Crib guidelines
For those looking to buy a new crib, here are recommendations from Dayton Children’s injury prevention coordinator Jessica Saunders.
Look for a crib with:
Stationary sides. Ones that allow the mattress height to be moved up and down are okay. Follow the manufacturers instructions on when to move it to different heights as your child grows.
Slats that are less than 2 and 3/8 inches or 6 cm apart. If the openings are larger, a child may be able to fit their head through and get stuck.
A firm mattress that fits the crib. If there is space between the mattress and the side of the crib, a child can become stuck.
No corner posts. A child’s clothing can get stuck on this and act as a noose.
No bumper pads or blankets. A child’s sleeping space should clear of all objects they could get wrapped in or suffocated with.
The government outlawed traditional drop-side cribs in a unanimous vote by the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Dec. 15, making a product that millions of parents have relied on for generations a thing of the past.
The move came as a response to the deaths of more than 30 infants and toddlers in the past decade and millions of recalls.
“We’re happy that something is being done,” said Jessica Saunders, injury prevention coordinator at Dayton Children’s Medical Center. “Our federal crib standards have not been updated in nearly 30 years. These new rules are expected provide a safer generation of cribs for a new generation of babies.”
The new CPSC rules ban the manufacture, sale and resale of the cribs, which have a side rail that moves up and down, allowing parents to more easily lift their child from the crib.
The new standard requiring cribs to have fixed sides will take effect in June, but many furniture stores, including Babies R Us locations nationwide, pulled the cribs from their shelves months ago. The ban also prohibits hotels and childcare centers from using drop-sides, though those facilities have two years to purchase new cribs. Some, like Mini-University locations in the Dayton area, have already replaced all drop-sides in advance of the ban.
Besides the ban on drop-sides, the ruling also enforces a number of new mandatory standards for full-size and non-full-size baby cribs like making mattress supports stronger.
The new standard mandates tougher safety testing for cribs, tests that more closely mimic a child in a crib. As children get older, they can apply more force to the crib — shaking on it, running around in it, jumping up and down. The new tests aim to make sure the cribs can take that kind of pressure.
Better labeling on crib pieces will also be required — a measure that aims to cut down on the misassembly problems that some parents have encountered, problems that can lead to the death of a child.
CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum hailed the new standard for cribs as one of the strongest in the world.
“I believe these new standards will markedly reduce crib-related hazards and help to ensure that young children sleep more safely in their cribs,” Tenenbaum said after the vote.
Around for decades, drop-side cribs have come under scrutiny in recent years because of malfunctioning hardware, sometimes cheaper plastics or assembly problems that can lead to the drop-side rail partially detaching from the crib. When that happens, it can create a dangerous “V”-like gap between the mattress and side rail where a baby can get caught and suffocate or strangle.
In all, drop-side cribs have been blamed in the deaths of at least 32 infants and toddlers since 2000 and are suspected in another 14 infant fatalities. In the past five years, more than 9 million drop-side cribs have been recalled, including cribs from big-name companies such as Miamisburg-based Evenflo, Delta Enterprise Corp., and Pottery Barn Kids.
Saunders said a baby dies every six weeks in Montgomery County from unsafe sleep practices.
Crib makers were already phasing out drop-side cribs over the last couple years, amid increasing problems with them. And last year, the organization that sets voluntary industry standards — ASTM International — approved a drop-side ban.
Many parents, however, still have drop-sides in their homes. They can also be found at secondhand stores.
The manager at secondhand children’s store Once Upon a Child in Beavercreek said they have been instructed not to buy any drop-side cribs. Even if a crib that was previously drop-side has been retro-fitted to have fixed sides, the company’s policy is not to accept it.
Parents who are using drop-side cribs are advised to check the hardware on the cribs to be certain it’s working properly and to make sure their crib has not been recalled. The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, which represents more than 90 percent of the crib industry, says properly assembled drop-sides that haven’t been recalled can be safely used.
Some manufacturers may be able to send equipment and instructions to retro-fit a drop-side crib so the sides no longer move.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2124 or kwedell@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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