I probably fly about as much as the average American adult, but even in my modest travels I’ve had some odd, seemingly nit-picky reasons for takeoff delays — a broken coffee machine, a toilet that didn’t have enough “blue juice” in the tank and had to be manually filled — that held up the flight for 30 minutes or more. But the crew of an American Airlines commuter plane recently determined that taking a minute to ensure the safety of a baby was less important than avoiding an FAA fine for a late departure. [More]
babies
American Airlines Tells Parents To Not Put Baby In Safety Seat Because It Will Delay Takeoff
By 6.24.14
Shutterfly Congratulates Everyone On Arrival Of Nonexistent Babies
By 5.14.14
This morning, an unknown number of people received an e-mail from photo-printing site Shutterfly congratulating them on their new babies. The problem is that most of these people don’t have fresh new babies at home, and aren’t expecting. Many of them have no kids at all. While most were probably able to laugh it off as a weird mistake, plenty of recipients weren’t. [More]
Woman Gives Birth In Walmart Parking Lot On Her Birthday With Help From Fellow Shoppers
By 5.12.14
There’s a happy birthday, and then there’s “It’s my birthday and I’m having a baby in a Walmart parking lot.” A pregnant North Dakota woman had a scary situation on her hands when she went into labor right before she got into her car after a shopping trip. [More]
Evenflo Also Recalls 1.4 Million Car Seats For Sticky Buckle Issues
By 4.11.14
Hey, remember when Graco recalled more than 4 million child safety seats because their buckles have a tendency to latch a little too well when gummed up with food or beverages? It seems that they weren’t the only manufacturer to use the extra-sticky buckles. Evenflo has recalled just under 1.4 million of their seats for the same problem. [More]
Formaldehyde In Baby Shampoo Isn’t As Scary As It Sounds
By 3.4.14
Recently, Johnson & Johnson reformulated their classic yellow baby shampoo after a consumer outcry over a scary-sounding formaldehyde-based preservative in the product. If it’s not absolutely necessary, there’s no good reason to go slathering a product that contains unnecessary substances on infants. The important question is: should we be worried about formaldehyde in personal-care products at all? [More]
Graco Recalls 3.7 Million Child Safety Seats, Will Replace Buckles On 1.8 Million More
By 2.11.14
Millions of Graco child safety seats may have a serious problem: their buckles may not release if there happens to be any food or drink buildup in the latch. If you’ve ever met a small child or remember being one, you know that this could be an issue. [More]
Victoria’s Secret Apologizes After Store Tells Mom To Breastfeed In Alley
By 1.24.14
When the mom of a 4-month-old asked the clerk at a Texas Victoria’s Secret if she could use one of the store’s fitting rooms to nurse her child, she was doing so out of courtesy, as Texas law allows mothers to breastfeed in all locations. She certainly wasn’t expecting to be told that she should feed her infant in an alley next to the store. [More]
Good News For Fans Of Deconstructed Strained Peas: Babies Still Allowed Inside Alinea
By 1.17.14
The recent fuss over the question of whether babies should be allowed inside Chicago restaurant Alinea struck a nerve online; some people were sympathetic, others baffled as to why someone would bring an 8-month-old along for a four-hour tasting menu. It turns out, though, that many readers and even media outlets made assumptions about the incident that aren’t true. [More]
Baby Allowed Inside Fanciest Restaurant In Chicago, Cries
By 1.14.14
Alinea in Chicago is an expensive molecular gastronomy restaurant. It is so exclusive and fancy that most adults probably imagine that they aren’t allowed inside. Apparently the question of “can I bring my infant?” has never come up…until this weekend. [More]
Mom Gives Birth To Baby In Walmart Parking Lot While Dad’s Inside Shopping
By 1.3.14
Either more exciting, crazy things happen in Florida every day or we just get to hear about them more often because it’s Florida: This week a baby was born in a car parked in the lot at Walmart while the father stepped inside to grab a few things.
[More]
Baby Not Old Enough For The iPad Potty? Not A Problem
By 12.18.13
If your child isn’t old enough for the iPad potty chair and you simply can’t wait to prop her up in front of a tablet screen at close range, there’s always another option: the Apptivity seat from Fisher-Price. It’s an iPad chair for kids from birth until toddlerhood. It’s an improvement over the potty-seat version in that it was not explicitly designed as a toilet. [More]
Recall: Baby Monitors Should Monitor Babies, Not Strangle Them
By 11.25.13
The entire purpose of a baby monitor is to keep an ear or an eye on your baby while it sleeps in a different room. The Angelcare monitor adds an extra component to that: a pad that monitors movement and rests under the mattress. Sounded like a great idea…until two babies got hold of the cord and were strangled to death. [More]
Report: Nation’s Top Hospitals Not Pushing Baby Formula On New Moms
By 10.29.13
From diapers to formula to clothing and other infant-care items, newborns are a huge source of revenue to numerous industries. That’s why some of these businesses put together new-mom goodie bags to be handed out at maternity wards, hoping to create loyal customers from the start. Some people are concerned that the practice of including free formula in these bags makes it too easy for a new mom to avoid nursing her child. And according to a new survey, many of the nation’s best hospitals are saying no to the goodie bags. [More]
What Should I Do With This Used Child Car Seat?
By 10.21.13
The good news is that advancements in child safety seat technology mean that the products we depend on to protect our tiniest citizens from injury in a car crash are getting safer all the time. The bad news is that these advancements, and close monitoring of child safety products, mean that car seats are getting outmoded or recalled for safety reasons all the time. Where do old seats that can’t be reused end up? The trash, of course. [More]
Mother Of Dead Newborn Found At Kohl’s Was 29-Year-Old Store Employee
By 8.21.13
Authorities have found and arrested the person who left a dead newborn in the ladies’ room trash in a Kentucky Kohl’s store two weeks ago. She’s a 29-year-old store employee, who has been charged with murder, tampering with physical evidence, and abuse of a corpse. The baby’s cause of death still hasn’t been determined, but it was full term and there was no obvious cause. [More]
Dead Baby Found In Bathroom, Kohl’s Keeps Store Open
By 8.9.13
What should it take to close a store during a normal shopping day? Would you expect a department store to close if a dead person were discovered in the public restroom? What if the death were mysterious and homicide detectives were on the scene? What if the dead person were a newborn infant? [More]
Have You Ever Had To Choose Between Diapers And Food? We’d Like To Hear From You
By 7.29.13
Until babies are born learning to hold their bodily wastes — a development that seems unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future — there will be a need for diapers of some sort. But according to a new study, many American families are having troubles making ends meet and keep their kids in clean nappies. [More]
Couple Asks Random Starbucks Customers To Name Their Unborn Child
By 7.2.13
The regulars at my local Starbucks are nice people who seem like they have good taste. I would probably trust their suggestions for which new Frappuccino to try, or even their restaurant or hairdresser recommendations. I would not, however, trust them to help me make my major life decisions. Like naming my child. [More]
