Drop Side Crib Ban and Recalls

Did you know that the United States (via the Consumer Products Safety Commission) has not updated its crib safety standards since 1982? Well, that’s all changing as of yesterday when the CSPC decided to ban drop side cribs and overhaul the crib standard recommendations. Business Week just published a good article on it. Here’s a recap:

Drop cribs (where one side moves on rails making access to your baby easier) can trap the baby, causing suffocation and strangulation risks. Pottery Barn voluntarily recalled about 82,000 cribs that have been sold between since 1999. The complete list of recalled cribs is quite long – you can check it out here to see if you own one.

The cribs’ drop-sides can detach when hardware breaks, creating a space into which the baby can become entrapped, which can lead to suffocation.

Another problem with drop cribs: a child can fall out of the crib when hardware breaks. And, it’s not just breakage that causes problems. Drop side incidents occur due to incorrect assembly and with age-related wear and tear.

According to the CSPC post on the Pottery Barn recall, the agency and Pottery Barn Kids have received 36 reports of drop sides that have malfunctioned or detached, resulting in seven minor injuries when children fell out of the cribs or got their legs caught between the mattress and the drop side. One child even trapped their head between the drop side and crib mattress, though was freed without injury (thank goodness!).

Other similar recalls include LaJobi Inc., owned by Kid Brands Inc.; Bexco Enterprises Inc.’s Million Dollar Baby unit; Jardine Enterprise Ltd.; Simmons Juvenile Products, and Child Craft Industries Inc.

Also, and I think this is worth checking out, The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association has started a crib-safety initiative and is offering consumer information on its website. There’s a list of manufacturers and downloadable guides to safe sleep on the site, too.

It looks like the new rules about cribs, drop sided and otherwise, won’t be out for some time – probably by the end of the year. In the meantime, the CPSC is recommending that people stop using all drop sided cribs.

photo credit: Pottery Barn Kids