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... :(

I've been at security lots of times when there has been a rush, and the staff do help out puttin gstuff into trays, taking it out at the other end, etc - trying to help speed the process along.

But, that just adds to my feeling of "better check that the DVD player got put back ok" or "hmm, wonder if my keys/spare change pocket was done up again" etc

if you know that the staff are pulling stuff about a bit, then surely you double check all is ok. especialy when it is something like a baby sling, which, lets face it, can be a nightmare to work out if you are not familiar with them -all those straps and buckles etc.

agree Saphireblue - the accident sounds real enough - but I don't see that there is any evidence that it had anything to do with the security staff.

I don't see why it should be in the news - a baby taken to hospital having fallen out of a sling is not particularly newsworthy.

Security staff normally inspect your belonging in front of you. This sounds made up - sorry if it's not but it does.

Belgo, it's very newsworthy (poss local if not national), depending on what airport, whether the staff were accused on the spot, whether any pix were taken, whether it was a slow news day.

I agree with proudnsad

A baby falling out of a sling BECAUSE of the actions of airport staff would definitely be newsworthy

This is costing me a fortune so sorry, haven't read all of thread, but if you are going to dangle your baby from your body then it is our responsibility to check every single fixing every time you put it on. I used a Baby Bjorn and checked everything every time. It's not worth the risk of them falling out, as you have found.

I hope your baby is ok but YABU.

bottyburpthebarbarian, a baby falling out of a sling BECAUSE of the failure of his mother to adequately check it before use would definitely not be newsworthy.

lougle - agree totally

Just as an aside, would you check the fastenings/harness etc on a pram or buggy which has been in the hold of an aircraft? I would. I also check over my suitcase when it comes through at baggage collection.

Just seems normal to me.

Hmmm, sad picture of parents who had to go to hospital because of an accident at the airport rather than go on holiday would be newsworthy in a LOT of papers...

Violet - yeah, I would check too - maybe as I was putting baby into buggy, but would give straps a tug to check all was ok.

but then, I do that anyway, maybe I'm a bit OCD?

As to the suitcase, I thought everyone did that? I always check.

Oh and Bathsheba - my local paper would LOVE a story like this, as would a certain well know slightly overweight shockjock who also has a slot on radio 5

Have they changed the design ? iirc on ours the buttons were on the leg cuffs and head support, neither of which were intrinsic to holdinghte baby in the harness, just for comfort adjustments for lo's. The harness itself had buckles. Sorry you lo had an accident but I fear it was just that. fwiw I always watch my stuff as it goes through security.

Exactly, Liz.
As soon as you pass under the arch, you quickly look to the baggage scanner to locate your belongings, especially if it contains your handbag/wallet/keys.

It's just not possible for staff to go through your belongings without your being aware. Even if they were far from you (3, 4m?), a baby sling is still distinctive enough among all the black briefcases and laptop bags that you will be well aware of what they are doing (not that they would take the chance of touching your belongings without your supervision).

I would be more concerned about the design of the sling if a baby can slip downwards through it in a split second (faster than the mother's reaction time, which would be 0.5 - 1.0s).

Doesn't the BB have a crotch strap to prevent downwards slips? What did the baby do exactly? I am thinking that it dived headfirst through an abnormally large(because of lack of fastening) leghole. I am struggling to picture how this can happen so suddenly, especially if the baby was a asleep. Would it not be obvious that the leghole was bodysized when you put the baby in?

I think a letter to BB would be more fruitful than one to BAA.

ionama I am so so sorry that your baby was so badly hurt.

I can completely understand your anger, your baby was seriously injured and you are so upset, not surprisingly.

The MN Jury are sitting now. The problem is now it has been aired that you could be a troll it is now the mission of that Jury to prove you are a troll. So rather than listen and offer sympathy and help figure out if the airport could be responsible, everyone is now determined to be the One to prove the it is case.

I think airports are very very stressful places. And instinct takes over when doing stuff like putting on baby harnesses, certainly for me, I go to shit and rely on automatic responses to many things. I cannot say with absolute certainty that I would have checkedt the carrier if I was putting on in exactly the same manner as a million times previously.

YANBU to be desperately upset that your baby was ill because of this, and I think that you should put in a complaint and ask for it to be investigated, at least then your mind will be put to rest that, if it was not them, you at least looked into possible reasons.

I don't think she's a troll Pavlov. I do think she's being unreasonable. Why have an investigation - probably costing a fair amount- over an accident? Sling gets taken off, goes thru x-ray and is looked at - job done by security. Mum puts baby in sling without checking it over - job not done by mum. I don't think someone else is accountable for OP not checking her harness. Why do staff doing their job - checking people's belongings is thier job - have to explain themselves & be investigated!?!

minx not necessarily thinking of you, but people are definitely out to get the poor woman.

Its her first post, she said so herself, and rather than think 'poor woman, doesn't know the rules of engagement on MN, wrt to posting in this topic' everyone is baying for her blood.

Her baby was seriously, hurt, she needs some bloody kindness, whoevers fault it was.

minxie it would be down to the airport to decide if anything needed to be checked. But if the OP is unhappy, it would give her something to do in this horrible helpless time to feel like she is being useful.

I don't think people are shouting 'troll', or certainly if anyone is, they are in a very small minority.

Most people have said, what an awful thing to happen, and have expressed concern for the child. BUT most people are thinking that things didn't happen exactly as the OP is reporting. She is understandably shocked, and is looking to attribute blame. MNers have then recounted their own experiences, which are that security will never inspect or take apart property without the owner watching them (so that the owner can't do a bunk if nothing else!!). There are also a number of inconsistencies in the account, such as saying that the staff 'tampered with' the harness but then saying it was 'accidental'. She also claims she saw that staff were handling loads of property, yet she failed to see them handle the harness.

This doesn't mean she's making the story up totally; it could well mean that she is very distressed and has no clear recollection of events and is wanting to attribute blame.

Kindness, yes - Investigation/complaint, no

I am just at a loss as to what the OP would actually want form an investigation.

surely the basic assumption when you put your stuff through security is that they are going to look it over, possibly re-position and re-scan. maybe, at the othe rend they will want a closer look, in which case they call you over and go through your bags.

so, what more does the OP want security to do? they checked over her stuff.

my 2 year old was most indignant that the security man was checking her teddy bear's clothes - how does an adult not notice what is going on with their belongings? surely everyone tries to keep an eye on their bag as it goes through?

so, whilst I sympathise with the OP, and wish her and her baby a speedy recovery, I dont understand what it is she would want form any kind of investigation.

she cannot surely want an undertaking not to touch people's belongings? or one that staff will inform you of exactly what they have touched/when/how etc? that's just not practical.

OP - very sorry to hear your story. .

If you don't want to tell us which airport it was - please can you link to baby carrier so everyone can see exactly what it looks like.

You may not be aware (as you are new to MN) but AIBU is a place for heated debate/exchange of views.

We don't often get first time posters posting such an unusual event - hence the type of responses which you are getting.

I agree totally with Violethill

I think the OP has had a terrible experience.

Her baby was injured, quite badly and she is in shock and quite naturally looking for someone to blame.

But she HAS posted in AIBU and there is pretty clear disclaimer at the top of the page.

And I am sorry for pointing it out (again) but I don't think things happened just as she describes in the original post.

If they did, then she needs to shout, yell and make the biggest fuss in the whole of creation.

And name and shame the airport.

And if she can't then I'll do it for her.

this is the original version of BB - middle of each side has a slide in buckle, plus fastenings at head support and leg. Sorry, hard to see how you'd miss the middle one being undone as that is what holds the backrest but it is functional without the other two, although the headrest one may be the issue here if you leant over for example.

Warthog - it is ridiculous to say that the sling was rendered unusable - if the buttons had been undone/come undone, all the OP had to do was to so them up again!!

If security open a laptop bag to check the contents, that does not render the bag unusable, it just means you have to do it up again before you pick it up, otherwise your laptop will fall on the floor and may break!

In order for security to have rendered the sling unusable, they would have to have broken it in some way - removed the buttons or a buckle or strap - in a way that couldn't be rectified there and then. Undoing a button that is meant to be undone during normal usage of the sling, and which can easily be done up again, does ^NOT* render the sling unusable!!