High Chair Injuries Increase 22% Over Past Decade
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High chairs and booster seats make mealtimes easier for little ones.
But a new study out of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio has found high chair injuries have increased by 22 percent in the U.S. over the past decade.
"Not only did the numbers increase by more than 20 percent, but if you looked at injuries to the head, those increased by almost 90 percent," said Gary Smith, with Nationwide Children's Hospital.
The study, published in the journal Clinical Pediatrics looked at data from 2003-2010 and found that there was an average of more than 9,400 high chair-related injuries seen in the emergency rooms each year.
"We had cuts, pinches, lacerations, bruises and other things that were from other mechanisms," said Smith.
Most of the children were injured after they fell out of the high chair.
Researchers say that's because parents don't use the straps that come with the chairs.
"When the information was available, information about the child standing, twisting, or pulling themselves out of the straps and that's how they fell," said Smith. "The top three things that I would recommend to a parent to prevent injuries from falls from a high chair is strap your child in, strap your child in, strap your child in."