Do you Buy Your Kids Stuffed Toys?
By Muelitz
@Muelitz (1592)
Canada
June 29, 2008 1:34pm CST
My sons adore stuffed toy like the one shown in the picture. However, my wife and I are reluctant to buy them one because we were told that it causes respiratory problems when the kids accidentally inhales hair from these stuffed toys. So when the kids asks for one we try and talk them into buying one. Do you think it is true?Just Me,
SFC
1 person likes this
5 responses
@irishidid (8687)
• United States
29 Jun 08
My kids always had stuffed toys and non of them had issues. Your son is in more danger of pulling off the eyes and putting them in his mouth. You should always check the eyes to make sure they can't be pulled off and replace them with securely sewn on buttons if needed.
Keeping the stuffed animal clean and combing the toy to get rid of loose "fur" would help cut out the possibility of a respiratory problem.
1 person likes this
@Loverbear (4918)
• United States
13 Jul 08
With the product safety boards we have in place, it is highly doubtful that the stuffed toys made for children will have the eyes come out. ALWAYS check the tags on the animals you are going to purchase. There are warnings on them stating that they are for a certain age group.
I make both stuffed animals for children and for collectors. I will not sell an animal made for a collector to a person going to give it to a child. My collectors animals are tagged with a warning that they are for collectors only and not for children and should be kept out of the reach of small children.
Your idea of securely sewing on buttons is okay, except for the fact that most of the thread isn't really formulated for use in sewing buttons on animals for children. If you insist on replacing the safety eyes with buttons, use a upholstery thread that is stronger than regular sewing thread. But, it is extremely difficult to remove safety eyes from a stuffed toy so it would be much safer to leave them in the animal. Or, if they aren't secure, purchase a set of the safety eyes and replace the eyes yourself. I assure you, after working for 25 years with various safety eyes, that animals with these eyes inserted in them are safe and unless the child attacks the animal with scissors or a knife the eyes should stay in place. I have a bad enough time getting them inserted in the head of the animal. If I make a mistake they are impossible to remove and I usually end up breaking them out of the head.
@irishidid (8687)
• United States
14 Jul 08
Who's checking the stuffed animals coming from other countries? Like the cheap dollar store crap. There are people who think it's fine for their kid to run around with a plastic bag on their head. I don't think these people would be all that concerned with toy safety.
I would hope someone would have enough sense to sew the eyes securely, but then again their kid could be running around wearing plastic on their head at this very minute.
@Loverbear (4918)
• United States
29 Jun 08
I am a teddy bear artist and have had stuffed toys around me for over 25 years. I have never had a respiratory problem from hair that comes off the toys. I have seen how the toys are made and the manufacturers make sure that the loose hair is removed from the toys. Also, they are given a good blast of air along the seams to make sure that there is no loose hair along the seams.
The other thing is that the Good Bears of the World organization wouldn't be giving stuffed bears to adults and children who are victims of terrifying incidents if the stuffed toys weren't safe- they use bears from different sources including imported bears from China.
I know that I make sure that the loose hair is removed from the animals before I put them out for sale. I use a lot of the manufacturing practices that the major manufacturers use, including shaking and blowing the loose hair away from the parts I just cut out, vacuuming a lot so the hair doesn't get back into the animal, I brush them and vacuum and blow them before they are tagged and made ready for sale.
I honestly believe that the animals are safe and not harmful to the respiratory system. The ones that might cause problems are those that have been wet and allowed to dry without treatment. I don't know of anyone who would allow those toys to be sold, those usually are the ones that you find in the dump.
If you are worried about the loose hair, you might run the animal through your dryer with the heat turned off...the tumbling would cause the hair to separate from the animal and it would be sucked into the lint screen. If you run it through for about five minutes it should remove any hair that might be loose. But in all honesty, I wouldn't believe that there is any problem with inhaling hair from the toys causing respiratory problems.
1 person likes this
@Loverbear (4918)
• United States
13 Jul 08
Thank you for the best response. It is my second one today and it makes me feel like it's Christmas!! It makes a difficult day much better, as today is the 8th anniversary of my Mom's passing away. Thank you!
@danishcanadian (28954)
• Canada
29 Jun 08
I don't have kids, but when I was a kid my parents bought me stuffed animals all the time, as they did for my sister. We ever sufered from any problems as a result of this. I don't know what the problem is these days.
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
30 Jun 08
well my son had when he was little but that was years ago, he never had any respiratory problems, so I don't know if there is any new medical info on it, I would check with your pediatrician though.
@rantingqueen (495)
• United States
29 Jun 08
I am not really sure if this is true or not true. However, I have the mother lode of stuffed animals in my home due to the fact that I have five kids and have been buying them stuffed toys for the last 15 years. Thankfully, none of my children have ever had an issue with them. This may be because I didn't allow them to sleep with the stuffed toys until they were older. I think that this just may be another case of "everything and anything is going to hurt us at one time or another".
Just my two cents!
