Question About the Danger of Drop-Side Cribs

This is the link regarding the recalls from Delta. Essentially a piece can break allowing the side to drop and entrap or suffocate baby.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09017.html

The main reason as excerted from the artice is

"Failure to use or install safety pegs can cause an entrapment and suffocation risk to infants and toddlers.
When the safety pegs in the base of each leg of the crib are missing from the lower track, the crib locks can disengage and detach if lowered below the peg hole, creating a hazardous gap. This gap can lead to the entrapment and suffocation of an infant or toddler.
CPSC staff is aware of a death of an 8-month-old child who became entrapped and suffocated when the drop side of the crib detached in a reassembled crib where the safety pegs were not installed. CPSC is also aware of two entrapments and nine disengagement incidents in cribs where the safety pegs were missing."

I personally think it isn't the cribs but the lack of care and responsibility on a parents part. I mean if they were put together correctly or no haphazardly re-assembled these babies would be ok. We ALL grew up in drop side cribs. We are becoming a society who needs protection from ourselves , which is scary. All manufacturers I know of are offering kits to stabalize the sides so that they don't drop anymore and these kits are free.

I don't mean to sound harsh, I am just frustrated with the lack of responsibility some people take for caring for the most precious things that we have.

5 moms found this helpful

I agree with the previous post. Drop side cribs are only dangerous if not properly taken care of and assembled. I have 3 kids and want another and plan on using the drop side crib I currently have for any future child(ren). I just make sure that the crib is assembled and no missing or broken pieces. Never had any problems!!

4 moms found this helpful

My understanding is that the bottom part of the drop side can pop out of the tracks. If that happens, the baby can get trapped in between the side and the mattress, causing them to suffocate. Chances are, your crib has either been recalled or has the manufacturer has issued the stabilizers. You should be able to look up the manufacturer of your crib and the model number to see if it's been recalled.

2 moms found this helpful

This just another attempt from do gooders to take away more of your rights. There is nothing wrong with drop side cribs. The trouble is operator error and cheap plastic manufacturing. Don 't be bamboozled into believing everything the government tells you.

2 moms found this helpful

My daughter was in a drop crib from 3 months to 2 1/2. We loved that crib and never had a problem. You have to use your own judgement though

2 moms found this helpful

Children die or get hurt falling off of playground structures, playing sports (football, soccer, hockey), riding in cars (which is actually the #1 cause of death in children I believe), walking along the side of the road....So many things happen in life!!! While I certainly feel terrible for the parents that have lost their children the number isn't so high that I think they should be banned! "Since 2001, drop-side cribs have been implicated in the deaths of 32 infants and toddlers and are suspected in 14 others. Improper assembly and hardware failure can cause the drop-side of the cribs to dislodge, creating a gap in which a baby can smother or strangle." I wonder how many children have died in car accidents since 2001? Approximately 533 deaths A YEAR are due to MV accidents. (FYI, we had a car accident when my son was a newborn, 3 weeks old, and spent 2 months in the hospital...one of those months on life support. It was horrible)
Just putting it into perspective I guess.....Are the powers that be going to tell us that we can't drive our children anywhere anymore because of the high probability of death or injury? I highly doubt it.
What I see when I look up the recall is that there is something you can get to steady the drop side and that a lot of these injuries or deaths were improper assembly or hardware failure.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
L.

2 moms found this helpful

Me and my husband had one, and before we put the stabilizers on it he leaned over the side of it and it the side fell down. We heard after that this had happened with other parents with their children leading on it or shaking the side as they got older, but after we put the stabilizers on our crib you could almost sit on it and it wouldn't fall. So I would say if you want to keep your crib that is fine just get the stabilizers.

2 moms found this helpful

The danger is that the bottom of the drop side can become detached from the crib, and the baby can fall through the crack and suffocate.

2 moms found this helpful

Just sharing an interesting article on the issue:

http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/some-non-ma...

2 moms found this helpful

My crib is a drop-side style. To my knowledge ALL drop-side cribs have been recalled and are no longer being produced. My 2 1/2 year old son is still sleeping in our drop-side crib and I have no worries. I intend to use this for my future children and I have no concerns with doing so. My understanding of the recall is that the cribs become dangerous once they are broken or not functioning properly. This leads me to point the finger towards parents for being careless and not assuring their children are sleeping in a safe crib.

1 mom found this helpful

Unlike others I don't know much about it. I had an Ethan Allen crib used for both my kids with a drop side. Now my daughter almost never slept in it, maybe a total of 5 hours LOL she co-slept. My son was in a port a crib til he was 7 months and then I set up the crib, only to find a month later he could climb out by himself. So my kids didn't use it much, but I was just contacted by Ethan Allen saying they have a kit to make the crib safe, all I need to do is send my name and address and they will send it to me. I am selling the crib but waiting to sell until I get the kit. I would imagine all crib manufacturers would have something like this to make the crib safe. I would contact the company and see if they can send you the equipment to make it safe.

1 mom found this helpful

I used a drop side for my first and my second is still in a drop side. I couldn't afford to buy a new crib and mine seemed very well put together so i didn't see the danger that the recall had mentioned. Mine has never failed and is still very sturdy after 4 years of use. i think like the PP's said, as long as it's not cheap and is well assembled, you should be fine.

1 mom found this helpful

Yep. It's not that dropside cribs are inherently dangerous. It's that anything manufactured or assembled incorrectly is inherently dangerous.

1 mom found this helpful

I used a drop side with my boys, and could not have used a regular one. I am very short and with out the drop side I would have had to drop my boys in, not real good for keeping baby asleep!

1 mom found this helpful

I don't have anything to add to many of the others, but was so glad I read them all, because I thought I was in the minority by thinking this was a B.S. ban/recall and now I see many other moms think the same.