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Hawaii Babies
redshoegirl
member
drop side cribs - have we discussed this?
redshoegirl
member
So drop side cribs will be banned for sale in the USA starting in June (linky).
My initial reaction was "Hmm, might be overkill - I think there are more dangerous things out there. I mean, 30 deaths out of hundreds of thousands (millions?) of babies over a decade isn't a very high percentage."
On the other hand, if it was my baby that died, that statistic wouldn't be much comfort and I'd probably still want the cribs gone, so I can absolutely see where this is coming from.
We have two drop side cribs - I don't think I even saw any fixed side ones for sale in our price range. I can't afford to replace them, but I've read a DIY fix where you screw the drop side in place so it can't be raised/lowered.
So a non-clicky poll, since I'm looking for more than yes/no answers...
1) Thoughts on this new law?
2) Do you have a drop side crib? Why or why not?
3) If you currently have a drop side crib, will you be replacing it with a fixed side one/screwing the side in place, or leaving it as is?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: drop side cribs - have we discussed this?
Agreed. Although, it also made me wonder, where is this law coming from, who's "lobbing" for it? Why wouldn't they just suggest a fix and make them safer going forward vs. making them illegal?
Cerclage placed @ 21w6d due to CI (IC)
I don't know - I wondered the same thing but couldn't figure it out. I got the sense from the article that it was coming from the parents whose babies died, but I could be totally off.
I'm also curious about the potential to just make the design safer vs an outright ban. From what I've read, the danger is that one side of the drop rail can come loose, creating a V shape on that end that the baby can get stuck in and suffocate (also some danger with hurt fingers if the side drops suddenly, but those cribs must be different to mine - even fully lowered and with the mattress all the way up, there's a good 8" gap between the top rail and the mattress so even if an entire arm or leg was sticking out, it wouldn't be hit by the falling rail). So I don't know if it's a flaw in those particular cribs or in drop sides in general.
1) Thoughts on this new law? I agree with it, although I do think there should be a fix for people that already have them. I guess for me it's a matter of safety. Your child is in there for SO long alone/unattended and would you really know right when it happened and be able to save your kid? I'm not sure I would even hear it drop if it were at night and B didn't make any noise. That said, she also only has 5 tiny fingers instead of 10 so I'm VERY sensitive to putting them in danger. I try at all costs to keep a very close eye on those tiny little things to be sure she doesn't pinch them or shut them in a door. It's not a big deal to most but if something happened to ONE of her fingers, it would be a major deal because then she would only have 4... It's something I think about and am aware of every.single.day...
2) Do you have a drop side crib? Why or why not? No, my nieces had drop side cribs and I remember hearing my niece screaming at the top of her lungs one day after nap. She had tried to climb out of her crib and the side dropped. She wasn't harmed but it really freaked her out. The other time, my other niece was in the crib and the side dropped, we're not sure how and her arm got pinched. So I avoided them like the plague.
3) If you currently have a drop side crib, will you be replacing it with a fixed side one/screwing the side in place, or leaving it as is? I don't have one but if I did, I would screw the side in place asap!
We didn't buy one because the recalls had already started and most stores didn't even offer them anymore.
For me, the law is fine since I'd rather be safe than sorry. But, accidents can happen in or due to a lot of things, so where do you draw the line?
Yesterday Adrian climbed out of his high chair (and out of the belt) and fell onto the dining room floor. Thankfully, he's okay, but, in this case, I blame our inattention more than I blame the chair. With a crib, though, they're supposed to be left unattended, so I'd definitely want to err on the side of caution.
I too, would have thought they'd impose stricter safety laws/regulations for drop-side cribs, rather than ban them altogether - I don't really get that. But assuming there is no safer version (?!), I'm fine with the law as-is.
We don't have a drop-side, b/c I was pretty adamant about buying new (and no one was selling drop-side anymore by then). Plus, the crib we got (graco lauren) was so inexpensive - we paid $135+tax - I don't think we really would have saved much by buying used anyway.
If we did have a drop-side, I would make it fixed before letting my child sleep in it unattended. Seems like an easy thing to do, and better safe than sorry.
But, to each her own. My MOH is 20 weeks pg - she just got a drop-side crib off a mom's list, and she isn't worried at all about the safety of it. When we last talked about it, it didn't seem to me that she was even going to bother making it fixed.
1) Thoughts on this new law? i'm so conflicted. i see some of the reports and i understand. but at the same time i was thinking that they could make stricter standards. i'm really conflicted..
2) Do you have a drop side crib? Why or why not? they aren't really selling them anymore. but the problem that i have with the stationary cribs is that since i'm short, i'm having a difficult time reaching in. we ended up getting a drop gate crib. only the first 4 inchese or so fold down. the baby bargain book says that a baby can use the ledge as a foothold and then jump out, but i figure we'll make it a toddler bed by then.
3) If you currently have a drop side crib, will you be replacing it with a fixed side one/screwing the side in place, or leaving it as is? actually, i read that drop side cribs that aren't subject to any recalls can still be used by parents.
hawaii 10.2008 plan ;P married bio ???
2) Do you have a drop side crib? Why or why not? Definitely not. We had already decided that we wouldn't get one, but then it wasn't even an issue....I don't think we saw a single one for sale when we went crib shopping (or maybe I just didn't notice since we weren't looking for one).
3) If you currently have a drop side crib, will you be replacing it with a fixed side one/screwing the side in place, or leaving it as is? Like I said, we didn't even consider one. I remember as a kid I used to play with the crib at my Grandma's, and that thing scared the crap out of me! The drop side always seemed to be so temperamental, and I always felt like my fingers were in danger. Granted, that was 20 years ago, and I'm sure they're better now, but they still scare me.
1) Thoughts on this new law?
I agree that 30 deaths is a very small % but you're also right that for the parents of the babies that died, even 1 is 1 too many.... I don't have any issues w/the new law
2) Do you have a drop side crib? Why or why not?
yes we do, not b/c I particularly wanted one but it ended up being the one we liked. if the mattress did not have 3 settings, there is no way i would have been able to put A in there when she was a baby b/c it's on the lowest setting now and i almost worry sometimes that I am going to drop her in there when I go to put her down for her naps (since I'm so short). luckily I can kind of angle her in and she lays down herself. we never use the drop side and i actually didn't even realize that until answering your poll just now.
3) If you currently have a drop side crib, will you be replacing it with a fixed side one/screwing the side in place, or leaving it as is?
just leaving it as is. i've tried shaking it several times to see if it would budge or drop or anything like that and it is pretty secure so i don't think we have to worry about it. plus our particular brand (not model but brand) has never had any of their cribs recalled ever so i think their design is pretty good.
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
1) Thoughts on this new law?
I haven't heard of it until now. I don't generally have strong feelings about laws until it seriously puts a damper on my way of life. This one doesn't so I guess I'm sorta neutral about it.
2) Do you have a drop side crib? Why or why not?
Nope. We were set on the Graco Lauren (because the changing table is the highest we saw on display and it's very reasonably priced with good reviews), but all the drop side ones got recalled so we could only get the non-drop side one =P
3) If you currently have a drop side crib, will you be replacing it with a fixed side one/screwing the side in place, or leaving it as is?
n/a
I didn't see any of them for sale here when we went to get Bella's crib and that was about 2 yrs ago or more. Although, I wasn't looking for them, I didn't notice them. I did notice that some of the cribs the top few inches fold down, I didn't like the look of that so we skipped those too.
The nice thing about Bella's crib is that her mattress has 3 levels, when she was tiny we had it on the top so it was easy to put her in and out. Then we skipped the middle level and dropped it all the way down because she was moving a ton and I knew before long she'd be crawling and pulling up. We NEVER put her in her crib asleep now (only when she was teeny tiny) so putting her in and getting her out isn't an issue for the height.