CHARLOTTE, N.C., November 2, 2011 — BRITAX today announced new fashion choices for its best-selling convertible car seat line with Side Impact Protection and True Side Impact Protection®. Nine new prints are being added to the line, which also offers Superior 360 Degree Protection with Revolutionary Head Safety Technology to dramatically reduce the risk of head injury.

The following car seat models will replace many of the current fashions with new styles, listed here:

Roundabout 55:
Gumdrop
Silver Lake

Boulevard 70:
Silver Birch
Zebra
Aztec

Marathon 70:
Chili Pepper
Azalea

Boulevard 70 CS:
Biscotti
Cowmooflage

Advocate 70 CS:
Zebra
Serene

Now available in new, funky prints, BRITAX’s convertible car seats are equipped with the same revolutionary head safety technology that lowers the child’s center of gravity, strengthens the child seat and manages crash energy.

Together, these features reduce head excursion and offer the most advanced protection to children. These include:
•    Integrated steel bars that strengthen the connection to the vehicle and reduce forward flexing of the child seat during a crash.
•    BRITAX SafeCell Technology™ with SafeCells that are designed to compress in a crash. This significantly lowers the center of gravity and counteracts the forward rotation of the child seat, which normally propels the child toward the front seat.
•    Energy-Absorbing Versa-Tether® with a two-point attachment and staged-release tether webbing to anchor the top of the car seat. This minimizes forward-rotation and reduces crash forces reaching the child.

The updated fashions are available on the following: Roundabout 55 (SRP: $199.99), Marathon 70 (SRP: $289.99), Boulevard 70 (SRP: $319.99), Boulevard 70 CS (SRP: $339.99) and Advocate 70 CS (SRP: $379.99). They will be introduced at independent and mass retailers between November 2011 and January 2012.

For more information about BRITAX visit www.BritaxUSA.com, Twitter or Facebook.

About Britax Child Safety Inc.

BRITAX manufactures and markets lines of premium car seats, strollers, baby carriers and accessories.  Since its founding in Britain in 1939, the company has become one of the world’s most trusted juvenile products brands, known for its commitment to thoughtful engineering and top-quality, intuitive design.

Among the world’s largest manufacturers of car seats, the company offers more than 8 car seat models in the U.S. and Canada — forward-facing, rear-facing and convertible.  The seats are designed to keep a child rear facing and in a five-point harness longer, and can accommodate a child from “birth to belt” (i.e., 4 pounds to 120 pounds).  The company’s car seats consistently lead the industry in energy-management technologies that go well beyond the safety requirements of government agencies, offering superior 360-degree protection. The company’s innovations include BRITAX SafeCell Technology™, True Side Impact Protection® and Side Impact Cushion™ Technology.

The BRITAX stroller line is constantly evolving to meet the modern family’s lifestyle needs. The line offers versatility; a lifespan beyond one child; lightweight solutions for easy travel; and smooth maneuverability.  With thoughtfully designed details inspired by a mom’s daily interactions with her child, parents can rest assured that their children are safe and comfortable in BRITAX strollers.

Built for comfortable extended wear, the BRITAX BABY CARRIER line is made for baby and designed for parent.   The carrier introduces the CarryLong™ System, which reduces the risk of back and shoulder strain during extended wear by distributing weight across the shoulders, back and hips.  BRITAX also addresses the limited weight capacity ranges associated with leading soft-structured baby carriers by accommodating infants through toddlers from 8 pounds up to 32 pounds).

BRITAX USA is located in Charlotte, N.C., and employs more than 200 people.  For more information, visit www.BritaxUSA.com.

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Four popular booster seats from BRITAX Child Safety Inc. — the FRONTIER® 85 SICT Combination Harness-2-Booster™ seat, the FRONTIER® 85 Combination Harness-2-Booster™ seat, the PARKWAY® SGL and the PARKWAY® SG belt-positioning booster seats — were given “best” and “good” ratings by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in a 2011 study released in October, 2011. The independent study tested how well various booster seats provide proper vehicle seatbelt positioning on a child.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111013/CG86517)

The FRONTIER 85 SICT, FRONTIER 85 and PARKWAY SGL were among 31 booster seats to receive a “best bet” rating, and the PARKWAY SG was among five to earn a “good bet” rating. Researchers evaluated 62 boosters.

“At BRITAX, we encourage parents to keep their children safe in car seats as long as possible,” said Jon Chamberlain, president of BRITAX. “We work to develop car seats that can accommodate older, larger children while still offering the most advanced safety features. These favorable IIHS ratings for our entire line of BRITAX combination and booster seats reflect our long-standing commitment to keeping children safe.”

The BRITAX FRONTIER 85 SICT and FRONTIER 85 Combination Harness-2-Booster seats allow children who weigh up to 120 pounds to ride in booster mode. The booster seats accommodate older children and have unique features to help parents ensure a correct fit. Color-coded vehicle belt guides, arm rests and an option to add the SecureGuard™ accessory, help position the booster seats properly and safely secure the child. Additional features including Side Impact Cushion Technology® on the FRONTIER 85 SICT and True Side Impact Protection® on both the FRONTIER 85 SICT and FRONTIER 85 divert crash forces away from the child.

The BRITAX PARKWAY SGL and PARKWAY SG belt-positioning booster seats feature SecureGuard™, color-coded vehicle belt guides to indicate the path and positioning of the vehicle lap and shoulder seat belt, and arm rests to provide a secure fit and proper belt positioning. Both booster seats have True Side Impact Protection® which deflects crash forces away from the child. The PARKWAY SGL is equipped with the ISOFLEX Flexible Lower LATCH Connection System which secures the booster seat to the vehicle, prevents it from becoming a projectile when not in use, and stabilizes it during a crash.

All children whose weight or height is above the forward-facing limit for their car seat should use a belt-positioning booster seat until the vehicle seat belt fits properly, which is typically between 8 and 12 years of age, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Many states have age, height and weight requirements for the use of child restraints which can be found at the Governors Highway Safety Association website.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is an independent, non-profit, scientific, and educational organization dedicated to reducing the losses — deaths, injuries and property damage — from crashes on the nation’s highways.

SOURCE BRITAX

While instances of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) have dropped dramatically in the past 20 years, experts say that popular crib bumpers don’t contribute to that statistic.

Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011 (MedPage Today) — Breastfeeding and immunization protect babies against sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) but bumper pads don’t, according to updated guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The recommendations — last revised in 2005 — go beyond SIDS and focus on providing a safe sleeping environment for infants to reduce the risk of all sleep-related deaths, such as suffocation.

Supine sleeping position, first recommended by the AAP in 1992, remains the cornerstone of SIDS prevention, along with a firm sleeping surface, and no bed sharing.

“Overall, we are making good progress in understanding SIDS and the importance of the infant’s environment in preventing suffocation deaths,” Rachel Moon, MD, who chaired the guideline writing committee, said during an AAP press briefing. “However, we still see evidence of unsafe sleeping practices, and we hoped to address those in these new guidelines.”

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October 4, 2011 | 5:35 pm

Children in cars will be required to ride in a booster seat until they are 8 years old under a new law signed Tuesday by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Current law requires booster seats for children until they reach the age of 6 or weigh at least 60 pounds.

Sen. Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) said that does not go far enough, and Brown agreed. Exceptions will be made for any child 7 years old or younger who is at least 4 feet 9.

Similar legislation was vetoed twice by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The new law will go into effect on Jan. 1.

–Anthony York in Sacramento

Electronic gadget maker Binatone licensed the Motorola name for a line of baby monitors that debuted in 2011.

Binatone has been expanding their video offerings in recent months and now have four models (and a fifth coming in 2012). All video monitors include infrared night vision, lullabies, sound/light display, room temperature monitor and a two-way intercom feature. The main difference is the size of the screen.

The basic MBP20 ($130) has a 1.5” color LCD screen, while the MBP33 ($160) has a 2.8” screen. The MBP35 adds a 3.5” screen, plus a sleep mode for power saving, The camera also has a battery for 3.5 hours of wireless monitoring.

The BMP36 ($200; pictured) also has a 3.5 screen, but adds a camera that can pan, tilt and zoom.

For 2012, Binatone will add a new model: the MBP2000 ($400) which works on a wifi network and can be expanded with up to four cameras. You can record up to 30 hours of video on a Micro SD card. The receiver also doubles as a telephone and answering machine. At $400, it looks like Binatone is throwing in everything including the kitchen sink for this model.

Parent feedback on these video monitors has been quite positive, with few reports of static or interference. Much of that credit probably goes to the monitor’s 2.4 GHz FHSS technology—FHSS stands for frequency-hoping spread spectrum—which enables strong, secure reception. Both the MBP33 and MBP36 have FHSS, while the simpler MBP20 works on DECT.

Perhaps the biggest complaint about these cameras is their weak night vision—compared to other brands, the Motorola night vision pictures are not very clear.

Rating: A-

A EXCELLENT-our top pick!
B GOOD-above average quality, prices, and creativity.
C FAIR-could stand some improvement.
D POOR-yuck! Could stand some major improvement.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 at 11:03 am and is filed under Baby Monitors, Reviews, Video baby monitors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

CHARLOTTE, N.C., September 08, 2011 — BRITAX, with its Head Safety Technology, remains at the forefront of car seat safety innovation.  Building on its commitment to child passenger safety (CPS), BRITAX is partnering with Safe Kids USA, actress/CPS technician Ali Landry and Spokesmoms.com to spread awareness of child passenger safety.

BRITAX, Safe Kids, Landry and Spokesmoms plan to educate parents about both the importance of child safety seats and the best practices for car seat use leading up to Child Passenger Safety Week, September 18 – 24, 2011.  The public service effort includes press interviews with CPS Technician Ali Landry and the celebrity Red CARpet event, presented by Spokesmoms.com, in which celebrity parents drive national awareness for child passenger safety.  Through their combined initiatives, parents will be reminded that head injuries are not only the most frequent injuries that occur during front and side impact crashes, but also the leading cause of vehicle crash-related deaths for children up to 12 years old (source: Child Injury Led Design and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia 2010).  At the Red CARpet event, Landry and other celebrities will be signing select Next Generation convertible car seats that will be given to lucky winners of our sweepstakes on September 30th.

To further support our commitment to safety, BRITAX will make a contribution to Safe Kids USA for every birthday wish made to our Next Generation car seats by our BRITAX Facebook fans September 18th – 24th.  Visit facebook.com/britax to learn more.  Finally, BRITAX will also kick off a monthly convertible car seat sweepstakes from September through December, 2011; visit www.BritaxUSA.com/HeadSafety/Gallery for complete details.

BRITAX is well-known for its revolutionary head safety technologies that reduce head excursion on impact and offer the most advanced protection to children. These include:
•    A re-engineered lower center of gravity that allows the child to sit lower and creates stability in the event of a crash.
•    Integrated steel bars that strengthen the connection to the vehicle and reduce forward flexing of the child seat during a crash.
•    BRITAX SafeCell Technology™ with SafeCells that are designed to compress in a crash. This significantly lowers the center of gravity and counteracts the forward rotation of the child seat, which normally propels the child toward the front seat.
•    Energy-Absorbing Versa-Tether® with a two-point attachment and staged-release tether webbing to anchor the top of the car seat. This minimizes forward-rotation and reduces crash forces reaching the child.

For more information about BRITAX Head Safety Technologies, visit www.BritaxUSA.com, or connect with BRITAX on Twitter or Facebook.

About BRITAX Child Safety Inc.
BRITAX manufactures and markets lines of premium car seats, strollers, baby carriers and accessories.  Since its founding in Britain in 1939, the company has become one of the world’s most trusted juvenile products brands, known for its commitment to thoughtful engineering and top-quality, intuitive design.

Among the world’s largest manufacturers of car seats, the company offers more than 8 car seat models in the U.S. and Canada — forward-facing, rear-facing and convertible.  The seats are designed to keep a child rear facing and in a five-point harness longer, and can accommodate a child from “birth to belt” (i.e., 4 pounds to 120 pounds).  The company’s car seats consistently lead the industry in energy-management technologies that go well beyond the safety requirements of government agencies, offering superior 360-degree protection. The company’s innovations include BRITAX SafeCell Technology™, True Side Impact Protection® and Side Impact Cushion™ Technology.

The BRITAX stroller line is constantly evolving to meet the modern family’s lifestyle needs. The line offers versatility; a lifespan beyond one child; lightweight solutions for easy travel; and smooth maneuverability.  With thoughtfully designed details inspired by a mom’s daily interactions with her child, parents can rest assured that their children are safe and comfortable in BRITAX strollers.

Built for comfortable extended wear, the BRITAX BABY CARRIER line is made for baby and designed for parent.   The carrier introduces the CarryLong™ System, which reduces the risk of back and shoulder strain during extended wear by distributing weight across the shoulders, back and hips.  BRITAX also addresses the limited weight capacity ranges associated with leading soft-structured baby carriers by accommodating infants through toddlers from 8 pounds up to 32 pounds).

BRITAX USA is located in Charlotte, N.C., and employs more than 200 people.  For more information, visit www.BritaxUSA.com.

About Safe Kids USA
Safe Kids USA is part of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations whose mission is to prevent unintentional childhood injury, the leading cause of death and disability to children ages 1 to 14. More than 600 coalitions and chapters across the U.S. and 19 member countries across the globe bring together health and safety experts, educators, corporations, foundations, governments and volunteers to educate and protect families.  For more information visit www.safekids.org.

About Spokesmoms.com
Spokesmoms, Inc. is an intuitive product review platform whose aim is to promote and aggregate the fragmented voices of mom opinions and reviews for juvenile products. Spokesmoms rewards moms for posted reviews, rating reviews, links moms with like-minded reviews, simplifies their quest for the best products and makes recommendations based on their personality and needs.

In addition, Spokesmoms facilitates the communication between juvenile product Manufacturers and their clients – the moms! Spokesmoms offers Manufacturers ways to syndicate current social media content, promote brand viability to target audiences, request surveys of new products and ideas and showcase mom reviews on multiple websites.

Founded by Ali Landry and her passionate partners, Spokesmoms will continue to strive to connect brands, causes and moms together.  The power of one voice is incredible when united with many.  For more information visit www.spokesmoms.com.

“Having been a member of Baby News for 23 years, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to succeed in the baby business for the long haul. The group is willing to open up their operations to others and share what makes them successful, or even share their failures. There are a variety of store sizes, so we get differing perspectives from all types of demographics. Merchandise is also available from a shared warehouse, but not restricted to purchasing from the warehouse like some franchise operations.”

- Richard Woo, Citikids Baby News Store, San Francisco, CA

Stanford Distributing Corporation, the main business arm of Baby News, an association of independently owned children’s retailers, celebrates 50 years of business this year. “There are many difficult issues confronting retailing today,” says president Roger O’Callaghan. “However, if you have good people who recognize the value of ‘we’, you can adjust to the bad times. The Baby News family has always been willing to take some chances and change with the times, but the communality of the business and the willingness to work together remains constant.” Roger tells us more about this unique association and its benefits for retailers.

What’s the greatest way an association like Baby News helps a retailer in this economy?

We believe that specialty stores now need to work together to find exclusive products, get better pricing and develop an expertise on juvenile products that will separate them from the mass merchants. Although Baby News stores pay fees to be part of the association, they all benefit from the partnership they have formed together. All independent stores should consider joining one of the major retail groups in our industry.

What one membership advantage do you find is universal among all Baby News stores?

The secret of the growth of the business has been the interaction of the Baby News store owners. Stanford Distributing was created by the stores to service the association of stores. BNO Inc. was created by the stores to answer the need for an online registry and fulfillment. The registry has over 30,000 items with pictures and descriptions due to the stores’ involvement in helping to create the registry program from scratch.

Baby News considers itself a family of stores, which shares many things, from ideas, store volumes and merchandise. The Baby News catalog is a creation of the individual stores in bringing the best products to customers. Yes, nearly all of the growth of Baby News has been from personal contact with existing Baby News store owners.

How do potential retailers find out about Baby News?

Retailers can find out more about our association by visiting BabyNews.com, our informational website. Meetings are held at trade shows and independently. Stores communicate collectively through online services and the corporation sends out newsletters about business promotions and changes.

Congratulations, Roger and everyone in the Baby News family!

Mobi Technologies, Inc. (getmobi.com), a leader in family-oriented portable electronics, has garnered four prestigious national awards for four separate products. The National Parenting Center has awarded two of its Seals of Approval to Mobi, one for the MobiCam Digital DL Wireless Monitor and one for the tempTalk Digital Oral Thermometer. The Mom’s Choice Awards have honored Mobi for its Digital DXR Wireless Monitor and its DualScan Ear/Forehead Digital Thermometer.

The National Parenting Center’s testing division is run by independent testers, including parents, educators and panelists. Mom’s Choice judging panels include education and media experts as well as parents, children, medical professionals, authors and scientists. As such, being acknowledged by both organizations holds great significance within the parenting community.

“We are excited to be receiving these four major awards”, says David Naghi, president. “We strive to maintain a leadership position in family-oriented consumer electronics and these four recognitions from National Parenting Center and Mom’s Choice serve to motivate us even further. Our soon-to-be-unveiled new products will continue our tradition of providing safe, high-quality products with great value ­­– a combination upon which our loyal customers have come to depend.”

With an abundance of new and updated features including live video monitoring, infra-red night vision and pan, tilt, zoom functions, Motorola’s ‘next-gen’ baby monitors have been designed to offer a simple yet effective way of assisting parents with child supervision.

The Motorola MBP33 and the MBP36 help parents keep a watchful ‘real-time’ eye on sleeping baby. The high-quality video and infrared night vision capabilities of these monitors enable parents to check on baby’s sleeping position, watch for smothering or choking hazards, or see if baby is in distress. The monitors also provide high-quality, secure, interference-free audio thanks to their advanced multi-channel digital technology. They come complete with sound-level indicators, so that parents can tell whether baby is just making a little noise, or crying.

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