Drop-side cribs banned!

[princessmom29]

Princess Wigglypants is one year old. She is completely incapable of climbing out of her fixed-side crib. Further, she is not capable of hauling her body over a barrier that comes up to her shoulders. Finally, I assume that government standards are in place that set a maximum depth for cribs to ensure that infants cannot climb out of them. The fact that some cribs are six-inches deeper than this maximum depth doesn't make them safer.
You are coupling the uncoupleable. If an individual parent cannot haul their child out of her fixed-side crib because it's individual design doesn't allow it, then she should shop for a more appropriate crib. Cribs of teh design that you described in your post are on the market.

My dd could and did at 1 year old. She had been walking since 9 1/2 months and was pretty nimble. Many children can and do climb out of cribs right around that age.

It would be a minimum depth, and I am not aware of one. Actually ,being 6 inches deeper DOES make them safer, if your child is prone to climbing. They are less likely to climb out of a deeper crib, period.

The only cribs like what I am describing that I have ever seen were in specialty furniture shops and STARTED at $500-$700. I wish someone would make something like this that real poeple can afford. I would not have been able to spend that on a crib when we had DD, and I don't know very many people that could have. There should be a safe option that is NOT a designer lable top dollar item. AS a pp pointed out, only the top of the line high dollar cribs currently carry anything even romotely close to what I am talking about, so only the top tier families can afford them. When you can no longer buy a drop side, there won't be an affordable, safe option out there unless something changes, and quickly.

 

[bicker]

What other features do the $500-$700 cribs have?

 

[Colleen27]

What other features do the $500-$700 cribs have?

All round better construction, generally speaking - solid wood with no pressboard, better joint construction, better fasteners, a more supportive mattress platform, a nicer finish. It is like the difference between furniture from Ikea and furniture from Ethan Allan.

Also, many of the higher end manufacturers no longer make "just cribs" - the default is a piece that will convert to a toddler bed with rails and then to a twin headboard & footboard.

 

[PebblesMom]

I do think think that it is important to note here that the cost of the crib has nothing to do with these recalls, because the high end cribs have been recalled as well...so if you bought your crib at Target or Kmart or Ikea or Pottery Barn or Ethan Allan it is all the same in this case. So you could have spent $60 or $600 and still have it recalled because of possible entrapment issues. Google "crib recall" and the brand of your choice....

 

[princessmom29]

I do think think that it is important to note here that the cost of the crib has nothing to do with these recalls, because the high end cribs have been recalled as well...so if you bought your crib at Target or Kmart or Ikea or Pottery Barn or Ethan Allan it is all the same in this case. So you could have spent $60 or $600 and still have it recalled because of possible entrapment issues. Google "crib recall" and the brand of your choice....

While it is true that some high end cribs have been recalled, it is nto nearly as widespread, but that was not my point at all. I was saying that right now, only the top end brands on the market carry a fixed side crib I could actually use. Tehre is simply not a safe, reasonably priced option if you are a shorter mom.

 

[okeydokey]

No. I made a related but utterly converse point, that blame shall not be placed on irresponsible parents.

Perhaps, if you agree with all the assertions - and I don't mean to dispute them at this point - I was willing to take your word for it and let the issue go - but are you seriously suggesting that such baseless pot-shots are justified? Are you really suggesting that two wrongs (in your view) are better than one? or zero? That makes no sense.

Regardless, my assertions weren't baseless pot-shots. Rather, based on the additional insights provided, they were perhaps irrelevant. The assertions I made were well-founded - just perhaps not the cause of the issue in question.

The assertions you make are generally incomprehensible, and not just on this thread. I mean, I don't want to pick, but I usually just skip over everything you write because it never makes sense to me, and I consider myself to be well educated.

 

[bicker]

Perhaps you just don't like the ramifications of what I'm posting. Or perhaps you're simply not willing to do the work necessary to understand the complexity of the situation.

Keep in mind that I don't post simplistic assertions because they're almost always wrong. The world isn't simple. I post what I post, with the detail I include, because without the detail, what I post would be wrong.

So if you don't want to do the work to understand it, that's fine. I can understand that. But let's stop talking about it. Just ignore it and move on.

 

[okeydokey]

Perhaps you just don't like the ramifications of what I'm posting. Or perhaps you're simply not willing to do the work necessary to understand the complexity of the situation.

Keep in mind that I don't post simplistic assertions because they're almost always wrong. The world isn't simple. I post what I post, with the detail I include, because without the detail, what I post would be wrong.

So if you don't want to do the work to understand it, that's fine. I can understand that. But let's stop talking about it. Just ignore it and move on.

I don't care what you are posting, I have not really been involved in this discussion at all. I'm talking in general about your writing style being hard to follow. I do understand the world is a big and complex place, your posts just aren't worth "the work" for me personally.

 

[justhat]

No, never ever without another person in the house. I showered with her in a baby seat inthe batroom, or in a pack and play in the bathroom later, or waited until DH got home. I could stick my head out at any time and check on her. I never,ever left her where I could not hear her. Ever.

That was okay when I had just 1 kid, but with 3 it simply can't happen in my house. My husband often has to work very late or overnight so not only would I not shower, but the dog would never get walked. I only take her out in the backyard when the kids are asleep if my husband isn't home, but I have to still physically walk her down, she won't potty if I just let her outside free.

Also, I couldn't spend any time outside with my older kids when the baby is sleeping. Granted we do a lot of things with her, but sometimes my older kids just want some baby free time with Mommy, like swimming, or playing on our playground and the monitor doesn't work well in our backyard. She sleeps very predictably so I just keep an eye on the time and check the monitor periodically.

And at 10.5 months, the bouncy seat is no longer an option, and we don't have a pack 'n play at all. Even if we did, while I could fit it in the bathroom in our current home, our previous house was fairly small and no way would a pack 'n play have fit in the bathroom.

My guess would be that the majority of people have no choice but to leave their child asleep in the crib at some point. And it is totally possible that the child will wake up during that period.

 

[bicker]

@okeydokey I suspect these discussions about the discussion aren't worth anything to anyone. So let's just have such interchanges by PM eh?

 

[okeydokey]

@okeydokey I suspect these discussions about the discussion aren't worth anything to anyone. So let's just have such interchanges by PM eh?

No thanks, I was just making an observation. You can go ahead and post one last time if you want so you can get in the last word.

 

[justhat]

While it is true that some high end cribs have been recalled, it is nto nearly as widespread, but that was not my point at all. I was saying that right now, only the top end brands on the market carry a fixed side crib I could actually use. Tehre is simply not a safe, reasonably priced option if you are a shorter mom.

Really? Have you looked? I personally haven't, but I do know that all of my friends (or at least 95% of them as I haven't asked every person about their crib) has a fixed side crib and we're a short bunch. No one I know spent a ton on a crib so they must be fairly reasonably priced.

OTOH, my crib was $800 (my mom bought it for us, as we were in grad school at the time and could never have afforded it) and it's a drop side. It wasn't recalled that I know of, BUT, it wasn't a brand name crib either, so I'm not sure that I would really be aware of it. My mom bought it from a local baby boutique and it was custom made. So while I like it and am still using it, since I have no idea if it were recalled, there is no way I would want to use it in 20 years for a relative.

 

[PebblesMom]

While it is true that some high end cribs have been recalled, it is nto nearly as widespread, but that was not my point at all. I was saying that right now, only the top end brands on the market carry a fixed side crib I could actually use. Tehre is simply not a safe, reasonably priced option if you are a shorter mom.

Sorry I should have been more clear, I wasn't replying directly to your comment, but just a statement to the general conversation. I do agree that the most widespred recall is the storkcraft recall of cribs in the $100 to $400 range, because they are the most widely purchased cribs in the US and true fewer of the high end Child Craft cribs or Ethan Allen cribs were recalled, but fewer were purchased to begin with. Really at this point it is null, because it is ALL drop side cribs that are in play here, but several people have expressed that they would continue using drop side cribs, and whether they were cheap or expensive, I think the best thing anyone can do is check hardware and make sure nothing is broken and not get a false sense of security because it was high end and that it was made better (even some made very well have plastic parts that can break or screws that can become worn).

 

[justhat]

Princess Wigglypants is one year old. She is completely incapable of climbing out of her fixed-side crib. Further, she is not capable of hauling her body over a barrier that comes up to her shoulders. Finally, I assume that government standards are in place that set a maximum depth for cribs to ensure that infants cannot climb out of them. The fact that some cribs are six-inches deeper than this maximum depth doesn't make them safer.

I would be interested to know the rail heights, so if you get a chance, measure yours from the top of the crib mattress to the top of the rail. I'll do mine as soon as the baby wakes up from her nap. I'd do it now, but she's actually napping on me as we're painting her room and it smells in there. But I agree, there must be some minimum, as I imagine that would also be quite the hazard. Plus, no one I know with a fixed side crib has had any more issues with their kids climbing out of the cribs than I had.

And ftr, while my son was my activity, and running at 10 months old, he still didn't climb out of the crib till he was 16 months old, and that was only with the help of his bumpers. Once I took those out he was contained in there until we moved him to a bed when he was 20 months.

You are coupling the uncoupleable. If an individual parent cannot haul their child out of her fixed-side crib because it's individual design doesn't allow it, then she should shop for a more appropriate crib. Cribs of teh design that you described in your post are on the market.

I agree, there must be a variety of crib designs on the market for people of all sizes.

 

[sbell111]

My dd could and did at 1 year old. She had been walking since 9 1/2 months and was pretty nimble. Many children can and do climb out of cribs right around that age.

It would be a minimum depth, and I am not aware of one. Actually ,being 6 inches deeper DOES make them safer, if your child is prone to climbing. They are less likely to climb out of a deeper crib, period.

You're still not getting it. Imagine that you have a 28 inch long kid. Now imagine that the depth of your crib is ten feet. My crib/prison's walls are 'only' nine feet six inches. Neither of our kids are going over the wall, are they?

Bringing it back to reality, I have no reason to believe that there is not a government standard which states that cribs must be at least X inches deep. Assuming that your future spiderman can't climb out of this government-mandated crib, it wouldn't matter if some manufacturer produced one that was X+6 inches deep, would it?

The only cribs like what I am describing that I have ever seen were in specialty furniture shops and STARTED at $500-$700. I wish someone would make something like this that real poeple can afford. I would not have been able to spend that on a crib when we had DD, and I don't know very many people that could have. There should be a safe option that is NOT a designer lable top dollar item. AS a pp pointed out, only the top of the line high dollar cribs currently carry anything even romotely close to what I am talking about, so only the top tier families can afford them. When you can no longer buy a drop side, there won't be an affordable, safe option out there unless something changes, and quickly.

Have you ever been to Babies R Us? They have several options. We picked up a very popular convertible crib that seems to keep the wiggly one contained while still allowing us short folk to place her in and yank her out.

 

[KPeveler]

ok, so they have banned the sale OR resale of drop side cribs. I am disabled, so I cannot lift a child out of a crib with fixed sides...


I wonder if they are now going to make it illegal to alter cribs at home, because that is what we were going to do - create a crib so I can actually care for my children myself...

I totally understand the stats and dangers of the poorly-made drop-side cribs, but I have no idea how I am going to be an independent parent!

 

[PaulaSB12]

So because of 30 deaths in 10 years drop side cribs which have been safe for the other 4 million babies will be banned. Between January 1990 and December 1997 515 babies died co sleeping. Do these who agree with this stupid ban want co sleeping banning as well?

A review of incident data from January 1990 to December 1997 linked adult beds to at least 515 baby deaths. Analysis of the deaths revealed four major hazard patterns:

* Suffocation associated with the co-sleeping of adult and baby.
* Suffocation where an infant becomes entrapped or wedged between the mattress and another object.
* Suffocation due to airway obstruction when the baby is face down on a waterbed mattress.
* Strangulation in rails or openings on beds that allow a baby's body to pass through while entrapping the head.


We became the dominant species without laws like this (fortunatly its not yet come over here) its not nice to think of but not every baby is going to live to a ripe old age you can't keep legislating every risk away because its impossible babies die, children die it has always happened and it will always happen you can not forsee every kind of accident happening.

 

[rie'smom]

Many people survived cars with no safety restraints whatsoever, but there's a reason that cars are required to have them.

Just because those that die don't get a vote doesn't mean that avoiding unnecessary deaths is a bad thing.
Actually, whether a grandparent uses this piece of equipment or some other should be left up to the parent of the child. If you were my parent (or -in-law), you certainly would NOT be placing my child in a drop-side crib.
The problem with those cribs is not completely assembly-related.

If my kids or their future partners have a problem, fine with me. They can hire a sitter.
There will be a problem with the fixed side cribs eventually. Some people seem to need the gov't to think for them and no this is not directed to anyone on the thread. That's fine but I'm not one of them.

 

[disney1990]

My dd could and did at 1 year old. She had been walking since 9 1/2 months and was pretty nimble. Many children can and do climb out of cribs right around that age.

It would be a minimum depth, and I am not aware of one. Actually ,being 6 inches deeper DOES make them safer, if your child is prone to climbing. They are less likely to climb out of a deeper crib, period.

The only cribs like what I am describing that I have ever seen were in specialty furniture shops and STARTED at $500-$700. I wish someone would make something like this that real poeple can afford. I would not have been able to spend that on a crib when we had DD, and I don't know very many people that could have. There should be a safe option that is NOT a designer lable top dollar item. AS a pp pointed out, only the top of the line high dollar cribs currently carry anything even romotely close to what I am talking about, so only the top tier families can afford them. When you can no longer buy a drop side, there won't be an affordable, safe option out there unless something changes, and quickly.

Our daughter also walked at 9 months and was climbing out of her crib on a regular basis at 1 year.

ok, so they have banned the sale OR resale of drop side cribs. I am disabled, so I cannot lift a child out of a crib with fixed sides...


I wonder if they are now going to make it illegal to alter cribs at home, because that is what we were going to do - create a crib so I can actually care for my children myself...

I totally understand the stats and dangers of the poorly-made drop-side cribs, but I have no idea how I am going to be an independent parent!

I thought that they also make cribs with doors that open so that you can take the baby out of the crib. This should work for you. http://www.babeetenda.com/crib.htm

 

[KPeveler]

As long as they dont consider these a risk too... That is what I was thinking of getting, but I did not know if these would be banned too. I certainly hope not!

ETA: Here is a paragraph from the description:


2) Safety Sides. The hardwood slats, 2 3/8" apart, are glued and pinned with steel -too close for baby to get caught in. Both sides of the BabeeTenda Crib can be lowered by releasing two double action locks. An adult can easily do this but a baby cannot. This special safety release mechanism eliminates the possibility of a crib side dropping accidentally and injuring your baby. This solidly built crib weighs over 100 pounds.

So yeah, that sounds like it might be a problem... Maybe they will come out with a version without dropped sides.