The danger of baby spring cot

Next time when you are swinging your baby in the baby spring cot, watch the position of your head closely. Instead of pacifying your weary child, you may end up with a teary eye due to direct injury to the eye itself. 

A spring cot consists of a supporting metal frame body, a metal spring and “sarong” (figure 1). The metal frame is basically a triangular shaped rod     
with a hollow center. The base of the triangular frame has an upward U-shaped curved hook at both ends (figure2), to which the “sarong” can be anchored to provide the necessary support for the child. The apex of the frame is usually notched so that the metal spring component can be attached to it. The other end of the spring is then hung vertically and anchored and secured to a higher point anywhere in the house (usually to the top part of a door). The whole system thus is suspended and the ups-and-downs movement of the metal spring provides the swinging motion to the child. While a force is needed to push the frame downward, the internal recoil action of the spring will bring the frame upward. This movement is less controlled. 

	Fig 1		Fig 2

The danger arises when the people align their eyes along the movement line of the hook part of the frame. What happens is that when the frame moves upwards, the hook can catch the facial orifices and damage them. At risk are the eyeball and eyelids, the nose and mouth. The upper eyelids (figure 3) are particular prone to this kind of injury with sequalea such as drooping of the lids, disfigurement and in a child, amblyopia (lazy eye). Potential blinding complications such as traumatic hyphaema (blood in the front part of the eyeball), cataract (clouding of the crystalline lens), retinal detachment and globe ruptures can occur. A majority of these injuries occur in children. This is not surprising because the hook is at their eye level when they stand straight. In a true dramatic incident a one-eyed man was injured by the spring cot in his only seeing eye while attending his child. He sustained an eye globe rupture and became blind despite surgery.

SAMA wishes to highlight the danger of poorly designed spring cot. Most of these injuries could have been prevented if the design of the spring cot is improved. The upward-curve of the hook of the frame is particularly dangerous, as its open, sharp end can virtually catch any body parts from below. A blunt, rounded, wide or closed-end hook will be safer. A large plastic or silicone ball can also be attached to the end of the hook. Manufacturers should put more efforts to design a better and safer frame.  Similarly the metal frame can also be positioned so that the hook is above the eye level, thus reducing the risk of serious injury to the eye. The operator should be instructed to avoid putting their head too near the end of the frame at all time.

Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes. SAMA has no proprietary interest in any particular design of the baby spring cot system.