Every parent wants to protect their children, keeping them safe from harm at all times. Unfortunately, every year millions of products intended for use by infants, toddlers and older children (everything from car seats and cribs to toys and clothing) are offered for sale and then later recalled - unusually after an injury or fatality has already occurred - because they are found to be hazardous. Recent high profile recalls of millions of cribs that have injured hundreds of infants and killed 32 since 2005 and medications specifically marketed to have brought the safety of supposedly child-safe items on store shelves to light.

Safety is Not Guaranteed by Purchasing Brand Name Baby Gear

In the past five years, there have been both voluntary and ordered recalls of more than seven million cribs after it was revealed that incorrect installation and/or failure of the so-called "drop" side of the crib could trap an infant, potentially causing death by suffocation or strangulation or serious injury. More than three million similarly designed cribs were recalled in the past two years alone, prompting the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a safety release (#10-225) in May of 2010, recommending that drop-side cribs no longer be sold or used. While their recommendation is voluntary, many manufacturers have heeded the warning and already stopped making them or plan to in the near future.

In the past, parents have been lulled into a false sense of security by purchasing brand name products that were more expensive, and assumed to be safer than those costing less - you get what you pay for, right? That is not the case where defective children's products are concerned. Some of the biggest, well-known or premium producers of baby furniture and gear have faced recalls in recent years, including:

• Graco (cribs, highchairs, car seats and more)
• Simplicity (cribs, bassinets and play yards, some under the Fisher-Price brand)
• Generation 2 (cribs)
• Dorel (cribs, car seats and baby gates)
• Stork Craft (cribs, including nearly 200,000 sold under the Fisher-Price brand)
• Britax (strollers and car seats)
• Evenflo (toys, high chairs, activity centers and car seats)
• Chicco (car seat bases)
• Bugaboo (strollers)

Other recent recalls include products from premiere clothing companies like Gap and Juicy Couture, including thousands and thousands of swimsuits, jackets, winter coats and jewelry.

Even Products Designed to Heal Can be Harmful

McNeill Consumer Healthcare voluntarily recalled millions of bottles of some of their best-selling over-the-counter medications like Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl and Zyrtec after determining that they contained higher concentrations of active ingredients than recommended. In addition, Mylicon gas relief drops, manufactured by Merck Pharmaceuticals and marketed by baby product giant Johnson & Johnson, have been recalled because they may contain metal particles.

A number of manufacturers have problems following the FDA standards requiring "Good Manufacturing Practices" in making these products.

What can Parents Do?

Parents must be diligent about protecting the safety of their children. Regularly checking recalls displayed at their favourite stores and the recalls listed on both the CPSC and FDA websites can protect their children from adverse reactions, illness, serious injury and even death. Closely monitoring the performance and use of infant, toddler and child products is also important. For more information about child safety issues and awareness, you can visit www.kidsindanger.org.

If your child has been injured by a now-recalled product, seeking the advice of a skilled personal injury attorney in your area is an important step toward determining if you have a claim against the designer, manufacturer or distributor of that product.