Extra Space in Your Community

There was a time when any baby in the U.S. who didn’t sleep with its parents was probably sleeping in a drop-side crib — a crib that has one side which can be lowered, to make it easier for parents and caregivers to lift babies in and out. Drop-side cribs were passed from friend to friend and family to family. The cribs were stored in attics and basements and, often, in self storage units.

Now, though, drop-side cribs are being banned in the U.S. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is blaming drop-side cribs for the deaths of 32 U.S. babies and toddlers since 2000, and suspects that drop sides played a role in the deaths of 14 other children.

Cribs are recalled all the time, but usually the reason is that someone discovered a small detail on which a baby’s clothing could get caught, posing a potential strangulation hazard, or because a mattress didn’t fit snugly enough, posing a possible suffocation hazard. This is the first time that a particular type of crib, rather than a particular make or model, has been banned in the U.S.

Instead of making drop-side cribs, starting next year manufacturers are going to make cribs that have shorter legs, so that babies will sleep closer to the ground, to make it easier for a caregiver to bend down to pick up a child. Some cribs may also have a drop gate, a hinge that allows the top five inches of one side to fold down.

Meanwhile, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is recommending that parents throw out their old drop-side cribs, rather than saving them for future use, or giving them away. If you are saving an old drop-side crib in a self storage unit, you may want to take some time to come in and pull the crib out of storage and get rid of it. If you have a drop-side crib that you were about to put into storage, you may not want to bother.

If you are wondering where parents are supposed to put their babies down to sleep, you are not alone! However, there is another option — no crib. It is safe to put a baby on a mattress on the floor, if you’ve baby-proofed the rest of the room and put a gate on the door.

Good luck, parents of babies and toddlers…