Did you know that it is difficult for children to awaken with a standard smoke alarm, and that if an alarm goes off you should not assume that your children woke up? Do you have a home fire plan ready and rehearsed?
There was a study realized at the Sleep Medicine Center at Columbus Children's Hospital, in Ohio, which tested the two different types of alarms on 24 children when the children were in the deepest stage of sleep: a voice alarm which had the mother's voice recorded addressing the child to wake up and leave the room, and an electronic tone alarm. The result was impressive: 96% of the time children awakened to the voice alarm versus 58% to standard tone alarm. (Pediatrics 2006, vol. 118: pp.1623-1632)
Alarm dectectors are an invaluable safety tool, but they are not necessarily always effective when it comes to awaken people, especially children, from deep sleep as it was proved from this study.
I did some research and found this website that has a great guide for a home fire plan, and one of the best safety tools in a home fire plan is to PLAN AHEAD!!
Thank you to Allie Jewsbury, a VA mom, who passed on the "buzz" about Smoke Alarms with Parent's Voice! Remember, if you know about something you want Moms' Buzz to post about, do not hesitate to send us the "buzz" to momsbuzz@gmail.com.
