Crib Recall Reduces Risks of Infant Injury, Disability or Death. - July 20, 2010

 

Because cribs are an area in which children spend much of thier time playing and sleeping, drop side baby cribs have been an area of focus by the Consumer Products Safety Commission with 11 recalls of drop side cribs over the past 5 years. The Commission wants to ban drop side cribs, which have been responsible for suffocation and strangulation of thirty two toddlers, babies or infant over the past 10 years. In addition to death or long term brain damage from entrapment or strangulation, additional injury and disability concerns result from simple falls.

On July 14, 2010, the CPSC issued another recall of roughly 82,000 Pottery Barn Drop Side cribs.

The hazard described by the recall results when the crib's drop sides become detached upon breakage of hardware. This creates a space in which babies and toddlers can become entrapped - leading to possible suffocation. It was noted by the recall that children can also fall out of the cribs when broken. This could result in impact injuries, including broken limbs and head injuries. In addition to the hardware breaking, problems can occur when the cribs are incorrectly assembled and with wear and tear over time.

The CPSC and Pottery Barn have received 36 reports that the cribs in question have either malfunctioned or detached , resulting in 7 minor injuries when the infant fell from the crib or got their legs caught between the drop side and the mattress. One incident concerned a child who became trapped at the head between the drop side and the mattress, but was freed without inury.

More information can be found at the CSPC website:

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10302.html ,

Or by contacting Pottery Barn Kids at (877) 804-3847 between 7 a.m. and midnight 7 days a week or visit the firm's website at

www.potterybarnkids.com