Infant and child safety practices of parents

OBJECTIVE: Accidental injuries are the leading cause of death among children. Many of these injuries could be prevented if the parents took additional safety precautions. We aimed to study the parent's safety practices and explore the possible correlating and contributing factors to unfavorable safety behaviors.

METHODS: Prospective interviews with the parents of infants seen consecutively during a routine well baby clinic visit were conducted using a structured 38-item questionnaire.

RESULTS: Two hundred and eighty nine structured interviews were conducted and the mother was interviewed in 88% of cases. Only 4% of families had a smoke detector at home and 8% reported using an infant car seat. Most families owned an infant crib, however, 75% of the mothers reported sleeping next to the infant in the mother's bed. Most families (74%) had other older children. Up to 74% of the families reported keeping detergents and medications in a high or locked cabinet. Only 10% of the parents reported that their children use bicycle helmets and 24% use car seat belts. Use of car seat belts was more common in higher income families or if the father's age was >30 years (p=0.01). Twenty four percent of the parents reported allowing their children to play unsupervised in the street. These mothers were more likely to be non-educated (29% versus 5%, p=0.009) and 3 times more likely to have 4 or more children (95%, confidence interval 1.5-6, p=0.001).

CONCLUSION: The infant and child safety practices of many families living in Jeddah needs further improvements. Our data identifies certain areas that can be targeted by health promotion interventions including education, environmental modification, and legislation.