A Baby Crib Must Meet Safety Standards

Helping Parents and Baby Boomer Grandparents

A baby crib is a very important piece of furniture for new parents about to bring a new baby into the home. Many accidents have occurred in cribs and children have died because the cribs they slept in were of inferior quality. There are standards for baby cribs because of the unfortunate incidents that have happened in the past. Parents should look carefully at these standards and make sure that the baby crib that they purchase meets all of the standards. The standards are available from different sources so parents should locate the standards before they purchase a crib.

Antique baby cribs are beautiful pieces of furniture, but these do not always meet the safety standards and could be dangerous for a new baby. Some of the antique cribs have decorations that are beautiful but possibly dangerous. Most cribs have some kind of bars to keep the baby in the crib, but these bars should not be too far apart or the baby might get stuck in the bars. This could cause the baby to choke or strangle. The headboard or footboard of a baby crib should be solid. Baby cribs use to have decorative designs cut into the wood, but these decorations sometimes caused injury to the baby inside.

The Mattress and Hardware in a Baby Crib Should Meet Certain Standards

The mattress in a baby crib should fit the base of the crib tightly so that the baby’s head does not get stuck between the mattress and the side of the crib. A parent can test this by trying to place two fingers between the mattress and the side of the crib. If two adult fingers will fit between the mattress and the crib, this mattress could be dangerous in this crib. This mattress and crib should not be used together for any baby. Parents should make sure that none of the packaging materials are left in the crib. A piece of plastic packaging could cling to the face of the baby. Suffocation is possible with a piece of plastic on a small baby’s mouth and nose.

A baby crib should be checked to make sure that none of the hardware is defective, sharp or rough. Hardware could scratch or cut a baby and this could cause bleeding. A baby could suffer from this defective hardware. Bumper strips are used in some cribs to protect the baby from harm, but these strips could be dangerous if they are not properly secured to the side of the crib.