Parent Savers
Keeping Babies Safe: Portable Cribs and Play Yards

Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

[Theme Music]

JOHNER RIEHL: Although we don’t want to stop a baby’s natural curiosity to learn about their surroundings, we do from time to time wish to contain them. For many families play yards are sensible option to keep their child on a confined area. But although we think we’re protecting them from danger, parents need to be aware of the hazards that play yards may pose. Today we’re talking to Joyce Davis, president of Keeping Babies Safe about play yards safety. This is Parent Savers episode 101.

[Theme Music/Intro]

JOHNER RIEHL: Welcome everybody from Parent Savers broadcasting from the birth education centre of San Diego. Parent Savers is your weekly online on the go support group for parents from the newborn years to kindergarten. I’m your host Johner Riehl, thanks again to all of our loyal listeners who join us week in week out and thanks to those of you who are listening for the first time. As you may know you can join our Parent Savers club and receive access to special bonus content after each new show plus special giveaways and discounts from time to time. And if you haven’t already please make sure to download our free Parent Savers app, available in the Android and ITunes market place so you can automatically have access to all the great parenting advice and conversation we have on Parent Savers every week.

So let’s start this week conversation about play yards by introducing everyone who is going to be in on the conversation. I’ll start with myself. I’m your host Johner Riehl and I’m the dad of three boys, a seven year old, a five year old and a two year old. Two year old is still two.

SUNNY GAULT: Still two.

JOHNER RIEHL: Still two.

SUNNY GAULT: Yes.

JOHNER RIEHL: Hasn’t change to three.

SUNNY GAULT: Well and one of my little boys was about to turn two here. So I’m Sunny everybody. I’m producing today’s show of Parent Savers and I’m the owner of New Mommy Media which produces Parent Savers, Preggie Pals, The Boob Group and Twin Talks. And I’m a mommy to four children under four. My oldest is he’s more than three and a half. He’s between three and a half and four. My middle guy is…

JOHNER RIEHL: Three and seventh twelve.

SUNNY GAULT: Right. I know I just checked. My middle guy is about two. He’ll be two little later this month so we’ve already entered the terrible twos with him or terrible eighteen months and going into the terrible twos. And then I have identical twin girls, Ainsley and Addison who are almost five months.

JOHNER RIEHL: Wow.

SUNNY GAULT: Totally crazy. That is my house. Totally crazy is what I nicknamed my house. And I’m excited to be on today’s show.

JOHNER RIEHL: And we’re joined on the phone by Joyce. Joyce, can you tell us a little about yourself?

JOYCE DAVIS: I’m the president of Keeping Babies Safe. Thank you so much for having me. Keeping Babies Safe was started on 2006. It’s keepingbabiessafe.org and our mission is really to educate parents and provide the latest safe sleep crib safety information.

JOHNER RIEHL: Great! Thanks for joining us.

JOYCE DAVIS: Sure. Thanks for having me.

SUNNY GAULT: Before we get started I just want to tell all of our listeners about our virtual panellist program. If you guys don’t live right here in San Diego but you want to participate in our shows, you can do so via Facebook and Twitter. So as the conversation continues on today’s show, I’m going to be twitting out some stuff that Joyce is talking about and what Johner is talking about. We want you to join the conversation, post your own comments, perhaps even ask your own questions. If you’re on Twitter, follow #parentsaversvp to join in on the conversation.

JOHNER RIEHL: And before we do our tapings we also do some postings as well…

SUNNY GAULT: Yes.

JOHNER RIEHL: So that’s a way to kind of contribute a question and kind of keep an eye on that thread…

SUNNY GAULT: Exactly.

JOHNER RIEHL: And we’ll post to that later as well. I wonder if we should get on on Snapchat. Probably not.

SUNNY GAULT: Oh, boy. That’s debatable.

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah. Exactly.

[Theme Music]

JOHNER RIEHL: From time to time on Parent Savers, we take a look at a hot new app or an app that’s already on the market that we think that is of interest to families and kind of give you our verdict on whether you should check it out.

Today we’re going to be looking on an app called Drawnimal. It’s like animal but instead of an ‘A’ at the beginning it has the word draw, Drawnimal. And it’s by a guy named Lucas Zanotto is the developer. And so if you look it up on IOS, and its IOS only, Drawnimal and it’s a $1.99 on the app store.

But so what it is, is when you go to open up the app, you pretty much have access to all the different letters of the alphabet and it encourages you or your kid to sat down with your phone draw some lines around your phone and then you hit play and then the phone, so example I’m doing ‘D’ and it’s a dolphin so I did a fin on the top and fins on the side of the piece of paper…

SUNNY GAULT: Oh that’s cute.

JOHNER RIEHL: And now it’s an interactive dolphin that’s interacting, interacting maybe is not the right word but when taken together with what I just drew…

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

JOHNER RIEHL: It’s an animal that’s on a piece of paper.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah it’s like blinking his eyes and looking all around.

JOHNER RIEHL: Exactly.

SUNNY GAULT: It’s kind of you kind of bring it to life but it’s still using your phone. It’s like putting an image on your phone and then you’re…

JOHNER RIEHL: It’s image on your phone…

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

JOHNER RIEHL: And you set it down on a piece of paper and so I’m on ‘W’ right now and I had it looks like it’s going to be a whale. I’m drawing a whale tail next to my phone and I hit play and then it’s a funny little whale and it makes funny little sounds.

SUNNY GAULT: As I’m going to say does it make little noise too?

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah. It does make noise. So you touch it, does something funny it blows bubbles.

SUNNY GAULT: I’ll put it up next to [inaudible]

JOHNER RIEHL: Here I’ll put it up next to [inaudible]. That’s the whale making bubbles.

SUNNY GAULT: Bubbles. Yeah.

JOHNER RIEHL: So it’s one simple animation for each one. But what this app does and this is the stuff that I really-really like in apps that I’ve been looking at for parents and for my family. Is it does more, I mean kids can just play with this if they were driving along…

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

JOHNER RIEHL: But it encourages real world play too. And it encourages a skill of drawing or you know some extent of some imagination. So I think it’s really-really neat the way that it encourages kids to draw and to see the phone as part of a bigger picture and of something that’s on the real world.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah. Yeah. I think it’s kind of cool. I mean the images are kind of cute and then I like the little noises and…

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah exactly.

SUNNY GAULT: Do they have one, one animal for each letter.

JOHNER RIEHL: One animal for each letter and like the ‘Qs’ are queen bee and I always look up ‘Qs’…

SUNNY GAULT: What’s the ‘X’? What’s the ‘X’?

JOHNER RIEHL: The ‘X’, I got to look up the ‘X’.

SUNNY GAULT: Because they can’t do X-ray.

JOHNER RIEHL: I was going to look up the ‘X’.

SUNNY GAULT: That’s what everyone’s like the ‘X’ or.

JOHNER RIEHL: The ‘X’ is a fish getting an X-ray.

SUNNY GAULT: No it is not.

JOHNER RIEHL: Yes it is. It’s a fish getting an X-ray. Let’s see…

SUNNY GAULT: Wait. Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.

JOHNER RIEHL: Right. So I guess that’s the test and I’m entertained by the ‘X’ and the ‘Q’ and so definitely a thumbs up for me for Drawnimal. What do you think Sunny?

SUNNY GAULT: Me too. I like it too. I definitely purchase it.

JOHNER RIEHL: So it’s $1.99, IOS only but it’s IOS and IPad but it’s kind of bridging the real world and the virtual world. And I think it’s successful too for a broad of ranges too.

[Theme Music]

JOHNER RIEHL: Today’s topic is a safe play yard. Today we’re talking with Joyce Davis, the president of Keeping Babies Safe. Thanks so much for joining us.

JOYCE DAVIS: Thank you for having me.

JOHNER RIEHL: So what is it, when we say play yard that might be a topic that’s confusing to some people or not but let’s talk about what exactly are we talking about when we say a play yard.

JOYCE DAVIS: A play yard is really a self-contained play space. Through this 1960s and up until the 1990s it was really termed a play pen. So when a mom was busy or a caregiver was busy and they don’t want their child crawling around the home, it was a self-contained play area. And in the past years it’s been really termed a play pen. Also Graco has really captured the term and labelled it up Pack ‘n Play. So today we really call them play yards and Pack ‘n Play.

JOHNER RIEHL: Is that a proprietary term? I didn’t realize that. Is that a proprietary term for them?

SUNNY GAULT: I have no idea.

JOYCE DAVIS: Yeah it’s Graco’s term for the play yard. So it’s called Graco Pack ‘n Play.

JOHNER RIEHL: That’s the band aid of the industry.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah it is.

JOHNER RIEHL: Sorry it’s not that I hate to mention this products but I didn’t realize that Pack ‘n Play was a proprietary Graco term. I thought it was just a generic term for all of this.

SUNNY GAULT: It’s like exercising.

JOYCE DAVIS: Yeah.

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah.

JOYCE DAVIS: A lot of people. Right.

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah.

JOYCE DAVIS: But most people the general term is play yard. And again a play yard is the same thing, a self-contained play space but a lot of people use it as a portable crib because of the light weightness of the product and the cost of the product that makes it very easy for people to travel with it. You obviously can always fold up your crib and travel with that.

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah their very convenient for sure. And so how many people do you think used them in the US, around the world, do you have any estimates for that?

JOYCE DAVIS: I don’t have any estimates for that. I mean I think it’s extremely popular. There are numerous brands out there and numerous manufacturers. And anytime you would go into a mass retailer there are plenty of options in buying a play yard. You know some have bassinets on top. Some have a changing space on top.

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah.

JOYCE DAVIS: But the actual play yard itself they’re all the same. A play yard is really a soft-sided play space sleeping. It’s like a crib has a you know a rigorous wood or metal side.

JOHNER RIEHL: Right.

JOYCE DAVIS: A play yard is a soft-sided play yard.

JOHNER RIEHL: I definitely heard of some parents who you know right when the baby was born they would have the play yard setup and would use that as the changing table because it was such like a nice convenient height and just always kind of had there and used that thing that you put on the top as the changing table.

JOYCE DAVIS: Right I mean as making the babies safe we really recommend that the safest place for your baby to sleep is in their crib. In the crib in your room that is a 100% the safest place for your baby to sleep. A play yard is great for supervised play.

JOHNER RIEHL: But what about sleeping? So what are the dangers and what are the scary things that could happen in a play yard?

JOYCE DAVIS: Well when you buy a play yard, it does come with the thin play yard pad that is made from the same manufacturer as your play yard. It comes together. You don’t have to buy it separately. So when you undo your play yard, there’s a thin play yard pad that comes with the product.

JOHNER RIEHL: In ours it kind of wraps around the folded up structure…

SUNNY GAULT: It keeps it together when you’re preparing it.

JOHNER RIEHL: It keeps it together yeah.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

JOYCE DAVIS: Right. And then that is the safest way for your baby to sleep only on that thin play yard pad. Unfortunately many of the mass retailers are selling supplemental mattresses that say suitable for all or many play yard and if you ever look at the labelling on a play yard, it says use only the pad provided by the manufacturer. You should never ever use a supplemental mattress on a mesh sided play yard because that invites you know the baby’s head is really the heaviest part of the baby. And the baby can wedge its little nose in between the mattress and side of the play yard and then unfortunately it’s the greatest cause of suffocation and injury in a play yard. So the thin play yard pad, I can’t enforce that enough is the safest way for your baby to sleep or nap in the play yard.

JOHNER RIEHL: So let me ask a question about the supplemental pads. I mean even it seems to me like just getting a pad like that is all of the sudden making a switch from using it as a temporary portable thing to being a more permanent fixture.

JOYCE DAVIS: Correct but unfortunately many parents believe that the thin play yard pad is uncomfortable for their infant and people believe that thickness is best. And because the play yard is soft sided on the side and its mesh sided, it makes it so dangerous.

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah.

JOYCE DAVIS: So that belief that parents believe that comfort is best in this situation is completely inaccurate and it’s very, unfortunately it’s very deceptive because the mass retailers are selling this and they display it together in their store. But if you were to go on to a website, you would see and read any labelling in a play yard, you would see that you were never ever supposed to use any of this. And unfortunately the majority of injuries that occur from play yards are from soft bedding or supplemental mattresses in the yard.

JOHNER RIEHL: What do babies like to sleep on because it’s so easy not only with this but I think so much with what babies do to project what you like…

SUNNY GAULT: What you would like. What you want.

JOHNER RIEHL: On to the baby and so oh I want a nice bed with everything [inaudible 00:12:28] but obviously…

JOYCE DAVIS: That’s not true with the baby at all.

JOHNER RIEHL: Exactly. Yes. So what do babies want?

JOYCE DAVIS: Yeah and unfortunately if you ever did look into a supplemental mattress, many of the parents and many other consumers are advocating to other parents that this is the best way for your baby to sleep but in fact this is the most dangerous. I can’t stress that enough. The thickness on the mattress next to a mesh sided crib allows for such danger. So really the baby will sleep comfortably and safely on the thin sided pad. Consumers do not if they have an older play yard and they don’t have that pad, they need to reach out to the manufacturer of the play yard to get that pad.

JOHNER RIEHL: Sunny how do your girl sleep?

SUNNY GAULT: Right now so let’s see their almost five months and we have two little bassinets in our bedroom and that’s where they sleep you know it’s pretty close to my side of the bed.

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah.

SUNNY GAULT: And I’m breastfeeding, exclusively breastfeeding them and so I’ll nurse them right before I put them down to go to sleep for the night. And then when one cries in the middle of the night, I bring one in and kind of co-sleep and side nurse until…

JOHNER RIEHL: Right.

SUNNY GAULT: That one falls asleep with the next one cries I just swap them out but I mean I guess that’s kind of a follow up question, a little bit off topic but Joyce when it comes to bassinets, I mean I believe bassinets where created for babies to sleep in right so we’re not talking about bassinets being bad, we’re talking about sleeping in play yards. I just want to make that distinction.

JOYCE DAVIS: Correct.

SUNNY GAULT: Okay.

JOYCE DAVIS: Correct.

SUNNY GAULT: Okay.

JOYCE DAVIS: But surely you know again the safest place is for the baby to sleep in a crib…

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

JOYCE DAVIS: In your room.

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

JOHNER RIEHL: What about sheets? Because I know that for our Pack ‘n Play, we have a set of sheets...

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

JOHNER RIEHL: That we put on the thing on the button. We still use the cardboard thing but we put a sheet on it.

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

JOYCE DAVIS: Yes that’s fine as long as the sheet is made for the dimensions of the play yard. You should never parents should never use in a crib or in a play yard…

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah.

JOYCE DAVIS: They should never use twin sheet. And that’s especially true when travelling. A lot of hotels will say to you oh we don’t have a crib sheet or we don’t have a play yard sheet. So consumer should always bring their own sheet or call the hotel in advance to find out what the brand is of the crib or the play yard so that they could bring very snug tight fitting sheets because you should never use a twin sheet in that sleeping environment.

SUNNY GAULT: What and honestly it’s a tough pill to swallow too because I don’t know maybe I’m just shopping in the wrong places but because those sheets for the play yard are so specific to those dimensions, they charge like an arm and a leg for those things and so like I think the one I bought would at a regular you know popular retail store was like twenty bucks and I’m looking how…

JOHNER RIEHL: Just for that little sheet.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah how thin it was and it again a brand name product whatever but…

JOYCE DAVIS: Right.

SUNNY GAULT: It’s the only one I could find. And there were no you know mom and pop places that I could find that were selling them…

JOHNER RIEHL: Right.

SUNNY GAULT: And so for me I was like well jeez I have all these crib sheets at home, why can’t I just wrap, put around it, make it tight and but your right Joyce like in my head I’m thinking no the babies you know they’re kind of going to clawed it whatever and create all this extra you know sheets in the play yard and you know what if they you know what if they can’t breathe and then you know it’s just wasn’t worth it for me but it’s a tough pill to swallow.

JOYCE DAVIS: Right. I mean it is safe. It is perfectly safe for you baby to sleep on a thin play yard pad and then you know in a one V that you know shifting properly without the sheets.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah I was doing it more because like the baby spit up and stuff like that and then you want to come and protect…

JOHNER RIEHL: Right.

SUNNY GAULT: The play yard a little bit so you don’t have to…

JOYCE DAVIS: Right.

SUNNY GAULT: Constantly wash that.

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah and so you could put a back in it.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

JOHNER RIEHL: Unless you get everything cleaned off.

SUNNY GAULT: Exactly. Yeah.

JOYCE DAVIS: Right. And obviously all toys, pillows, blankets, comforters, that should all be removed from the play yard so when the baby is sleeping there should be nothing in the play yard bare is best.

JOHNER RIEHL: Bare is best.

SUNNY GAULT: Bare is best. I like that.

JOHNER RIEHL: Nice. I like that. That’s a good t-shirt bearing bare is best that’s great. Alright let’s take a quick break. When we come back I want to ask a couple of more questions about travelling as well as some things about reusing and you know just reiterate some of this play yards safety tips. So we’ll be right back.

[Theme Music]

JOHNER RIEHL: Welcome back everybody, today we’re talking about safe play yards with Joyce Davis. So I want to talk about you know what exactly, I mean we kind of know what we’re talking about, suffocation and death but let’s talk about it specifically. That is what we’re talking about right. Those, that’s the danger it’s not just that they might got hurt it’s that your baby can die right.

JOYCE DAVIS: Correct. Correct. My son Garret was four and a half months old, healthy baby boy rolling over lifting his head up and he was sleeping in a play yard with a supplemental mattress that was advertise as suitable for the play yard and the biggest fear is that you know that a baby can suffocate in this and we had no idea, there are no warnings, there was no information available that this could occur and it did happen to my son. And I can’t stress enough how I would never want another family to go through what we’ve gone through and that’s why KBS really exist. I urge parents to go on keepingbabiessafe.org to really learn and educate about the latest crib safety information and play yard safety because all of these injuries and deaths are preventable. These supplemental mattresses are sold in mass retailers and online as suitable for the play yard space. And really it’s very deceptive because if you’re educated you would know that a supplemental mattress against a soft sided mesh sided play yard can cause suffocation. And that’s what happened to my son.

JOHNER RIEHL: I’m so sorry to hear about that.

JOYCE DAVIS: Thank you. Thank you.

JOHNER RIEHL: And I think it’s, I mean it’s a good reminder for this and for other issues. I remember when our oldest, he’s seven now, but when it’s right when all the research was coming about I don’t know how to [inaudible] BPA and getting that stuff out of the plastic and we knew that that research was out there and how dangerous that these chemicals were but we would go to the store and you’d say hey do you have any BPA free things or anything like a list and they didn’t have it yet. It took about a year or two for them to catch up to the research. And so you know you can’t just assume because you see something in a big box store or especially the big box stores or that means you still have to do your own research and know what out there. And I think that’s…

JOYCE DAVIS: Right. And this past year, February 2013, the CPSC did issue new safety standards for play yards just making you know that play yard would be more rigorous but it’s really that’s really made it all about the actual equipment not about the mattress. And again all of the labelling says only use the mattress sold with the play yard.

JOHNER RIEHL: Right.

JOYCE DAVIS: So I know it’s very confusing for consumers because I was one of them. I went to the store believing that you know how could this be comfortable to my baby and why are these mattresses sold on the market if they’re not safe.

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah.

JOYCE DAVIS: So it really is, it is quite confusing but a supplemental mattress and a play yard together are a deadly combination.

JOHNER RIEHL: So Sunny and I were on a swat meet. I think last year and you had an old play yard.

SUNNY GAULT: I did.

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah. But you and the play yard it had like a rip in the mesh.

SUNNY GAULT: Oh yeah multiple.

JOHNER RIEHL: And so we were like great…

SUNNY GAULT: Multiple rips.

JOHNER RIEHL: Maybe we should yeah so pretty much when that happens that should be the end of the play yard right?

JOYCE DAVIS: Correct. Correct. And it’s really best when buying a play yard that it needs the new current safety standards as of February 2013.

JOHNER RIEHL: So what about a family that is trying to save a little bit of money goes on craigslist is looking do you recommend against buying used play yard?

JOYCE DAVIS: Well if you can get the same play yard pads sold by the manufacturer of that play yard, that’s the best way to use it but typically when in doubt and it’s older I would recommend throwing it out because it would not meet the current safety standards.

JOHNER RIEHL: Alright.

JOYCE DAVIS: And the same thing is true with the crib in 2012, KBS work closely on getting the strongest crib yard our country has seen in 30 years. And many older cribs also do not meet the new safety standard. So unfortunately when in doubt we say throw it out.

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah.

JOYCE DAVIS: That’s obviously it’s better to be safe.

JOHNER RIEHL: I want to, did you know if the retailer sell the bottom part just by themselves so that if you somehow had an old Pack ‘n Play or like grandparents. I know that like grandparents if they and there’s a circumstance were parents wanted to use a play yard a lot is when they’re traveling and often you know we’ll get an email from the church hey is anyone had an old play yard that we can use or when we are on that swamp meet I know a lot of times grandparents are shopping for supplies so if they somehow have like an old play yard, do you know if company sell just the bottom part?

JOYCE DAVIS: I think you have to go, I have not seen them regularly in the store…

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah.

JOYCE DAVIS: But if you go on the manufacturer’s website and look for it…

JOHNER RIEHL: Potentially.

JOYCE DAVIS: That’s your best bet.

JOHNER RIEHL: But again I mean considering what we’re talking about here you know it probably worth the extra 50. I mean these things aren’t that I mean relatively speaking you can get them for not that much more than you can get it when used. You can get a new one.

JOYCE DAVIS: Right. I mean play yards sells anywhere from around like 70 to 90 dollars…

JOHNER RIEHL: Right.

JOYCE DAVIS: Some are left money. And again there are many different styles and brands that are out there that could suit your needs.

JOHNER RIEHL: It’s so funny when we take money stands on right?

JOYCE DAVIS: Right.

JOHNER RIEHL: You get about fired up about 5 cents at the gas station per gallon…

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah right.

JOHNER RIEHL: Which comes out like less than $2.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

JOHNER RIEHL: And we’ll say on hey I don’t want to get an extra. I want to get a used play yard for 30 bucks and I don’t want to spend the 75 bucks. But when you consider what’s at stake, it’s absolutely worth it to just pay the extra money.

JOYCE DAVIS: Right. A second hand crib, again this is regarding crib, second hand crib were the leading cause of deaths because you know when you got a second hand crib, many times you didn’t have the manufacturer’s parts or screws or there were something wrong with the crib. But really when in doubt, we recommend throwing it out. And again you have to make sure that your crib or the play yard meets the new safety standard.

JOHNER RIEHL: What are the new safety standards?

JOYCE DAVIS: It just makes it more rigorous. Stronger brackets on the corners, sturdier mattress attachment and just defined rail that are stronger to prevent strangulation. But again it does only say to only use the mattress sold with the play yard.

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah. Now is that noted on the packaging does it say like how are they noting they meet the new standards? Would it say like it meets the new 2014 standards as their language? That you know which…

JOYCE DAVIS: Yeah it will say that on the packaging it will say certified you know or you should just check with the retailer. But most of the retailers now are selling new play yards that meet the standards.

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah but I kind of don’t trust the retailers now.

JOYCE DAVIS: Right. No it is I mean it’s true. We’ve done a lot of storage check and unfortunately the employees who are selling crib and safe sleep products are not educated.

JOHNER RIEHL: Right.

JOYCE DAVIS: So as a parent, you need to go online, you need to go on www.keepingbabiessafe.org , you need to research because many of these injuries are preventable if you are educated and you know we have a post card, we have a good safety video that we could use so that the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the American Academy of Paediatrics and it’s twelve minutes long. Twelve minutes that can really you know change your life. So I urge parents to go on to the website and watch that.

JOHNER RIEHL: That’s www.keepingbabiessafe.org and also we’ll have that on our episode page to a link to that as well. So we talk a little bit about travel and I think this might be the last thing we have time for but you know families find themselves in situations where they’re travelling whether to their grandparent’s house or to the hotel. And maybe the hotel delivers you know the big sheets or maybe they have an old Pack ‘n Play. What do you think family should do if they find themselves in a situation where they don’t want to use the Pack ‘n Play that is provided and it’s late at night and they can’t go and buy one?

JOYCE DAVIS: You know I always tell consumers and travellers that they should call ahead.

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah.

JOYCE DAVIS: Just like you call ahead to booked and find out you know when you’re getting two double beds or two king size bed in the room. You need to find out what your baby will be sleeping in. Is it a crib, is it a play yard you know and ask them. Don’t be afraid to ask what is the model of the crib? What is the model of the play yard?

JOHNER RIEHL: Right.

JOYCE DAVIS: Again it’s your baby’s life here so yes don’t be afraid to ask. Go online. You can check all of the products if they’ve been recalled on our website. Find out you know is it a crib? Is it a play yard? What sheet do you have for the baby? And if they tell you it’s a play yard and we don’t have sheet and if you can find out do they have the same play yard pads, you don’t need a sheet but if it is a crib, do they have crib sheets and if they say no then you should definitely bring your own crib sheets.

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah.

SUNNY GAULT: I will say to because my husband and I have dealt with this quite a bit because all of our well not all of our kids need a play yard now but we were at a point where most of kids did whenever we went somewhere and it kind of goes without saying but if you’re just driving because I know a lot of families with young kids do kind of can’t afford go the airplane for several years as it is quite expensive.

JOYCE DAVIS: Right.

SUNNY GAULT: So if you are driving, it is really worth it like we have a travel play yard that it is tinier but you know does meet all the regulations and you know all the safety standards and it is not one of those big ones. Some play yards do can’t even get through the door.

JOYCE DAVIS: Right.

SUNNY GAULT: But it’s a very simple, yeah you just kind of pull it from the bottom and it pops right out and it works really nicely and we kind of labelled that as our travel play yard. And if you’re just driving, instead of flying like does things get really compact. You can pretty much even fit it pretty much anywhere…

JOHNER RIEHL: Yeah.

SUNNY GAULT: If you got a car right. So if you’re driving somewhere sometimes it’s just easier to buy one and take it with you and then you don’t have to worry about it because even if you make those calls in advance…

JOYCE DAVIS: Right. I agree with you.

SUNNY GAULT: A lot of times you know you don’t get what they told you were going to get over the phone.

JOHNER RIEHL: Right.

SUNNY GAULT: You just can’t trust it a 100% which is what I’m saying so I think it’s always better to come bring your own if you’re driving somewhere.

JOYCE DAVIS: Right. I agree with that. That’s a great tip. Bring your own and you know this way you know what your baby is sleeping in but never to get the pad.

JOHNER RIEHL: And have the confidence that this is a really-really important thing.

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

JOHNER RIEHL: And don’t just say oh it’s just one night and whatever like take a stand and be confident to make sure that you’re looking out for your baby’s safety.

JOYCE DAVIS: Correct.

JOHNER RIEHL: Well thanks so much Joyce for joining us. Anything else you want to add as we wrap up the conversation?

JOYCE DAVIS: No but if anybody has any questions on product recalls or information they need they can check that out online at www.keepingbabiessafe.org . And they can always email us any questions that they have. We get lots of crib safety play yard questions that we are happy to answer.

JOHNER RIEHL: And you guys are on the Twitter and Facebook as well right?

JOYCE DAVIS: Correct.

JOHNER RIEHL: Great. So thanks so much for the conversation. For more information about today’s topic for our listeners and Joyce you can go to their website and also our website the episode page on parentsavers.com. Where going to continue the conversation briefly for members of our Parent Savers club. After the show we’re actually going to talk a little more about recalls. Joyce have mentioned it a couple of times. We’ll go a little bit in a little more detail how often that happens and how you can a little more detail on how you can find information about it. So for more information about our Parent Savers club, please visit www.parentsavers.com .

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JODY TART: Hi Parent Savers. This is Jody Tart with Urbansitter, a website that connects you to friend tested sitters. I’m here to today to help you figure out the right questions to ask when searching for a baby sitter. What type of experience should your baby sitter have? Previous child care experience is incredibly important. Beyond the number of years a candidate has been baby sitting or nannying, it’s important to ask if he or she has had experience with children your child’s age. If you have an infant you need a sitter that is comfortable changing diapers. And if you have a toddler, you’ll be on the lookout for active sitters who like to take the kids to the park. If you had multiples, it’s important that the sitter has cared for more than one child at once.

Do they have references for families that they have work for previously? Don’t just look at them. You got to check them. There’s nothing more comforting to hear another person’s personal recommendation. A good way to feel for a sitter is to invite them over for your home for a “working interview”. The sitter is going to come over and care for your children when you’re at home. So this type of interview typically will last for about an hour and it’s unpaid. But it’s great because not only you can see how the sitter interacts with your children but you can give them guidance on specific request that you may have forgotten about as they come up. Like a poopy diaper that needs to go directly to your outside garbage, not in the trash can.

Realized these sitters are going to be nervous so try to give them some space to do their thing. You don’t want to look over their shoulder the whole time or you won’t get a good feel. It will be easy to see if they are comfortable interacting with your child. For instance once a baby sitter told me she had tons of experience babysitting infants and then she put my daughter’s diaper on backwards. So I would always remind the sitters of some basics that seem obvious to a parent but might not to a young adult like don’t walk away from a baby in the changing table, don’t give a toddler holding grapes, you get the idea.

Even though it’s like second nature to us parents now, it never hurts to refresh a sitter’s memory. Okay Parent Savers, it’s time to say hello to your old friend spontaneity, visit www.urbansitter.com and find and booked trusted baby sitters your friends know and love.

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JOHNER RIEHL: That wraps up today’s episode of Parent Savers. We appreciate you listening. Don’t forget to check out our sister show Preggie Pals for expecting parents, The Boob Group for moms who breastfeed their babies and Twin Talks for parents of multiples. I have to rewrite that because of course they breastfeed their babies. I keep saying the Boob Group for moms who breastfeed their babies but…

SUNNY GAULT: It’s more of an SEO thing. We throw babies in there.

JOHNER RIEHL: That’s right because it’s good. That’s true but actually I’m sure you can do an episode, probably you can do an episode on breastfeeding other things besides babies maybe or maybe not. I’ll talk to her if I find her about that.

Next week on Parent Savers we’ll talk about new babies and the family pet.

This is Parent Savers, empowering new parents.

[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. Information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. Though information in which areas are related to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, Medical or advisor care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.

SUNNY GAULT: New Mommy Media is expanding our line up of shows for new and expecting parents. If you have an idea for a new series or if you’re a business or organization interested in joining our network of shows through a co-branded podcast, visit www.NewMommyMedia.com .

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