Tips for Choosing the Right Baby Crib
You need to choose the right baby crib. Your baby’s nursery and bed or crib should be very safe. Parents should know that the crib and bedroom are the first areas where babies start their exploration stage. Unfortunately, there’s always minimum supervision in these two areas. Thus, these areas should be free from any potential hazards and traps.
Safety first
You should check your baby’s furniture to make sure it complied with the set requirements. Besides, you should always use furniture that’s appropriate for the age of your baby. This is much important for parents who opt to buy previously owned furniture pieces or passed on as gifts by family and friends.
Let’s take antique cribs for instance—they have beautiful and unique designs. However, the spaces between the slats don’t meet the recommended standards of not more than 23/8 inches. These spaces are designed to reduce the possibility of your baby’s head getting caught in between.
Besides, the finishing might comprise of old layers of lead-based paint, which is very harmful to babies. With new furniture pieces, you can be assured that they have the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) safety certification seal. Besides, any fabric used in a baby’s rooms, including curtains, sheets, and sleepwear, should be flame retardant.
With that, let’s look at the top tips for choosing a baby crib
Choose a Basic Design
A crib should have simple lines, without any finials or scrollwork for safety purposes. Any form of detail work on a baby crib risks your baby strangling in the event their clothes are caught. When you follow these guidelines you will buy a safer crib for your baby, and save a lot of money.
The regulations for portable and full-sized cribs set by the Consumer Product Safety in 2011 advise parents against buying drop-side baby crib modes. These models allow parents to drop and raise one side when getting the baby out, and they’ve been connected to over 32 deaths in 2011. Thus these models are not considered to be safe.
These standards also include new rigorous tests for durability and require baby cribs to have clear labeling and warnings. Tests by Consumer Reports based on these new and mandatory safety requirements address certain issues like slat strength mattress support, and structural integrity.
Buy a New Baby Crib
Whenever possible, don’t buy or accept a second-hand baby crib. Research shows that older models might not meet today’s safety standards, or they might not be repairable if they get damaged. The law stipulates that the production date of a baby crib should be indicated on the shipping carton, as well as on the baby crib.
However, you should also be careful to check for any potential safety hazards, even if you choose to buy a new baby crib. Always carry a ruler with you to the shop to confirm whether the spaces in between the slats are of the recommended size. If these spaces are greater than 2 3/8 inches, then the crib is not safe for your baby. When you order a crib online, make sure that you measure the spaces immediately the crib is delivered.
Lookout for any sharp edges and protruding nuts, screws, decorative knobs, and corner posts, among other things that can catch the baby’s clothes at the neck area. When you buy a new crib, have a better opportunity of protecting your child from hidden dangers like slats, drop sides, or parts that might have weakened because of misuse. Also, you get to protect your baby from loose glue joints or hardware caused by humidity changes during storage.
Check the Design
A baby crib with one or more stabilizer bars or metal rods secured to both the end boards under the crib has a more rigid frame. One of the simple tests to check whether the frame is strong is shaking the crib slightly—this helps you to check the structural integrity of the frame.
Then, without applying a lot of pressure, rotate each slat to see if it’s well fixed on the railings. A new crib shouldn’t have any loose spindles or slats, or any form of cracking if it’s made out of wood. However, you must be aware that most of the models on display are not tightly assembled. So, try to be as gentle as possible.
Make the Necessary Arrangements for Assembly
Mostly, baby cribs are not assembled when shipped. Therefore, if you have doubts about whether you can assemble one correctly, as for assistance. Typically, assembling a baby crib is a two-person job, and it takes an average of 1 hour from unpacking to assembling. So, you can ask a relative, friend, or the retailer to send someone to help you in assembling the crib.
While the last option can cost you some money, at least $70, you will be assured that the baby crib is well fixed. Besides, having a team sent by the retailer to assemble your crib gives you the perfect opportunity to inspect it and reject it in case you find some flaws.
Also, the crib should be assembled in the area where your baby shall be sleeping. Experts advise parents to let their babies sleep in their bedroom for the first six months for safety purposes. So, once the rib is assembled, it might not fit through the tight spaces in your home, and you might need to take it down and reassemble it again, which might be very inconveniencing.
Bottom Line
It’s essential to follow these rules when buying a baby crib. The last thing you want is your baby getting hurt because of a substandard crib. So, you can always consult other parents when buying a baby crib for the best advice. Besides, you should buy a baby crib from a reputable retailer, and specifically, one who deals with baby cribs whenever possible.
This is Alisha Richardson. I am the founder of TopRatedForBaby.com. I am a professional content writer and blogger. I love to share my experience on this blog.
