because airport security tampered with my babyharness and did not tell me?

[Ionama]

On a recent attempt to go on holiday, I took off my Baby Bojorn harness and put it thru the xray, I put it on the way I had taken it off and plugged my baby back into the strap I had opened. 5 minutes later may baby fell out of the carrier resulting in a serious injury and I have come to find that 2 side buttons of the harness had been undone. The trip ended up being a 5 day stay in hospital for my baby (and us). No-one told me to come while they 'inspected' my carrier and it was simply in the tray with my hand bag etc. Am I being unreasonable in wanting them to inform parents if/when they do this?.. so that another child's safety is never again compromised..? I am still very much in shock and recovery from my baby's injury... :(

Although I am sad for your LO, I think its your responsibility as a parent to check its all on properly, and their responsibility as airport checkers to see that they have opened up everything they need to.

I must have a different one as the only buttons that would cause the baby to fall out would need to be unclicked to take it off me.

A good analogy is it your car was serviced / or valetted and they mucked up the car seat attachments - they wouldn't tell you - it would be up to you to check before you attached your child.

I am very sorry about your LO but agree with thsoe that say YABU about checking it.
I ahve carried my DD's in slings/carriers and always do a throrough check before putting them on, even if I onyl took them off a few minutes before, same as I would for buggy straps/car seat straps.

YABU - why complain? They were doing their job in checking and your job is to check your equipment before you use it. Horrible for you though and I can understand why you're upset. No need to try and blaim someone else though

It seems implausible to me too.

OP - if it is true I am really, really sorry - but I fail to see how this could happen going through the x-ray check without you seeing them do it.

yes this doesn't add up - if you put your wallet and keys in they are waiting for you at the other end...if the baby fell out within minutes then presumably it was at the airport?

I hope your baby makes a full recovery.

It does sound unlikely though that the security staff inspected it without you knowing, especially if it was still in the tray where you put it. When I carried my baby through the airport in her baby bjorn sling, they did want to inspect it, but they called me, asked if it was mine and wanted me to loosen the straps (in the same way as when you get your bag inspected). How would you not see them inspect it?

Also, I think it's an important lesson to check and double check any equipment for carrying your baby (although a hellish way to have to learn it).

i'm very SORRY about your baby,no one wants to go through that,,however(sorry am going to sound like a cow)how would they touch your things without you noticing?

yo put your bag in the tray,and you walk by the side while it goes through the x ray,and you meet your bag at the end,,

what do i know,i was not there,just a bit sceptical,,maybe those buttons were getting looser while you were carrying the baby before the inspection???not trying to wind you up,just want to understand,,still am sorry about baby

yes herbietea,sometimes you have to wait for your stuff at the end,and i had a baby bag with me full of bottles and milk,the security staff only wanted to know if it was mine,they ASKED if they could check a little,i said yes and the took a peep,not even a proper look while i was standing there,,sound odd really,,

More scepticism here.

It's perfectly normal that they might want to inspect a harness, but I have never known any security staff do this without telling the owner, and also doing it in front of the owner. So something about this does not add up.

Sorry just re read my post. OP I am so sorry for you and hope your baby is OK.

All I can say first is, this is true. At the time of going thru security there were many people, bags etc and I with my family just saw them handling 'stuff' anyones/everyones..The staff do touch or at least did touch my stuff that day, they took things off of me and placed them in the trays. I remember things (mine and others) going in and coming back out etc as they repositioned stuff in the trays and one lady talking to my seven year old about if he packed sweets or not and generally 'handling' my stuff..as for the other points...I seemed to have been carrying him with my own arms for 5 minutes as it wasn't until I lifted my arm up that he slipped out, asleep. The paramedics were called by me instantly and the airport staff and we were taken by ambulance to hospital. I did not look at the harness until I was home 5 days later. At the time I did not care HOW he slipped out I was so worried about him and that was where my energy was going, I assumed it broke, as I had plugged him in the way I had taken him out and the only way that I expected it to be open, and that it looked at the time to be open. It was not until I was home that I brought myself to look at it and discovered the undone buttons, as I said that I have NEVER UNDONE those ever, and I asked my husband if he undid them and he did not either. It happened on the outward journey. I just know that if I ever changed a a babys harness in anyway for any reason, I would inform the parent, and for this I do not think I am BU and I would like to know their policy and their legal position also. I will be contacting them. This is my first post as my step-mother-in-law suggested I go here to find out what other mothers have to say and if any similar thing has ever happened to anyone else...

Lats time we went away my numpty ex put his laptop through the security camera without informing staff what it was. They took laptop away to exmmine without informing him and returned it about 10 minutes later with all the straps for the case undone, they didnt tell us they had done this but we could see for ourselves.

Having said that,I can see that a laptop is a heightened security risk but not why a baby sling would be.

YANBU to think that staff would inform you if they had undone straps. YABU to have not checked anyway, but I am very sorry that your baby was hurt. I hope he makes a full recovery and that you do to.

I am looking at the baby bjorn and don't understand how this can have happened - if you are talking about the two buttons at the base of the carrier, even if you had somehow managed to get the baby in there with them undone, once the bar style ones were on and the two ones at the top, surely your baby would slide down gradually rather than just fall out?

The baby is held by the whole thing, not just the base? I'm confused.

Surely there will be CCTV evidence of exactly what happened anyway?

But I also agree with the others that it is your responsibility to check equipment, particularly as you are now saying that you knew the security staff were handling all your belongings. If my tray was taken off, or out of my sight long enough for security staff to do anything, the first thing I would do is check over that everything was in order, particularly something as important as a baby carrier.

I know that sometimes there is a real scrum at security, and that it can be easy to lose sight of your stuff for a couple of minutes - especially if you are juggling/herding children too.

However, security willnot inspect something without knowing who the owner is/if the owner is present. there are many reasons for this.

Yes, if there is a queue they will "help" by taking you stuff/organising trays - both at the beginning and the end. that is not inspecting, though, and if the buttons came undone during this process then they must have been pretty close to coming undone anyway.

if they inpsected it properly, ie saw something on xray that needed closer inspection, or couldn't see properly on xray so wanted to open it up, etc they will ask whose it is, and usually take it to another area so as not to hold up the queue.

I always get my stuff inpsected (must have a dodgy face ) - usually because we are carrying above-the-limit liquids for dd1 (medical exemption). they may well have started inspecting by the time I have got through the walky bit with 2 dc, but they always keep an eye ut, and ask who it belongs to etc. they need to know this in case there IS anything dodgy about it.

I think that you have to watch them inspecting your property.

I remember a guard rifling through my bag when I was 16. I had tampax in there and was mortified. When I looked away I was gruffly told to watch.

I had a Baby Bjorn with both DC and used all the buttons to get them in and out. In fact I dropped ds on his head once...

Anyway,you can reasonably assume that if it is taken away it will be thoroughly searched which would mean undoing all the buttons.

I am very sorry this happened to you. I hope your lo is ok.

Sorry OP but did you just say that you didn't look at the harness until you were home?

"I did not look at the harness until I was home 5 days later. " in your 9.44 post

So, how do you know that it was airport security who did it??

agree with the scepticism on here - the staff might have 'handled' the harness to put it into the tray/take it out, but if they actually wanted to examine it, then they have to pull you to one side and you have to witness what they are doing.

this is a tragic accident - i don't think anyone's to blame.

could the buttons have come undone in all the handling, so it wasnt actually an airport security member who undid it, but maybe one button slipped undone and the weight of him undid the other as he fell?

i find it hard to believe that the airport security would delibratly undo buttons, there is no need for them to touch the harness if it has gone through a scanner.

i am verry sorry about what happand, it must have been very scary. but i do think yabu, and should have checked in the same way you would take a car seat off a travel system and put it in the car with out undoing the straps but still check the straps are secure.

YABU If you saw them handling your stuff then you SHOULD have checked the harness before you put your baby in it. In order to prove any legal liability you would have to show that the airport staff were negligent and that the accident was a result of their negligence. You CANNOT prove that they opened the sling. And you cannot absolve your responsibilty to check that the sling is properly closed when you put your baby in it.

I hope LO is OK now,and think you just have to accept that this accident has happened and that it is NOT the fault of airport staff.

OP Which airport was it?