Today I went online to see what was new and found, yet again, that cribs are being recalled. And I felt nau­seous. That’s 500,000 cribs in the newest recall. Why do I say “newest”? Because in Novem­ber 2009  the Con­sumer Prod­uct Safety Com­mis­sion recalled 2.1 mil­lion cribs and just last month another 500,000 cribs were recalled. In fact, in the last 2–3 years alone there have been well over 7 mil­lion cribs, play yards and bassinets recalled. These cribs run the full range of prices — the least expen­sive to the most.

Cribs are sup­posed to be the safe place to put your baby down. The man­u­fac­tur­ers have known for quite some time that drop-side cribs have safety issues. In fact, less than a year ago Toys r Us told the man­u­fac­tur­ers that they will no longer carry drop-side cribs in their stores.

The crazy part is: the cribs being recalled DO meet the stan­dards set by the fed­eral gov­ern­ment and the indus­try.  The fed­eral stan­dards have not been changed since 1982 and other indus­try stan­dards have not changed since the late ‘90s.

Last year Con­sumers Union rec­om­mended that man­u­fac­tur­ers look at a bet­ter crib design. The Con­sumer Prod­uct Safety Com­mi­sion has set up a “Crib Infor­ma­tion Cen­ter” on their web­site.

Par­ents, I know this news is unset­tling, but it’s real. Take a deep breath, read the arti­cles. Check your own crib over to ensure it has not been recalled and to make sure that yours is not at risk. Then fol­low the advice that’s given to make sure your own crib is a safe sleep­ing envi­ron­ment. Lastly, let the CPSC and the crib man­u­fac­tur­ers know that you expect more from them. We’re talk­ing about cribs here, not cof­fee cups at McDonald’s. Even those come with a warn­ing on them. You need to let your voice be heard—and the voice of your sweet lit­tle one who doesn’t yet have the abil­ity to express their own voice.

Tags: cribs, recall, safety