This sounds just fishy to me.  I have these visions of black market used cribs for those of us who need them.  I think the “ban instead of improve” idea stinks.  My husband has a bad back, and mine isn’t the greatest, and a drop side was our only option.  And we’re tall, I can’t imagine how people who are short would deal with this.

I have a crib without drop sides.  I didn’t realize at the time I registered for it that cribs without drop sides existed, so was surprised when we put it together.  Strange that I researched everything else thoroughly and not the crib. 

I am 5’6” with long arms and my husband is 6’1”.  In the top position I have no problem, however, as the child becomes more active and needs the mattress lowered it becomes more difficult for me.  Even my husband has trouble putting down a sleeping child in it’s lowest position.  I had a very hard time getting my daughter in while I was pregnant.

When our eldest child was born we were given a high end crib with a hinged side and were offered a loaner crib with a drop side (also a quality model).

After looking at both cribs, the drop side loaner was installed in our nursery while the gifted hinged side was relegated to rather periodic use at the grandparents’.

Why?  The hinged crib looked like a pinching hazard for tiny, roving hands and offered an older infant far more footholds if attempting to climb out of bed.

The drop side crib was so beloved that when we needed to return it (the lending family had a new baby) we searched the used market to find an identical model rather than simply moving the side hinged crib across town.

The hinged side crib requires two hands (one at either end of the panel) to lower the side, so you can’t really open it while carrying a sleeping baby.  And yes, ideally it should be down when the infant is removed, but the very tall family members didn’t need to lower it and others didn’t like messing with the side at all.

Tricia (#2) mentions pregnancy and cribs. I had a much more difficult time getting our child in and out of the side hinge than the drop side while pregnant.

Is there anything we can do to stop this?

I really don’t understand how drop side cribs can be unsafe and why it should be banned.  It’s a great invention and this really sounds absurd to me.  Incidentally I could never put my sleeping baby in my drop side crib without waking him after he was 8 months old and so he’s been sleeping on a mattress on the floor in his own room and that works great.  I would never be able to sleep him in a non-drop side crib.  I might as well never buy one of those.

It sounds to me as though they want to say ‘no’ to the plastic hardware used for drop side cribs. Which would force manufacturers to use METAL hardware.

I think its a good idea. the plastic hardware on 2/3 of the cribs i purchased all broke. Plastic hardware should not be used on cribs or any childrens furniture ;)

Drop sides are standard now so I can’t see the companies not adjusting to the changes in regulations.

@Karrine, I believe an all-metal standard would be a better solution, but that is not what has been proposed, according to the Chicago Tribune, which quotes sources on this and goes on to say:

“The new safety rules would require that all four sides of the crib be rigidly attached to one another. That eliminates the moving parts that have broken loose and created entrapment hazards.”

I’m 5’2”.  We just bought a crib for our little one, due in July.  We bought a dropside because that is the only way I can possibly get a sleeping baby into his/her crib if the mattress is at any setting but the very top.  I was a nanny for four years and and before that worked in an infant classroom--I can’t imagine how I could have used any of those cribs at either job without a dropside.  This is ridiculous.

This ban sounds like the industry is shooting itself in the foot.  I think that if manufacturers truly ceased to produce drop-sided cribs, many people would avoid cribs entirely.  Even if they did not stop buying them, parents would stop using them, which, without delving too deeply in the cosleeping debate, I think would be more dangerous.  I am about 5’4” and could also never reach down into a crib to put a sleeping baby on the mattress - especially a mattress which is on it’s lowest setting.  I have never been able to use pack n plays for this reason.  Thank you for your continued good reporting!

I made sure when looking for a crib for my daughter that it did not have any drop sides.  Just seemed like a problem waiting to happen.  I’m 5-4 and have no problem putting my sleeping 15 month old daughter down on the bottom mattress position.  I’m for quality- not sure about a ban- but the solid crib is a good option for many more than commenting here.

Common estimates for the incidence of back pain in the U.S. are that 10% of the adult population has back pain in any given year. Combine that with factors of gender, the trend in older parents, and the challenges of managing an infant or toddler while pregnant with another, and this ban impacts a lot of parents. One of the problems with the alternative accommodation, a side with an upper hinged portion that can be dropped, is that the horizontal bar created at the junction of the two side pieces creates a foothold for children who try to climb out of their cribs. The bigger the drop (accommodation for parents) the more dangerous it is for the child, so presumably the standard for a hinged portion will require it to be quite high. One further accommodation may be the shortening or elimination of crib legs, or removable legs, although that introduces another design safety factor, for reasons of structural integrity.

I think that if I were taller, we would have opted for a crib without drop-sides as they do tend to be sturdier, (or at least, they make less noise when the little ones are shaking the heck out of the side for fun).  But, at 5’0”, I’m way, way too short to put an older sleeping child into the lowest (safest) position without quietly dropping the side down. 

Also, when she was small, instead of raising the mattress to the highest level, I just left the side down and saved myself the trouble of having to move the mattress again.  When she started looking like she was going to pull up, we pulled the side up. 

Now pregnant, there’s absolutely NO way that I’d be able to put a baby in the crib without lowering it, and that’s even while she’s awake. 

To echo other commenters:  I would have LOVED if all my parts were metal instead of plastic.  But if it’s between plastic and a ban?  I’ll take the plastic. 

*sigh* corporate/bureaucratic games bug the crap out of me.  It’s hard to be hopeful that one day our kids’ safety will actually come first instead of money.  (And the sad truth is that money comes before safety in almost every area of children’s products).

I have to admit I am confused a little here. Is the issue that the crib is too deep, or that the top of the rail is too far off the ground? I’m 5’7” and I place my sleeping child in the crib, at its lowest mattress setting, without using the drop side all the time. Do I have monkey arms or something?

I do, however, agree that for some people it is probably a godsend. People with back and shoulder issues, I would think, would really need the extra room. And I have a friend who is 4’11” and she uses a stepstool to get to her kid even WITH the droprail. But that has got to be really rare! 

If the issue is hardware, then this is total B.S.- just mandate metal parts. Surely that isn’t too much to ask.

I have never felt comfortable with a drop side crib.  I am 5’4 and have owned 2 non-drop cribs.  I LOVE them.  they are SO sturdy and solid.  And when at the lowest level, you usually have a baby who can sit or even stand up… there isn’t a lot of leaning to pick a baby up who is standing up in the crib.

Okay, so this is really alarming to me. I have a dropside crib with plastic hardware, but it is not one of the models that was recalled. Frankly, money is tight and I don’t want to have to buy a new crib (LO hasn’t yet arrived, so I have a little time to get this figured out), but I want to make sure the baby is safe. Can I buy metal hardware to replace the plasic pieces? I even thought about screwing the sides together so that they’re not movable (in the drop position until LO can pull herself up and then unscrewing it and attaching it permanently in the raised position). Would that be a good solution?

@Crystal B - that’s what we’ve done with our recalled Simplicity dropside crib.  (Target would not do anything for us as we no longer had the receipt, Simplicity is no longer in business, and buying a new crib was financially out of the question) 4” screws on the drop-side now prevent that side from dropping.

And for what its worth, on the lowest setting, I need a stepstool to put the muchkin to bed, and I’m quite tall.

I think that they should ban the plastic tracks and do the metal support rods for dropside cribs. My son’s first crib had plastic tracks and the dropside kept falling off even when properly installed. Then we switched to a dropside system with metal support rods and the crib is fantastic. I think the plastic is a bad thing.

I used a dropside crib for 4 of my children. It was purchased for us by my mother as a gift, and it was supposedly a high quality (and very expensive) crib, but the hardware is plastic. It was not purchased at a discount store, but a higher end retailer. I am quite short, but the drop side seemed a bit unstable to me, and eventually was just too hard to use as it would often “stick” in the downward position. I ended up using the crib for 8 years without moving the dropside. Now I am expecting my fifth child, and we are purchasing a new crib. I feel fortunate that I never had any incidents with my own crib, and I am purchasing a new crib that is not dropside and seems much sturdier.

I think the problem is that many of these cribs are manufactured in China, where we have no real control over the quality. We can dictate what we want, but we can’t guarentee they will follow the regulations or even disclose the actual product specs. The dangerous product recalls of the last few years should have taught us that in China, quality will always come second to profit. That may be why a total ban is being implemented, because they don’t think they can reinforce the quality regulations effectively enough to protect children properly.

I’ve used a drop down drib with both of my children. I’m 5’2” and have back problems. It was a small hassle, when they got older, to put them to bed when the mattress was lowered but it wasn’t something that wasn’t mangeable. The big problem I saw was the plastic pieces that were everywhere on the crib. It worried me when ever they would shake the side and I could see the plastic bend. I don’t think that plastic is the way to go for crib parts. They can break and chip. I wouldn’t use the same crib for both of my kids because of that. Cribs used to be something that could be handed down now I think you’re lucky if you can make it through one child without it breaking.

I am short - 5’1.  I cannot imagine what I would have done if I had not had a drop side crib.  The mere idea of the government stepping in here and banning what millions upon millions have used safely is infuriating.  What’s next?  Making it illegal to put one’s baby to sleep on it’s stomach?  I’m all for higher production standards, but this outright ban stinks of politics at its worst.  All the more reason to try and vote our current congress out of office.  Check out GOOH - Get Out of Our House.  We need to remove corrupt politicians from our government - and both Dems and Republicans - really, any CAREER politician - is suspect. 

Does anyone have any idea how to reach out and let the gov’t know consumer’s pov on this issue?  Or is this so much about money that they jut don’t care at all?

I don’t know if Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.’s bill for banning drop-side cribs is going to go anywhere but now is the time to write to your senator to vote no and instead urge the ASTM to make guidelines for a safe drop-side crib.

Has anyone done a risk assessment to determine what will happen if drop-side cribs are banned? Are people going to cut the legs off the stationary cribs? Certainly, the cribs are high for some safety reason - risk of dogs jumping in or something? What about people using step stools to put their infants in the crib and falling in the middle of the night? What about people simply keeping their recalled or old cribs that have drop-sides because they can not buy a safe one with a drop side anymore?

Can we put a man on the moon and not make a safe drop-side crib? We most certainly can make a safe drop-side crib. We need problem solvers not people who want to eliminate a product that has a legitimate place in the market. These cribs allow short people and people with bad backs the ability to put their sleeping baby in a crib.

Absolutely the WRONG action to take. Drop-Side cribs have been around since WWII and only recently have become a hazard when the manufacturer’s changed to plastic and nylon parts, rather than metal.

The manufacturers are aparently greasing the palms of many of our government leaders. Recalls make the manufacturer responsible to repair or replace defective or substandard parts and equipment. A ban will absolve the manufacturers from responsibility to the consumer. The manufacturers win because millions of families and small businesses (Day Care Centers, Hotels, Churches, etc.) will be required to purchase new “safe” cribs. Once again the consumer and small business takes the hit.

I agree that the current drop-side cribs are not as safe since they have plasic parts, but the manufacturers should be held responsible and made to offer metal replacement parts to make the cribs safe or offer vouchers to the consumer to replace what they made so cheaply that it is now a danger.