If you have a dropside crib or know someone who does please watch this video from ABC News. Over 2 million dropside cribs from Storkcraft are being recalled by the Consumer Products Safety Commission, but in the end the recall will probably end up being for most if not all dropside cribs. These cribs use plastic hardware to enable the side to go up and down and this hardware is too weak and flimsy. This can cause one side to break and create a gap where a baby can get caught and in some cases suffocate. Suffolk County, NY has gone so far as to pass a law banning the sale of dropside cribs. So if you have a one and even if it is not a Storkcraft brand or it is not being recalled, replace it anyways. It is just not worth the risk.
We had one of these cribs and went out and replaced it this evening with a standard crib with 4 stationary sides. While putting together our original crib I remember thinking to myself that I was not impressed with the way the whole dropside idea was implemented. The plastic hardware seemed rather flimsy. Of course everyone I knew had dropsides and being a new parent, who was I to challenge the status quo? It turns out that my line of thinking of was not that far off. If I had known then what I know now I never would have bought such a stupidly engineered product.
I’m just glad that I heard about this and replaced our son’s crib before something happened. I hope others will do the same for their little loved ones.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the largest crib recalls in history today, telling consumers to stop using 2.1 million Stork Craft drop-down-side cribs because at least four infants have died in them.
There have been at least 110 incidents in the United States and Canada when the drop-down sides of the cribs became detached, which resulted in dozens of babies either becoming entrapped between the side and the crib frame, or falling out of the crib altogether.
The four children known to have died suffocated after becoming entrapped, according to a joint statement from CPSC and Health Canada.
