Parents of newly toilet-trained boys should take a few simple steps to keep their sons' penises safe when they go to the bathroom, a team of UK urologists advises.

There's evidence that crush injuries due to falling toilet seats may be on the rise, Dr. Joe Philip of Leighton Hospital in Crewe in England and colleagues warn in a letter in BJU (British Journal of Urology) International.

While he and his colleagues typically see just one or two such cases a year, if any, Philip told Reuters Health, they treated four different 2- to 4-year-old boys with penile crush injuries in the past several months.

"Thankfully all of the four had only the foreskin swelling, but obviously there's a lot of anxiety for the parents and the kids," Philip said. All of the boys were kept in the hospital overnight until they were able to urinate, but none of them suffered lasting physical damage, he added.

In each case, the youngster was trying to urinate on his own and had lifted the toilet seat, only to have it fall back down. An industry report states that wooden toilet seats are becoming more popular as a possible explanation for the increase in injuries.

Philip and his colleagues offer the following tips to help families of young boys prevent these injuries from happening:

* Install "soft fall" toilet seats in every bathroom in the home, and ban heavy toilet seats made of wood or ceramic from homes with young boys.
* Leave the toilet seat up at all times, until all of the boys in the household can hold the seat up on their own.
* Supervise children every time they visit the bathroom.

Constant supervision can be difficult, Philip conceded, especially during holiday gatherings when a youngster may steal off on his own to demonstrate his newly-found skill. "Children want to show that they are independent," he said.

一组英国泌尿科医生建议:刚教会孩子自己上厕所的父母应该采取措施,保证自己家里小男孩上厕所的安全。

英国克鲁郡礼顿医院的Joe Philip医生以及他的同事在给BJU International《英国泌尿科期刊》的一封信中提醒到,有证据显示由于马桶圈下落而造成的阴茎受伤案例呈上升趋势。

Philip在路透社健康栏目的采访中说,在过去他和同事每年约遇到一、两例这样的病例,不过,在最近几个月中他们已经给4个2至4岁阴茎受伤的孩子做了治疗。

Philip 说:“值得庆幸的是这四个孩子只是包皮肿了,不过很明显的他们的父母和他们自己都受了不少惊吓。”四个孩子都在医院过了一夜,直到他们又能尿尿了才离开,他补充说,不会有后遗症。

这几个案例中的小男孩都是想试着自己上厕所,他们把马桶座圈抬了起来,不过没放稳,接着马桶座圈又砸了下来。据一份业内报告显示,木质马桶现在越来越受欢迎,这也许能是这类案例上升的原因。

Philip和同事提出了以下建议,以帮助小男孩们杜绝这类事故:

1,在家里每个厕所都安装下落速度较慢且有缓冲效果的马桶座圈,不要让小男孩使用木质或陶制这一类马桶座圈很重的厕所。

2,在孩子们有能力自己把座圈举起来前平时都要记得把马桶座圈保持在抬起来的状态。

3,孩子上厕所的时候要留个心眼

Philip承认不间断监督孩子上厕所很难,特别是假日聚会的时候,小孩子可能会趁人不注意自己跑去上厕所来证明他的“新能力”。他说:“孩子们总想展现自己独立的一面”。