Having A Blast? Take Care...

Diwali is a time of irresistible mithai, colourful lights, and, like it or not, firecrackers! If you are pregnant or a new mum and want to know how you can make this Diwali friendly and safe for your baby, M&B comes to your rescue...

Parenting has a lot to do with common sense. Often, it’s easy to get carried away in the moment. That’s when common sense eludes us and reasoning gets clouded. When it comes to infants and fire-crackers, we need to rein ourselves in and constantly be on guard. The experts are unanimous when they say, “Keep babies far away from firecrackers.” Almost every Indian festival and celebration features fire-crackers as part of the festivities.

The lights, colours, sounds and excitement that make up a festival like Diwali form an exceptionally sensory experience for infants and young children. So should you reconsider attending the Diwali fireworks bonanza with your baby? The issues to consider with fireworks are decibel levels, air pollution and physical safety. Dr SD Patwardhan, Child Specialist of Patwardhan Children’s Hospital, Mumbai, says, “All children, including infants and toddlers, are at a risk of physical injury due to burns, so care about supervising them while bursting crackers should be followed. They can get hurt as innocent bystanders while watching others light crackers. The more important problem is of inhalation of fire-cracker smoke causing all sorts of allergic respiratory coughs, including worsening of asthma or hyperreactive airway disease. Many times we have to advise parents to watch for this inhalation of smoke. Many a parent, and even adults who are susceptible to this smoke, are known to leave cities like Mumbai during Diwali. The accidents in the fire-cracker industry and outlets also causes harm to children as child labour is known to be involved there.”