Heather's Baby Products Blog

For July, the All About Parenting Blog Carnival is about fun day camp-type activities you can do at home. It's hosted by Terri Mauro, About.com Special Children Guide, and has tons of fun ideas for crafts, budget-friendly activities and summer entertainment for your family. Take a look at this month's blog carnival, and start thinking about a blog post to submit for next month, when Jennifer Wolf, About.com Single Parents Guide, hosts a carnival of money saving tips!

About 1,200 Stanley 2nd Nature Built to Grow cribs are recalled because of a sizing issue that could cause a gap between the mattress and crib when the mattress support is in the middle position. You can find more information on this crib recall, including manufacturer contact information and a link to check affected model numbers, by visiting the Current Baby Products Recalls pages. If your baby's crib is affected by the recall, you should stop using the middle mattress support position and contact the manufacturer for replacement parts to fix the safety issue.

Baby Trend recently announced a recall of some Rigid Latch-Loc infant car seat bases because the wrong type of steel was used on a part of the LATCh connector. This could allow the base to detach from the vehicle's LATCh anchors in a crash. For model numbers and company contact information, please visit the Current Car Seat Recalls pages.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recently announced a large-scale recall of some Jardine baby crib models sold at Babies R Us. About 320,000 cribs are affected by the recall. The recalled cribs have slats and spindles that could break, allowing a gap to form, which could allow entrapment or strangulation. If you own a Jardine baby crib, please visit the Current Baby Products Recalls pages to check on model numbers and company contact information.

When you're childproofing your home, sometimes there are areas that you can't otherwise make safe for baby. For those areas, or for stairways and exterior doors that may remain open, you'll likely need a baby safety gate. These gates come in a wide variety of styles and sizes nowadays. Here's how to choose a baby safety gate that best meets your needs.

It won't take your baby long to figure out how to wiggle, roll and move around. While those first rolls and scoots are precious to watch, they signal a higher potential for danger since your mobile baby can now, or will soon be able to, get into everything around the house. I don't believe that childproofing needs to be done before baby ever arrives, unless you really want to do it early. However, you can't wait until your baby actually starts crawling, or an accident may happen before you can buy those cabinet latches or gate the basement stairs. Here's when and how to choose childproofing products for your home, so that you can enjoy your baby's newfound love of exploring with less worry over accidents.

CPSC recently announced a recall of about 28,000 camouflage pajama sets from The Children's Place because the screen print on the pajama shirt contains lead. For more information about this and other recent recalls, including return/refund information and links to photos, please visit the Current Baby Products Recalls pages.

Organic baby products occupy an ever-growing segment of the baby products industry. You can give baby's nursery an organic base by using one of the many organic crib mattresses that are available today. Just as soft and comfortable as traditional crib mattresses, these organic crib mattresses use eco-friendly materials and production practices to give baby a healthy space to sleep.

• Top 4 Organic Crib Mattresses

The Britax Regent car seat is becoming fairly popular lately thanks to its 80-lb. harness weight limit. This high-weight-limit, forward-facing only car seat allows you to keep older or larger children in the safer 5-point harness for much longer than traditional convertible car seats. If you're looking for a harnessed car seat for an older or larger toddler, take a look at this review of the Britax Regent, written by a child passenger safety technician with plenty of experience installing and using this car seat.

CPSC recently announced a recall affecting about 20,000 Simmons Kids crib mattresses, some sold through Pottery Barn Kids, because the mattresses may not meet the minimum standard crib width. This could result in a gab between the mattress and crib, and could allow a child to become trapped in that space.

For more information on this and other baby products recalls, please visit the Current Baby Products Recalls pages.