That crib you own, the car seat you use, or your baby’s favorite toy – one day you find it recalled and don’t know what to do. For a major recall, as we saw with the drop side cribs, the story will hit the news. If a toy by a smaller manufacturer is recalled, however, you may not hear of it until later. When something like this happens, the typical response is panic. But instead, develop a course of action for keeping your child safe.

First, stop using the product. Take the car seat out, disable the crib, or remove the toy. Although the item has not posed problems for you yet, it may at some point. Why take the risk?

Second, find out about what the manufacturer plans to do. Is the company permanently taking the product off shelves, or is it repairable? Expect a kit or replacement part for the latter option. In this case, sending in the registration card months before is helpful.

Don’t wait for a recall to question the baby products in your home, however. Instead, always be looking for parts or features that pose a hazard to your child, especially with toys and baby furniture. If you are unsure of what to look for, an article from U.S. News & World Report gives some suggestions:

• Always look for broken parts on the toy and around your home.
• No parts should be small enough to fit in a baby’s mouth.
• Toys for older children should be out of reach.
• Avoid cords, strings, balloons, and motorized toys.
• Find out if toys are safety tested.
• Always dispose of packaging.

Take a similar approach to examining baby furniture. Hardware, in particular, is often a cause of injuries, so see that is it always secure. Additionally, if the furniture has a seat or uses a harness, make sure that the child cannot escape or take it off.

2009 might have set a record for the most recalled baby products, but that doesn’t mean 2010 might not follow in its footsteps. Already a few months into the year and medium to large-size product recalls are making news. Recently, both wooden gates and highchairs by different manufacturers were recalled for causing or having the potential to cause injury. If you own a recalled product, stop use of it immediately. Even if a repair kit is promised, having a secure product is better for your child’s safety.

One of the products to be recalled was wooden baby gates. 150,000 gates by Evenflo were recalled. The model, Top-of-Stair gates, is made of wood that breaks too easily to be safe. As the wood slats from the gate can break, a child would have the potential to fall through and then down a flight of stairs. Although no injuries were reported, not being made from strong enough material is sufficient enough for a voluntary product recall.

Another product recalled recently was a Graco highchair. 1.2 million Harmony Highchairs were recalled due to a falling risk that resulted in 24 reported injuries. The fall risk results from screws near the front of the highchair becoming loose. This causes the chair frame and seat to tip over and cause a child to be injured.

If you own one of these recalled baby products, it’s advised to stop using them immediately. Additionally, one option various larger baby retailers have is to return a recalled product for a small refund to purchase one that has not been recalled. If you find yourself in this situation, contact the store from which you purchased the highchair or baby gate to see if either does returns and refunds on recalled baby items.

Chances are you heard about various product recalls of baby items at the end of 2009. These pertained to drop-side cribs and strollers, but the year itself had more recalls than usual. Overall, the year saw 20 percent more for baby products than in years’ past and 2500 complaints against product deficiencies – a 450-percent jump from the year before – were filed. Not all deficiencies result in a recall, however, but two significant baby products had parents nervous. But, even after these were reported to the public, one of the companies came up with a solution for fixing the defective product.

Maclaren, the brand of baby strollers, saw one million recalls of a particular umbrella model that was sold over the past ten years through a variety of retailers. Umbrella designs, in general, collapse and fold out and one part that fans out is the top of the stroller. This aspect, however, is where problems occurred with these models. When parents were folding out this cover, children in the stroller would get their finger caught and amputated. Although the company issued a repair kit to add hinges over the defective models, retailers of these models instead were taking them back and, in some cases, issuing a small refund.

Drop side cribs were the other significant recall of the year. Two million models sold over the last decade by StorkCraft were recalled, as well as those by other manufacturers. Drop side cribs allow part of the crib to be moved down for parents to easily pick up the baby. Instead, this part of the design is seen as a hazard for the child inside. If the drop side becomes loose, it can fall on the baby and result in suffocation or strangulation. Retailers, too, were taking these cribs back, as no method for modifying a drop-side design makes it safe.