New Crib Safety Standards Take Effect Today

New crib safety standards go into effect today. Anyone who manufactures or sells cribs is required to meet the new standards, although day care centers, crib rental companies and hotels will have until December 28, 2012 to update their cribs.

Some of the new mandatory rules for cribs include: (1) stopping the manufacture and sale of dangerous, traditional drop-side cribs; (2) strengthening mattress supports and crib slats; (3) requiring crib hardware to be more durable; and (4) making safety testing more rigorous.

"A safe crib is the safest place for a baby to sleep. It is for this reason that I am so pleased that parents, grandparents and caregivers now can shop with confidence and purchase cribs that meet the most stringent crib standards in the world," said

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) chair Inez Tenenbaum. "From the start, our goal has been to prevent deaths and injuries to babies in cribs, and now the day has come where only stronger and safer cribs are available for consumers to purchase."

CPSC has recalled more than 11 million dangerous cribs since 2007. Drop-side cribs with detaching side rails were associated with at least 32 infant suffocation and strangulation deaths since 2000. Additional deaths have occurred due to faulty or defective crib hardware. The new standards aim to prevent these tragedies and keep children safer in their cribs.

Other steps

Parents and caregivers can take several other steps to ensure a safe sleep environment for their infants.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that infants not share a bed with adults or other children and should sleep in a separate but nearby place, such as a crib that meets safety standards, to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

The risk of SIDS has been shown to be reduced when the infant sleeps in the same room as the mother. The AAP recommends that the infant’s crib or bassinet be placed in the parents’ bedroom. Infants should never sleep on a couch or armchair.

Other important steps to ensure a safe sleep environment and to reduce the risk of SIDS are to:

• Always place an infant on his or her back to sleep, for naps and at night. Infants who sleep on their backs have a lower risk of SIDS than do infants placed on their stomachs or sides. Infants who usually sleep on their backs face an even greater risk of SIDS if placed on their stomachs.

• Place infants for sleep on a firm sleep surface, such as a safety approved crib mattress with a fitted sheet. Infants should never be placed on a soft surface, such as a pillow, quilt, or sheepskin.

• Keep pillows, cushioned crib bumpers, toys, loose bedding, and other soft objects out of an infant’s sleep area. All items should be kept away from an infant’s face.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) required the CPSC to update the old crib standards, which had not gone through a major revision in more than 30 years, to ensure that the standards provided the highest level of safety possible.

For more information on crib safety and the most up-to-date information on how to create a safe sleep environment for your baby, visit CPSC's crib information center at: www.cpsc.gov/cribs