HUNDREDS of babies and toddlers have been strangled to death by cords hanging from window blinds, shades and curtains, it has been revealed.
At least 440 children under the age of eight have perished silently after getting tangled in a household item many parents wouldn’t have thought of as dangerous.
AlamyHundreds of toddlers in the US have been strangled by window blind cords in the last 15 years[/caption]
A report by NBC News tracked how many children in the US have lost their lives since 1973 and described the heartbreak of hundreds of parents whose children suffered permanent brain damage or death.
Most of the children affected were toddlers – and many got tangled in the cords when they were put down for a nap.
Seventeen-month-old Reuben Vollmer was placed in his crib on a Saturday afternoon in July 1989.
When his mum Shirah Vollmer, checked on him later, she finds the dangling pull cord for the horizontal blinds around his neck.
“It was shock, and horror,” she recalled.
Little Reuben was rushed to hospital before being pronounced dead. The distraught mum said the family hadn’t thought twice about the blinds, which had already been installed when they moved into the home.
In December 2019, just a couple weeks before Christmas, two-year-old Kyah Berry was alone in her bedroom for five minuets while her mum cleaned up a broken Christmas decoration.
Candice Hale returned to find her daughter’s feet suspended above the floor as she hung from the window blind’s pull cord.
Kyah survived but sustained a severe brain injury as a result of oxygen deprivation, leaving her unable to speak or walk.
NBC News revealed that the US’s Consumer Product Safety Commission identified window cords as “a particularly insidious hazard” after it was made aware of “41 fatal hangings” involving children younger than five.
“This is a particularly insidious hazard, because it is quite natural to place a crib by the window,” the 1981 report stated.
But it wasn’t until 2018, that the industry started making changes to stock window coverings most American households buy, instructing manufacturers to make them cordless, limit operating cords to 8 inches long, or make them inaccessible through a safety device like a rigid cord shroud.
The CPSC approved these rules in November 2022.
But the agency estimated that every year, about nine children under the age of five are still strangled to death on window cords.
Thirty-four years after Shirah Vollmer’s son Reuben passed away, she is furious that so many more children have been killed the same way.
“What’s the problem?” she asked. “How many kids have to die?”
As for the UK, around two children are strangled to death every year after becoming entangled with the looped cord from a window blind, the Child Accident Prevention Trust stated.
Over 30 children are known have met this tragic death in the last 15 years, it added.
“It can take just 15 seconds for a toddler to lose consciousness if a blind cord is caught around their neck – and they can die in just two to three minute,” the charity warned.
“Strangulation often happens in children’s bedrooms and living rooms, areas seen as safe.
“It happens quickly and silently – children don’t call out to warn carers they are in trouble.”
The CAPT said children and toddlers are at higher risk of being killed by window blind pull cords their heads weigh more than their bodies and their muscle control isn’t fully developed, making it hard for them to free themselves if they’re caught in a blind cord.
Young children’s windpipes are also narrow and soft, so they can suffocate very quickly if their necks are constricted.
They might also struggle to steady themselves when they climb onto furniture or windows and grab onto a cord.
The Office for Product and Safety Standards launched a campaign in 2021 to remind parents of the potential dangers blind cords and loops pose to children.
Meanwhile, the British Blind and Shutter Association warned that blinds installed before February 2014 may have cords or chains to operate the blind that “could pose a serious hazard to babies and young children” if they get their hands on them.
It shared videos on how to make different varieties of blinds – like roller, vertical, Venetian and roman blinds – safer if you have children in the house, and what to look out for when buying news ones.
How can I make window blind cords safe?
The CAPT shared the following pieces of advice to make your home safer for your little one:
Get into the habit of tying up your blind cord every time
If your blind doesn’t have a safety device, do some quick DIY and fix one
Move cots, beds, highchairs and playpens away from looped blind cords
If there’s space, move other furniture away from looped blind cords too, as young children love to climb
Consider buying blinds without cords or chains, particularly for children’s bedrooms
If you have Roman blinds, check if the back is connected with a safety device that will break under pressure