Beware: Kids Over-sized T-shirt and
Sleepwear Fire Risk

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Parents must beware of kids over-sized t-shirt and pajamas fire risk. There are a number of rules and regulations governing the manufacturing of children's sleepwear in the United States as well as Canada. These regulations have significantly reduced the number of fire related injuries and deaths associated with inadequate sleepwear.

Canada has implemented the Hazardous Products Act. Since legislation was introduced in 1971, the number of children who were injured by fire dropped dramatically. There were, however, still about 21 children per year who obtained serious burns and 2 who died. So, in light of these statistics, Canada imposed stricter regulations in 1987. Once these restrictions were in place, there were no deaths reported and only 10 burn injuries in the following ten years. From 1999-2005 there were no reported burn injuries or deaths. Clearly, the safer sleepwear rules made a difference.

The United States also has strict rules about flame resistant children's sleepwear. Standards for children's sleepwear was first adopted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in 1971 as well. The rules were that all sleepwear tested with a small open flame had to extinguish on it's own. This meant that most polyester and treated cotton pajamas were approved, but untreated cotton pajamas were not. The injuries and deaths dramatically decreased after these rules were implemented.

"Snug Fitting" Pajama Pants and shirts

Later, the CPSC loosened their regulations to allow untreated cotton garments to be legal as long as they were “snug-fitting”. The reason behind this is that the risk for burns significantly decreased if the pajamas were close to the child's skin since it does not allow the fire to breathe. Most incidents of fire injury are when kids are playing with a small open flame. These standards are not applicable on infant sleepwear for babies younger than 9 months. This is because infants of this age are not mobile enough to put themselves in a dangerous situation. Snug-fitting garments are marked with a bright yellow tag that lets the consumer know that the pajamas are not flame resistant and are meant to be worn snug-fitting to reduce the risk of fire.

Most children's pajamas are made with synthetic materials that are considered to be inherently flame resistant or are treated with chemicals that make them flame resistant. Some fabrics are treated with a flame resistant chemical after the cloth is woven, others have the necessary chemicals bonded into the composition of the fibers. Untreated cotton should only be worn if it is snug fitting.

There have been many recalls of children's sleepwear by different manufacturers. Parents should check recall lists periodically to ensure that their children's sleepwear has not been affected. To avoid the risk of serious injury or death due to fire, parents should always dress their children in pajamas that meet safety standards. Children should never sleep in over sized adult shirts or loose fitting, untreated garments. If you adhere to the safety standards that have been set in place, you can rest easy knowing that your children are not at risk.