny bodies. Mrs Grant continued: 'I couldn't see her from the angle the incubator was at but I was told she had her eyes open. In photos she looks so small. 'I didn't get to see her for about six hours because I had to go into recovery, but when I was well enough they wheeled me down to the intensive care unit.'

Pixie was kept in an incubator for three months after she was born. Mrs Grant was not allowed to cuddle her for 18 days, because every time she was handled she lost weight. Once a little stronger, Edward, Pixie's father, could only cuddle her for an hour every other day. 'It was amazing that she survived, but it was truly traumatic,' Mrs Grant said. 'She really did live hour by hour for about three weeks.

'She got a stomach infection, a urine infection and had about 10 blood transfusions over those months, and even had to have a lumber puncture. 'She kept being sick when they gave her milk and every time she was handled she would lose weight.' It was not until Pixie was around two months old that Pixie began gaining strength. But earlier this month, aged five months and weighing 7.5lbs (3.4kg) - the same weight as a newborn - Mrs Grant was allowed to take her baby girl home for the first time. Tiny Pixie - so-called because of her size - is now breathing without oxygen. Mrs Grant said: 'When we went in the front door Pixie came alive. She was looking all over the place and could see what was happening. 'We have been in and out of hospital a lot since she got home, and she can't be around other children or ill people because if she gets a cold she will end up on oxygen again.

'But at the moment she is doing really well. She looks really nice and healthy. 'It's so lovely to have her home; there's been endless cuddles and lots of people eager to see her.

'It's amazing.'

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

I came across this article which I must definitely share with you guys as I'm very interested to know your thoughts on this. For your convenience, I have copied the excerpts from the article here:

Researchers in Sweden suggest that by covering up a pram – even with a thin cloth like a muslin wrap – actually creates a furnace-like heat within the pram, reducing the air circulation.

Young children are more sensitive to heat than older children or adults as their body temperature can rise three-to-five times faster. This puts them at greater risk of heatstroke and other health risks such as SIDS as their body temperature reaches dangerous levels much sooner. And those prams can get pretty hot. “It gets extremely hot down in the pram, something like a thermos. There is also bad circulation of the air and it is hard to see the baby with a cover over the pram,” Svante Norgren, paediatrician at the Astrid Lindgren Children’s hospital in Stockholm, says in an interview with Swedish newspaper, the Svenska Dagbladet.

Following on from the suggestions from Dr Norgen, the newspaper conducted some experiments of their own to see just how hot it could get inside the stroller. They left a stroller out in the Swedish sun between 11.30am and 1pm on a warm day.

Without a cover the pram the temperature reached 22ºC. A thin cover was placed over for the next 30 minutes, by which time the heat has risen to 34ºC. After an hour it had reached  37ºC. Remember, that is Swedish summer heat – around 30ºC tops – here in parts of Australia we see temperatures much higher than that. So what is the advice here?

NSW Health suggests: “An enclosed pram can get very hot; try to ensure that the air circulates around your baby by removing the back panel (if possible) or placing them in more open strollers.” Aerated covers made of mesh material also circulate air better. And regularly check your baby’s temperature manually. If he or she is sweating or feels hot to touch, it’s time to get out of the sun.

Hot weather affects your baby or child because their bodies cannot adjust to changes in temperature as well as adults. Babies and children sweat less, reducing their bodies’ ability to cool down, and they generate more heat during exercise than adults. They are at risk of overheating and developing a heat-related illness. Heat can also make existing illnesses worse.

40ºC is the temperature at which serious kidney or brain injuries may occur – it is also the body temperature at which fatalities can occur meaning that heading this advice is so, so important.

While we think that offering bubs some shade is helping them in the heat, we may be endangering them. The risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) is dramatically increased when a young baby is exposed to intense heat. SIDS Australia says, “Thermal stress (overheating) has been implicated in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) for many years and avoiding overheating has been one of the strategies to reduce the risk of SIDS.” As for covering the pram? Dr Norgen says, “It would quickly become uncomfortable and potentially dangerous for the child … if a child gets too hot then the child may think that it is back in the womb, which is why breathing may stop,”.

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.