In search of a better crib design

In the past two years alone, there have been 37 recalls involving more than 7 million full-size cribs, play yards and bassinets. At least 11 babies have died in those products. Something is seriously wrong—parents and caregivers have the right to expect that the sleeping environments they provide for their babies are safe.  

We've reported on this blog many times about hardware failures on cribs and play yards that put children at risk. We've reported on strangulations, entrapments, suffocations and falls—all the result of the failure of a component on a product designed for children. The problem, as we see it, is weak federal regulations coupled with inadequate industry safety standards.  There is an urgent need for mandatory durability testing that can predict failures before products get into the nursery. Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, is pushing for the development of such durability test protocols.  

In the absence of adequate durability test standards, we think cribs and play yards should be redesigned to mitigate the risk of failures from foreseeable use and misuse.  In April, the Consumer Product Safety Commission held a public meeting to gather information on how the agency's regulations could be strengthened. The following are some of the suggestions we made:

• The simplest and best solution: Eliminate drop sides from crib designs.  Drop-side designs have been notoriously problematic.  Plus, without drop sides, cribs could be made lower to the ground, which would reduce the likelihood of injury from falls once a child learns to climb over the side of a crib. We think these advantages far outweigh the minor inconvenience of having to stoop lower to place a child in a crib.
• Develop robust durability test procedures that ensure the strength of wood slats and any movable hardware, and the security of all fasteners and mattress supports. Testing for durability should be conducted after the products have been assembled and disassembled several times, much in the way that consumers use a crib between babies or when moving it from one place to another.
• Fasteners such as screws and bolts should be "captive" to prevent them from dropping loose or being completely removed from the joint. That keeps hardware from getting lost, and reduces the risk of assembling the crib incorrectly.   
• Hooks, latches and locks should have redundant systems so if the primary system fails, a second one would prevent collapse.  
• Mattress sizes should be standardized so no gap can occur between the mattress and the crib sides in which a baby can become trapped. Mattress thickness must be limited so the height of the top rail remains at a safe distance from the top of the mattress.
• Materials used for sleeping environments should be free of flame retardants, formaldehyde and other chemicals that could potentially harm the health of a baby.—Don Mays