OT Flame retardant sleepwear

toypup wrote:


I agree with you that the fire retardant clothing is to prevent clothing
from going up in a flash from small flames, but we didn't play with flames
when we were in pj's. They ought to make play clothing fire retardant,
because that's when kids are up playing with fire.

I've pondered this randomly today, and can't quite see the point of it,
really. (Flame retardant)

The latest issue of "Today's Parent" has an article on fear, and how the
culture of fear is pervading our parenting choices and pressures, and
how we worry about things that are unlikely to happen (child-abduction
by a stranger, death from diptheria or chicken-pox, child brushing
nightie across open flame (probably a valid concern in Dicken's
time...but do we REALLY need labels in our kid's clothes **telling** us
not to hold the item near an open flame? ;-)) and we DON'T worry about
the things that WILL cause injury/illness/death, like eating crappy food
(and yes, it affects me what others eat...where do you suppose the beef
comes from? what do you suppose those cattle eat? what do you suppose
MIGHT live there if not cattle?....and I never find anything but junk
food wrappers in my hedge...) or sports injuries.

I dn't have the article right here, but the stats for sports injuries
were fairly high....1 in less than a thousand iirc. The author made the
point that we, as a society, will endlessly support things that make
little difference (like those fingerprinting kits we are supposed to do
for our kids for when (not, apparently, *if*) they are abducted and for
some strange reason they have fingerprints but not DNA :-P'') but not
for safer school sport equipment,etc.

Good article, put things in perspective again for me. Risk assessment
is generally shockingly badly done by parents, ime, and it's frustrating
to be "swimming against the current" when you attempt a more sensible
approach.

Short story long...as I'm not holding my kid near open flames, don't
have a fireplace, don't smoke and don't use candles in my home, observe
Beltane with a rip-snorting bonfire (alas, alack!) nor heat his bedroom
with an open hearth ;-) flame retardant doesn't seem a high need issue
for me. I may view it slightly differently if I let him play around the
water heater or furnace, or anything else wiht a pilot light, or if I
didn't have central heating and used electric fires (common in the UK)
just because it seems to me on first glance that might increase the
risk, although probably only very slightly.

*whew* Can you tell I'm avoiding starting to sort out my craft room? ;-))

Dawn

Hi -

I rememember reading that flame retardent sleepwear, although it seems
odd, has in fact reduced the number of severe burns and fire fatalities
in children. I don't recall where I read it, although I vaguely recall
it being a reputable source.

Playclothes tend to be less flammable since they tend to be worn tighter
or are of thicker material. They have to withstand play activities,
after all! ANd, playing with flames excepted, kids who are awake are
more likely to run away from fire than kids who are asleep.

A google search, or even a chat with your local fire department, should
provide some actual data.

--Beth Kevles

http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html -- a page for the milk-allergic
Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be construed as medical
advice. Please consult with your own medical practicioner.

NOTE: No email is read at my MIT address. Use the AOL one if you would
like me to reply.

(Beth Kevles) wrote in message ...
Hi -

I rememember reading that flame retardent sleepwear, although it seems
odd, has in fact reduced the number of severe burns and fire fatalities
in children. I don't recall where I read it, although I vaguely recall
it being a reputable source.

Playclothes tend to be less flammable since they tend to be worn tighter
or are of thicker material. They have to withstand play activities,
after all! ANd, playing with flames excepted, kids who are awake are
more likely to run away from fire than kids who are asleep.

A google search, or even a chat with your local fire department, should
provide some actual data.

This is a question that's been bugging me on and off for a while,
(both the question of how much flame retardant sleepwear/close fitting
sleepwear actually helps, and what are the major causes of residential
fires/fire related injuries to small children), so I did a little
digging. Alas, the reports the NFPA (National Fire Protection
Association) puts out are not free, but they have comprehensive
reports on major causes, broken down every which way. (www.nfpa.org)

First of all, it looks like the major issue for flame retardant
sleepwear is that most fires started by children (half of them are
caused by children aged 1-5) are also started late at night or early
in the morning. I interpret that as kids without supervision when
their parents *think* they are in bed, asleep. This is supported by
the fact that the official CPSC sleepwear regs don't apply to infant
(0-9 month) sleepwear, because babies are not mobile. It was weird to
see that they really didn't talk about sleepwear issues for fires at
night. I didn't see statistics for how many "playing with matches"
types of fires happen when kids are wearing regular clothes. But,
according to the Burn Awareness Coalition (quoted in another website -
I couldn't find one for them directly), burns are the leading
accidental cause of death for children under 2, and fire & burns are
the second cause of accidental death for children aged 1-4. (Source:
http://www.detech.com/fire_safety/fire_causes.html)

Other major causes of residential fires include heaters (space
heaters, and wood stoves especially), smoking, cooking fires, &
electrical fires, and of course, the all-encompassing term "accidental
fires." (And of course, while not mentioned in any of these articles,
if you are in a multi-family sort of setting, you are at greater risk
due to fires in the other units. Which is why there are fire walls
between apartments and such. But I digress...)

Disclaimer - this was not an exhaustive search by any means, and any
conclusions are solely mine!

For the record, I frequently let ds sleep in his clothes, and none of
these reports make me feel worse about it. I've generally justified
it to myself by the fact that we don't use space heaters, don't smoke,
and have a single-family home. (It has always seemed to me like the
majority of fire deaths I hear about on the news are related to space
heaters or smoking) Our matches are on the very highest shelf in the
kitchen (though I may need to find an even better place for them,
since his climbing abilities have exploded recently. Well, not the
abilities themselves, but his awareness of what he can get at with the
aid of the step-ladder!)

Irene
mom to Thomas 7/01
#2 EDD 4/04