Britax and CPSC recalled their folding umbrella strollers today due to the risk of a child’s fingers being injured in the folding hinges. Click here to see the Britax Recall Poster including the image  showing the manufacturing date and the hinges which are involved.

This recall is VOLUNTARY and there are NO REPORTED INJURIES to date.

Still, as a precaution, Britax is sending a remedy kit to every registered Blink stroller owner. If your stroller might not be registered, you can request your free kit at 800-683-2045 or visit www.blinkrecall.com.

from the manufacturer: While Maclaren was faced with actual cases of injury from its folding strollers, no incidents with Britax strollers have been reported worldwide.  Therefore, the decision of Britax to offer remedy kits and issue a safety advice is a completely voluntary and precautionary action Britax Blink is perfectly safe if properly used in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.  It  meets and even exceeds all relevant US safety standards

from our opinion only: The flaw here is something that all umbrella strollers on the amrket share in common. See Maclaren for the leading example, then others followed right after. Britax is being especially proactive to address this now, but we can expect to see similar retrofit action from all other strollers with hinges as this issue, ummm, “unfolds”

The mortality rate of California women who die from causes directly related to pregnancy has nearly tripled in the past decade, prompting doctors to worry about the dangers of obesity in expectant mothers and about medical complications of cesarean sections.

California Watch spoke with investigators who wrote the report, and they confirmed the most significant spike in pregnancy-related deaths since the 1930s. Although the number of deaths is relatively small, the rate in California is higher than in Kuwait or Bosnia.

“The issue is how rapidly this rate has worsened,” said Debra Bingham, executive director of the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, the public-private task force investigating the problem for the state.

Read more: www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article

This is exciting! I just received the news by email through FirstCandle.org , nonprofit organization we support that has been supporting the research efforts for decades.

From the press release

[Baltimore, MD – February 2, 2010)   First Candle today announced that researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston have further linked low serotonin levels in the brainstems of babies to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS. The research team’s most recent study, being published in the February 3^rd issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, compared brainstems of babies who died of SIDS with brainstems of babies who died of other, known causes. The results of the study are compelling and send a strong message to new and expectant parents, particularly since SIDS remains the leading cause of death for babies one month to one year of age in the United States.

First Candle salutes Dr. Hannah Kinney and her research team for their untiring efforts to unlock what was once thought to be the mystery of SIDS. “After more than 20 years of research, we may now be able to move forward in identifying babies at risk and developing preventive treatments to correct this serotonin deficiency,” said Kinney. In the study, the SIDS babies had 25 percent less serotonin in their lower brainstem and 22 percent lower levels of tryptophan hydroxylase, the enzyme that makes serotonin. Levels of binding to the serotonin receptors were 50 percent lower in the SIDS babies, signifying that a serotonin defect in the brainstem was most likely involved in the death of these babies.

As this defect probably occurs during pregnancy, good prenatal care is of utmost importance. “There is no safe amount of alcohol, smoking or second-hand smoke that is safe for pregnant women,” said Kinney. The Harvard team and other researchers are also exploring a possible genetic cause for this defect.

The study results also send a strong message to parents with newborns. “We now know that there is likely a physical reason that many of these babies die,” says Dr. Rachel Moon, Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Task force on SIDS. “And when babies with this defect are placed to sleep in unsafe places, the results can be disastrous.”  For babies with low serotonin levels, re-breathing carbon dioxide (exhaled air) and overheating during sleep can be fatal. Parents need to do all they can to make sure their baby is ALWAYS placed to sleep on his or her back and in a safe place.

(it continues on at the link with safe infant sleep tips, etc)

Public Health Dept press release

What: Free H1N1 Community Vaccine Clinic
Where: West Berkeley Family Practice, 2031 Sixth Street, (off University Ave)
When: Sunday, January 24, 2010, 10am-12pm and 1pm-4pm

Nasal and injectable H1N1 vaccines will be available. Please note that no seasonal flu vaccines will be provided at this clinic.

Do you use Yelp? Want to read our reviews or leave one of your own?

Good news from Children’s Hospital Oakland:

On Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010, Children’s Hospital is offering free H1N1 flu vaccinations to all children and ADULTS (yes, adults are welcome, too) who come to the H1N1 vaccination clinic in the Outpatient Center . Everyone is welcome.

Children’s has about 2,500 doses of the vaccine available to help the community weather the pandemic.

The clinic will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (unless supplies are depleted earlier) in Children’s Outpatient Center, 744 52nd St., Oakland, CA 94609.

Please help spread the word: Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Outpatient Center . All welcome.

We have a fledgling fan page for the Nurture Center over on Facebook.

Join up, we’ll make it worth your while : )

Nurture Center on Facebook

busy summer day

San Fransisco bay area people, we set up a donation bin today in the Nurture Center store to collect diapers and wipes for a lovely organization called Help a Mother Out.  See a link here for the donation stations.

Help A Mother Out (HAMO) was formed in the spring of 2009 in reaction to media reports about the economic crisis’s effect on young children, families, and mothers, in particular the growing numbers of homeless children and families in California. Reaching out to San Francisco Bay Area shelters, cofounders Lisa Truong and Rachel Fudge learned that the number-one need was not baby blankets, clothing, or even food but diapers—which are not covered under social-safety net programs like WIC or food stamps.

The donation bin is ready now at The Nurture Center, 3399 Mt Diablo blvd, Lafayette Ca 94549. weekday hours are 9:30-5:30, saturday 10-5 sunday 11-3.

Tender Cargo, Inc. Acquires The Nurture Center

Lafayette, California – June 4, 2009 -
Tender Cargo, Inc. has acquired The Nurture Center brick & mortar store and NurtureCenter.com internet store.

The Nurture Center

The Nurture Center is a natural maternity, breastfeeding, and baby store located in Lafayette, California in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was founded in 2000 by two local moms, and has grown to include a nationally recognized e-commerce store and a resource center with classes and support groups for parents.

“We’re thrilled that The Nurture Center is now in the capable hands of Christine Alonso, president of Tender Cargo, Inc.” say The Nurture Center founders Meri Levy & Sherry Henderson. “We’re confident that she will continue to serve new and expecting parents with high quality products and resources for years to come.”

Tender Cargo, Inc.

Founded by a Berkeley work-at-home-mom, the online baby store TenderCargo.com rapidly expanded into warehouse space and worldwide shipping. Tender Cargo is a specialty store for natural baby products such as cloth diapers, slings and wooden toys. Owner Christine Alonso ran the business singlehandedly from its launch in 2006 and incorporated Tender Cargo in early 2009 in anticipation of the Nurture Center purchase.

Transition

“I am very impressed with how smoothly the ownership transition went – the staff and former owners have been wonderful to work with” says Christine. Both the websites TenderCargo.com and NurtureCenter.com are serving customers without any changes throughout this transitional time, and The Nurture Center store continues to operate with the same name, staff and location at 3399 Mt Diablo Blvd in Lafayette, CA. All classes and breastfeeding supports are being provided without interruption. A website redesign is underway for NurtureCenter.com and both sides of this new company stand to gain depth of offerings from each other with time. “I am committed to the Nurture Center, its employees and suppliers, and the support services we offer to the parenting community here in Lafayette, CA”

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For more information, contact:

Christine Alonso
925-283-1346
christine@nurturecenter.com

www.nurturecenter.com
www.tendercargo.com

The Nurture Center
3399 Mt. Diablo Blvd.
Lafayette, CA 94549

If you’re like me and would appreciate a few free nights in a Chicago Sheraton Hotel executive-level room, and maybe go to the BlogHer conference this July, then check out this link for how to enter.

http://tinyurl.com/blogherhotel

Hint: blogging it like this is part of entering:)