Banning Drop-side cribs

kcherub

I owned a children's boutique for seven years, and I sold a ton of drop-side cribs and a ton of stationary cribs. The cribs I sold did not have plastic components in the drop mechanism, and to the best of my knowledge, most manufacturers have already eliminated plastic components. Some of the commercial cribs (for daycares, etc.) had plastic components in the drop-side mechanism--I didn't sell them, but saw some of the manufacturers at trade shows. Part of this ban would extend to commercial cribs that are already in use.

I think it would be a better mandate to have manufacturers fix the problems--the possible ban seems a bit aggressive to me. I never had one customer tell me that they had any problem with the drop-side cribs we sold (rickety, screws coming loose, etc.). The plastic parts could essentially be replaced with a little effort, minimal cost, and with good results. As for the cheap wood issue, there is no fix for that, so I think those should be replaced or tossed (instead of passing along to someone else).

One thing I will say is that cribs need to be checked periodically. In the store, men would come in and shake the hell out of a crib to see how sturdy it was. I always wondered if they were expecting a major earthquake in Georgia??? We would check the cribs weekly to see if the screws were not as tight as they should be due to the violent Daddy shaking. A crib in a home doesn't need to be checked that often, but it does need to be checked, and the screws tightened to original installation depth. I believe that all crib mattresses are standard now, but some people are using mattresses that the got from a friend or a family member. The importance of using a new mattress (or at least since the CPS and JPMA changed the recommendations and mandate) is that the interior of cribs (except round ones and also after the standardization) are the same size. No matter how much bigger one looks than the other, they are all the same size on the inside. People who use either a new mattress on an old crib, or an old mattress in a new crib need to know that it can be a hazard. Before someone even says it, using an old mattress on an old crib is still shoddy--they weren't a good fit to begin with.

As for installation errors, you can't fix stupid. I can put a crib together in about 10 minutes.

The path of least resistance is what I would like to see. I am all for keeping babies safe, but the bath/water comment really makes sense to me.

Oh, and yes--I realize this was probably more than you wanted to hear.

_

cincybearcat wrote:

I think the better standards on the material a crib is made from makes a lot of sense. I'm just not sure I can agree with banning some of these cribs. Obviously, there have already been recalls on the cribs where incidents have occurred. I admit, I don't know enough of the facts to really know if this is just a knee jerk atomic bomb or if it is the right call.

SCB - how can you not see that there might be some discussion on this?

When a consumer product has had enough problems that it's been recalled several time - especially when it's for killing children (no abortion jokes, please) - it seems like common sense to just pull it from the market entirely. If I'm searching for a crib and my choice is between one that has killed several babies and one that has not, I'll go with the one that hasn't. But consumers in this country look to our regulatory bodies to ensure that all goods on the market are safe, so if a crib is on the market, most people would probably assume it's safe. Imagine if your child died in a crib that was known to be unsafe but was allowed to stay on the market anyway? What's the purpose of having this regulatory agencies if they're going to allow unsafe products to stay on the market? I guess there could be debate about what counts as unsafe, but I'll have to side with the experts on that one every time.

cincybearcat

scb wrote:

cincybearcat wrote:

I think the better standards on the material a crib is made from makes a lot of sense. I'm just not sure I can agree with banning some of these cribs. Obviously, there have already been recalls on the cribs where incidents have occurred. I admit, I don't know enough of the facts to really know if this is just a knee jerk atomic bomb or if it is the right call.

SCB - how can you not see that there might be some discussion on this?

When a consumer product has had enough problems that it's been recalled several time - especially when it's for killing children (no abortion jokes, please) - it seems like common sense to just pull it from the market entirely. If I'm searching for a crib and my choice is between one that has killed several babies and one that has not, I'll go with the one that hasn't. But consumers in this country look to our regulatory bodies to ensure that all goods on the market are safe, so if a crib is on the market, most people would probably assume it's safe. Imagine if your child died in a crib that was known to be unsafe but was allowed to stay on the market anyway? What's the purpose of having this regulatory agencies if they're going to allow unsafe products to stay on the market? I guess there could be debate about what counts as unsafe, but I'll have to side with the experts on that one every time.

Who exactly are the experts? I prefer to use their information as input and decide on my own. Just seems like dropping a bomb when all you wanted to do was kill a flea.

_

cincybearcat wrote:

scb wrote:

cincybearcat wrote:

I think the better standards on the material a crib is made from makes a lot of sense. I'm just not sure I can agree with banning some of these cribs. Obviously, there have already been recalls on the cribs where incidents have occurred. I admit, I don't know enough of the facts to really know if this is just a knee jerk atomic bomb or if it is the right call.

SCB - how can you not see that there might be some discussion on this?

When a consumer product has had enough problems that it's been recalled several time - especially when it's for killing children (no abortion jokes, please) - it seems like common sense to just pull it from the market entirely. If I'm searching for a crib and my choice is between one that has killed several babies and one that has not, I'll go with the one that hasn't. But consumers in this country look to our regulatory bodies to ensure that all goods on the market are safe, so if a crib is on the market, most people would probably assume it's safe. Imagine if your child died in a crib that was known to be unsafe but was allowed to stay on the market anyway? What's the purpose of having this regulatory agencies if they're going to allow unsafe products to stay on the market? I guess there could be debate about what counts as unsafe, but I'll have to side with the experts on that one every time.

Who exactly are the experts? I prefer to use their information as input and decide on my own. Just seems like dropping a bomb when all you wanted to do was kill a flea.

The experts as in the people who make these decisions. It's their job to decide what's safe for the market, so if they say this crib might kill my baby and you say it probably won't, I'll believe them. (I don't actually even know who they are though.)

cincybearcat

scb wrote:

The experts as in the people who make these decisions. It's their job to decide what's safe for the market, so if they say this crib might kill my baby and you say it probably won't, I'll believe them. (I don't actually even know who they are though.)

Well let me help you...there the same people that use to say they were safe.

Jeanwah

cincybearcat wrote:

Who exactly are the experts? I prefer to use their information as input and decide on my own. Just seems like dropping a bomb when all you wanted to do was kill a flea.

Consumer Reports? A good place to check, anyway...

I can see banning a couple particularly cheap brands of cribs that are made poorly, but to go after the brands that have years of a good reputation, I still don't see the reasoning for banning all of these cribs.

justam wrote:

I wonder if it's just a way to get families to buy new cribs if they currently have the old type?

I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

haffajappa

kcherub wrote:

One thing I will say is that cribs need to be checked periodically. In the store, men would come in and shake the hell out of a crib to see how sturdy it was. I always wondered if they were expecting a major earthquake in Georgia??? We would check the cribs weekly to see if the screws were not as tight as they should be due to the violent Daddy shaking.

HAAA
As someone who's worked in the same area... I totally know where you're coming from!