The Repercussions of the Drop Side Crib Ban
Filed under: Baby Gear, Baby Safety, Baby Sleeping, Day Care, Parenting, Premier Baby Stores
These days, retailers of baby furniture are shifting their stocks from drop side designs to other models. Reacting to the ban on drop side cribs by the CPSC, retailers ranging from the small baby boutique to chain stores are removing drop side cribs from shelves. The effects of this ban, however, spread beyond retailers, and everyone from daycares and hotels to parents and consignment stores needs to make significant changes.
Childcare centers appear to be hit hardest by the ban, according to a story in Bloomberg Businessweek. Daycares and similar facilities have a year to remove all drop side models and replace them with something safer. Although the costs are only an approximation now, 59,555 daycare centers may need to spend $550 million over the next 12 months to replace older drop side models. About 43,000 hotels and inns also need to remove drop side cribs and replace them with safer models and have six months to do so.
Consignment and thrift stores, although seeing increases in general sales, have had their baby product supplies diminished because of the ban. Even with these restrictions in place, drop side and other unsafe designs can lurk in a secondhand store, and parents must inspect a crib for hazards before purchasing.
Drop side cribs were falling out of favor even before the ban, as convertible designs have more appeal, but parents still need to check their child’s sleeping area for any suffocation or fall hazards. Although drop side cribs are quickly on the way out, the ban may have spurred another similar restriction: crib bumpers. As a similar suffocation hazard, crib bumpers have resulted in 14 deaths since 2008, and Illinois wants to remove them. While bumpers have not been banned yet, parents should still look for alternative approaches to cushioning their child inside a crib.