As a parent, your child’s safety is paramount, and you want to know that the toys you provide for them are safe too. Here are our dolls pram safety tips to help you choose a dolls pram that will give your child hours and hours of safe, fun play.
Are Dolls Prams Safe?
If you’re thinking of buying your child their first dolls pram, you may be wondering, “Are dolls prams safe?” Thankfully, the answer is yes!
Dolls prams are safe and fun toys that are suitable for a wide range of ages. Dolls prams can encourage role play and imaginative play, which are important for child development.
However, as with any toy, you should always check that the dolls pram you’re buying for your child is well-made and in good working condition and that it meets the required UK safety standards for children’s toys.
How Are Dolls Prams Tested For Safety?
Here in the UK, there are stringent safety regulations for toys, and these apply whether the toy in question is manufactured in this country or is made overseas to be sold in this country.
The 2011 Toys Safety Regulations set out the responsibilities of manufacturers to ensure that their toys are safe for play, outlining the safety requirements for toys and how they are to be tested.
The guidance states that: “Toys, including the chemicals they contain, must not jeopardise the safety or health of users or third parties when they are used as intended or in a foreseeable way, bearing in mind the behaviour of children.” (Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011: Great Britain).
In the UK, only approved bodies can carry out assessments to test toys against the essential safety requirements before issuing a conformity certificate to confirm that the criteria have been met.
This means that when you buy a doll’s pram with CE marking, you can be sure that the product has been assessed and deemed safe to meet EU safety requirements (which are the same as the UK safety standards).
Potential Safety Hazards in Dolls Prams
Whilst most dolls prams are totally safe, poorly made toys can have a whole host of potential safety hazards that might endanger your child during play.
This could include:
- Being badly designed so that a small child could get trapped in the pram or trap a body part (such as a finger).
- Being made with chemical dyes or harmful plastics.
- Having small, loose parts that might present a choking hazard.
- Having battery compartments that aren’t secure meaning young children may be able to access button batteries.
- Being badly designed or made so that they fold up or collapse when in use.
- Not being suitable for the appropriate age group, height or weight they’re marketed to.
How to Ensure Your Child Plays Safely With a Dolls Pram
Understandably, no parent wants to think about their child coming to harm when playing with a toy. Fortunately, there are plenty of things you can do as a parent to ensure your child can enjoy playing with a doll’s pram safely.
Do Your Research
Research dolls prams before buying one for your child. You want to be satisfied that you’re buying from a reputable retailer so check out previous customer reviews. The pram should be of good quality, made of suitable materials and meet the relevant safety criteria. You could also look out for additional safety features like a safety lock mechanism that ensures the pram stays up when in use.
Choose the Right Dolls Pram
Make sure that you buy the right size pram for your child so it’s the right height and weight for them. For example, smaller children might struggle with a heavier, unwieldy pram, whereas for older, taller children a light pushchair designed for younger kids could cause your child to stoop to push the pram or mean it easily tips over if they lean on it.
Supervise Play
It goes without saying that very young children should always be supervised during play. Older children who might not be directly supervised when playing with their toys should be encouraged to play safely and only use their dolls’ pram for its intended purpose. For example, you should discourage your child from sitting in their dolls pram themselves, and, of course, dolls prams should never be used to transport a human baby!
General Safe Play Tips
Following general safe play tips will help keep your child safe when playing with their new dolls pram. Some of these may sound obvious but accidents can happen in a split second so it’s important to be aware.
Make sure that your child doesn’t play near hazards like open fires or naked flames, such as candles. Take care to be extra vigilant if your child is pushing their dolls pram near open water like rivers, canals or duck ponds and your child should never play with their dolls pram at the top of a staircase or near a busy road.
Dolls Pram Safety at Play Like Mum
At Play Like Mum, we believe play can be safe AND fun. That’s why we take toy safety seriously and only stock top-quality dolls prams, pushchairs and accessories that meet UK safety standards. We also have an array of sizes and designs available to suit your child’s specific needs.
You can browse our full range of dolls prams and accessories or if you have any questions about any of our products, please don’t hesitate to reach out and we’ll do our best to help.