Orange County Defective Crib Injury Lawyer
It is disconcerting to us at Silverthorne Attorneys that the Consumer Products Safety Commission reports “For the three -year period 2008–2010, CPSC staff has reports of 333 deaths – an annual average of 111 deaths – associated with, but not necessarily caused by, nursery products among children younger than age five.”
We estimate that about 1 Child Every Hour Is Taken to ER After Being Hurt Around a Crib, Playpen, or Bassinet. Most injuries were from falls in toddlers between ages 1 and 2 — generally old enough to attempt climbing out of a crib or playpen.
The experts at the Silverthorne Attorneys note that researchers who studied 19 years of ER data say better prevention efforts are needed. Overall, even in the most recent years examined, an average of 26 infants daily were injured in crib-related accidents.
Mandatory crib standards include more rigorous safety testing. It bans the manufacture and sale of traditional drop-side cribs with side rails that move up and down to make it easier to place and remove infants. The movable rails can become partially detached, creating a gap between the mattress and rail where babies can get stuck. Dozens of injuries and deaths including suffocation linked with drop-side cribs led to the ban; millions of such cribs have been recalled.
Crib Accident & Injury Prevention
Our lawyers want the public to know that parents can help prevent injuries by lowering the crib’s mattress when children grow tall enough to lean over the rails, or, with drop-side cribs, not leaving children unattended when the side is lowered. Children should be moved to toddler beds when they reach 35 inches tall. Our attorneys stressed that sturdy cribs are the safest place to sleep for smaller infants and toddlers. They should be placed on their backs, with no padding or pillows.
About 1% of children died, sometimes after becoming caught or wedged in the crib. Most of these deaths involved a diagnosis of suffocation or sudden infant death syndrome. Two-thirds of the deaths occurred in babies younger than 6 months. These seem small, but every child lost is a tragedy.
Part of the problem, experts at Silverthorne Attorneys relate, is that parents think that it’s safe to put soft products like pillows, blankets, and crib bumpers in cribs, when those products can be dangerous in two ways.
Infants may roll over into soft material and suffocate while they are sleeping. Babies who are older and stronger, on the other hand, may use materials like bumpers to pull themselves out.
We know that flaws in crib manufacturing and design that have led in recent years to the recalls of more than 11 million cribs, many of them drop-side models. That means that your child’s injury or death may have been caused by others who should be held responsible.