Ever since January, many parents have been stuck in a quandary: Keep the drop side crib or toss it? A ban on drop side cribs became effective as of January 2011 but applies to places selling or using drop side cribs only – not parents. While it’s not illegal for parents to use drop side cribs, retailers, secondhand stores, daycares, hotels, or any similar establishments need to replace them with stationary designs. But what do you do when a drop side crib has functioned for years or when you can’t afford new baby furniture?

In theory, all parents could purchase new stationary cribs, but everyone has a different situation. Drop side cribs may be given as an heirloom or hand-me-down, or parents may have one already from an older child. Still, with millions of drop side cribs recalled by multiple manufacturers during the past decade, owning this design can be risky.

The North County Times offers a few points to parents on the fence about keeping the old crib or purchasing a new one:
• Check if the manufacturer or the particular model has had any recalls. Drop side cribs were a nursery staple for several decades, and not all brands or designs were recalled. You may likely have a crib that has never had structure or hardware problems.
• Examine the crib. Cribs are taken apart and put back together for multiple children or when given as hand-me-downs. Check to see if the hardware is sturdy. Poorly-designed hardware that broke and let the drop side fall was often a cause of many crib injuries or deaths.

If you plan to purchase a new crib, which model should you choose? All designs available are stationary, but convertible cribs have become popular. Once a child is too large for the crib, the furniture’s frame folds out into a toddler bed and also into a full-size or sofa bed.

Another large recall by a major baby products manufacturer occurred over the past few weeks. 2009 and 2010 have seen several instances of recalls of strollers and cribs, although formula and toys from Fisher-Price also received serious blows as of recent. Graco, recently, pulled two million of its strollers produced prior to 2008. As these recalled strollers have resulted in four infant deaths from strangulation, Quattro Tour and MetroLite strollers and travel systems have been taken off shelves. Not securing a child correctly in one of these models poses a threat, as a baby can slip between the tray and bottom of the seat and get stuck. He or she may experience cuts, breathing problems, or strangulation. Designs after 2008, however, have a larger opening and are still in stores.

But strollers weren’t the only baby product recalled recently, and another wave of drop side cribs, albeit small, were removed from stores. Approximately 40,000 cribs from brands Ethan Allen, Angel Line, and Victory Land were found to cause entrapment, but at the same time, drop side cribs can no longer be sold after the end of the year. As we had reported earlier this year, the sale and use of drop-side cribs will be illegal by 2011, considering all of the injuries and deaths the design has caused over the past decade.

If you have a recalled product, the first course of action is to stop using it. For some, the manufacturer will issue a kit to fix the problem, although for others, purchasing a newer model is recommended. For Graco, models made from 2008 to the present are safe and can replace your existing model. Drop-side cribs, on the other hand, will be taken out of stores over the next few months, and should be removed from your home over the same time.

As the ban on drop-side cribs approaches, more drop-side models are being recalled by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. As of recent, an article details the latest recall of two million drop-side cribs by multiple manufacturers. In general, these cribs have several safety hazards that have results in deaths and injuries over the past decade. In fact, over the past five years, nine million drop-side cribs by various manufacturers have been recalled for hazards like entrapment, suffocation, and falls.

This time around, the recalled products didn’t result in deaths but, instead, several injuries from entrapment or falls were reported. Seven companies were cited for carrying these products. These include Delta Enterprise Corp., Evenflo, Jardine Enterprises, LaJobi, Million Dollar Baby, Simmons Juvenile Products Inc., and Child Craft Industries. The latter of these seven recently changed its name to Foundation Worldwide, Inc., so be in the watch for both names.

These several manufacturers will be sending out repair kits to immobilize the drop side, but parents are recommended to stop using the cribs immediately.

What should you do when you have a drop-side crib for your child? If you own one by these manufacturers or Stork Craft (the manufacturer of the cribs recalled in 2009), stop using the products immediately. However, this is easier said than done with newer crib models. Those with second-hand and hand-me-down cribs should also investigate the manufacturer and model number to see if the product has been recalled.

As mentioned last month, drop-side cribs will be banned by the end of 2010. Although they have been in use for over half a century, they didn’t start causing problems until this decade. Be it through shoddy design, poor hardware, or other reasons, a product with nine million units recalled over a period of five years simply is not acceptable. Crib manufacturers, instead, should devote their efforts to designing a safer crib model.