Overcrowded Cribs Blamed For Half Of All Crib Deaths
Most women dream of dressing up their nursery long before the baby is due to arrive or even sometimes conceived. When you are out looking for a crib, they are always dressed up with beautiful bedskirts, bumpers and comforters. The CPSC is reporting today that about half of the deaths related to cribs were in cribs containing pillows, quilts and other bedding. About half of these were due to suffocation when infants ended up face down on pillows or face down in a crib with pillows, quilts and other bedding.
Last year Pottery Barns Bumper pads were recalled due to entanglement hazard, which comes as no surprise to me because in August of 2005 the Canadian Government issued a warning to parents about the use of bumper pads in cribs because they pose an entanglement, entrapment, strangulation, and suffocation hazard to infants.
The article goes on to say that:
Thirty-percent of crib deaths were attributed to entrapment between components of old cribs that were in bad condition, with broken or missing parts or loose hardware, and entrapment in spaces generated between the sides of a crib and an ill fitted mattress. The remaining 20% of the deaths were associated with accessories situated in/around the crib (such as window cords or curtain tie backs), falls out of cribs, alterations made to cribs, or entrapment when the child became wedged between the crib and other furniture or a wall.
The CPSC is urging parents:
- To reduce the risk of SIDS and suffocation, place baby to sleep on his or her back in a crib that meets current safety standards
- To prevent suffocation never use a pillow as a mattress for baby to sleep on or to prop baby’s head or neck
- Infants can strangle to death if their bodies pass through gaps generated between loose components, broken slats and other parts of the crib and their head and neck become entrapped in the space.
- o Do not use old, broken or modified cribs
- o Regularly tighten hardware to keep sides firm
- Infants can suffocate in spaces generated between the sides of the crib and an ill fitted mattress; never allow a gap larger than two fingers at any point between the sides of the crib and the mattress
- Never place a crib near a window with blind or curtain cords; infants can strangle on curtain or blind cords.
- Properly set up play yards according to manufacturers’ directions. Only use the mattress provided with the play yard. Do not add extra mattresses, pillows or cushions to the play yard, which can cause a suffocation hazard for infants.
- Routinely check nursery products against CPSC recall lists and remove recalled products from your home
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