Cordless Window Blinds Could Save Your Child’s Life

Nikki Attkisson | Last Updated : October 12, 2021

Beautiful curtains, stiff blinds give ambiance to the room and may seem harmless but their cords could be deadly for young children and infants. Little ones often get entangled with them and up getting choked and losing their lives in the process.

The best way to avoid such an unfortunate situation of getting entangled with the cords would be to replace them altogether with cordless versions the Consumer Products Safety Commission advises.

Cordless Window Blinds Could Save Your Child’s Life

Children are strangled to death on cords of blinds, shades, drapery, and other window coverings and this can happen during a few moments even with an adult nearby.

Hence the safest option would be going cordless. Strangulation is silent and may occur in but a moment and you might not be aware that it is happening even if it is happening when you are nearby.

Cordless Window Blinds Could Save Your Child’s Life

This is actually very prevalent and about 9 children aged 5 and younger lose their lives in such incidents according to the CPSC. Around 200 additional incidents involving children up to eight years happened due to window coverings with cords between January 2009 and December 2020. Injuries included scarring around the neck, quadriplegia, and permanent brain damage.

Any accessible cords like pull cords, continuous loop cords, inner cords, etc. on window coverings are all perilous to young children. The CPSC recommends replacing blinds and window coverings in all the rooms wherever a child is present with cordless ones. They are available with most major retailers, and online and inexpensive options are there as well. Cordless window coverings are labeled as cordless on the packaging and are easy to discern from the cord ones.

If you cannot replace all your window coverings with cordless ones then the CPSC advises eliminating the dangling cords by making them as short as possible. Keep all cords of the window coverings out of the children’s reach. Please ensure that all cord stops are installed correctly and adjusted to limit the movement of the inner lift cords. Continuous loop cords for draperies and other window coverings can be anchored to the floor.

Place all baby furniture, toys, cribs, and beds away from the windows. Move them to another wall the CPSC recommends. Keep children’s play area and toy storage too away from the windows wherever dangling cords are present. The Children’s Hospital Los Angeles offers more tips for homes with infants and young children.

Having draperies and window coverings in homes is a very common aspect and is something that adds décor and ambiance to the homes. But something as simple as window coverings that has dangerous cord danglings choking little children and causing death is often overlooked and minimally reported. According to the CPSC, it is very prevalent and many children are losing their lives to this overlooked aspect of home décor.

So, in order to prevent this, we can stake some steps like opting to buy cordless window draperies for our homes. They are available everywhere, including online, and are just as popular. If we can’t buy such draperies then we can pull the cord danglings away from the children by keeping them short and out of children’s reach. Place children-associated things like cribs, beds, play area, toys, etc. away from the windows. The injuries regarding cord dangling accidents are quite severe, with many little children having scars around the neck, becoming quadriplegic, or getting permanent brain damage drastically reducing the quality of life and potential. As strangulation is silent and very hard to detect a child may be choking from getting entangled with the cords, even with an adult present in the room to notice.


Nikki Attkisson

With over 15 years as a practicing journalist, Nikki Attkisson found herself at Powdersville Post now after working at several other publications. She is an award-winning journalist with an entrepreneurial spirit and worked as a journalist covering technology, innovation, environmental issues, politics, health etc. Nikki Attkisson has also worked on product development, content strategy, and editorial management for numerous media companies. She began her career at local news stations and worked as a reporter in national newspapers.

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