I just had to send out the following email to the responses on my craigslist ad:
I'd like to thank everyone for their interest in our crib. Unfortunately, it is not available. My husband posted the ad for me last night. (Being both mommy to three and working part time outside the home, my life is chaos and he wanted to help.) This afternoon, I had the chance to sit down and look into it further...turns out a few months after we acquired the crib for our daughter, it was recalled.(If you don't trust a link from someone that you don't know, I understand, but please type "Simplicity Cribs" into Google and visit the first link so that you know what to look for.)
I have removed my ad and we will be disposing of the crib properly. I am sorry for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused. The changing table and crib skirt are still available if anyone is interested.
Thank you & congrats on your new little ones!!
Sincerely,
April
See, we'd gotten it used. At the time, I checked for recalls. There were none. We proceeded on with life. A year and a half later, it was recalled!
We didn't sit down and check and recheck for recalls every month. I don't think most people do, especially when it comes to this sort of thing; you're busy with a newborn, then, before you know it, chasing a toddler. You forget your own name, much less whether or not you've checked for recalls this week. We looked over the crib everytime we changed the fitted sheet;
at least every other week, and made sure that all the screws and bolts were tightly in place.
Our particular crib is still in 'good' condition on visual inspection. We had no problems. However? Totally not worth the risk.
It will go out to the curb, piece by piece, over the next several trash collection days to deter anyone from picking it up and we will be making sure that the mattress support
is damaged before putting it out. (No sense in having someone looking at it and, unknowingly, going, "Hey! That'd be a good replacement for our broken one!!")
I know that the CPSC and other agencies recommend that you not buy cribs used, period. I also understand how expensive they are, for something that you're probably only going to use for a year or two...
and that babies don't wait until you're 100% financially ready to have them. But I do encourage everyone to check for recalls and to watch out for this tubular-style metal mattress-support frame.
Also, I had three inquiries about it overnight. One did not ask for the make or model, but merely, "Is there anything wrong with it?"
Please do not count on random strangers to be honest or even knowledgeable about recalls. You wouldn't just leave your newborn with someone that you do not know, please don't entrust their safety to them.
Have you ever purchased baby products that have been recalled? Do you check for recalls often?
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Comments (8)
Haven't had any issues yet, since I only have a co-sleeper, playpen, and a few toys. And, it's only been five months.
I think a lot of recalls are over the top, like how they are considering banning all drop side cribs. If they are assembled correctly, according to the instructions, they are safe. The instance that I saw on the news about a baby being hurt in that kind of crib was related to the fact that the parents installed the rail backwards, not following the instructions.
I have had some toys that were recalled, we kept them. I can watch to see if my child bites the (very secure) fuzzy nose off of the toy.
If it is something toxic like lead that is a different story.
I had a Simplicity crib and I returned it to wear I bought it and got a new toddler bed for my son. If you know wear the original owners got it, you should return it there.
If I recall, the Simplicity crib issue had to do with improperly installed drop sides from people not reading the instructions clearly. We had one and had no issues with it at all - in fact, I coudln't even recreate the problems I had read about. I gave it to a high school girl whose little one rather inconveniently grew out of the bassinet before she was ready.
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - Banning drop sides??? Dude, I never would have been able to get my kids out of the crib as they grew with no drop side! Either that or I would have been perched on a stoll to make myself tall enough to reach in to them - yep, that sounds safe. For me, the drop side was a godsend when my younger child grew insanely fast and I had to drop the matress level earlier than expected. As it was, he had to pull to a stand for me to have any hope of lifting him out because of my height. *sigh* Love when things get banned because people are in too much of a hurry to put them together correctly.
@sinpescado@xanga - I agree completely. I'm 5'1" and had a hard time sometimes even with the side dropped. If it wasn't able to drop? There is no way I could have ever put my babies to bed or get them up unless they were standing. Yeah I understand they are in the process of banning them in the US. Stupid.
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - @sinpescado@xanga - They make cribs that are low like pack n plays.
I had a crib from that company. At 8 mo old, my son pulled him self up on the drop railing (properly assembled according the directions)...and it dropped. Permanently. If I hadn't have just been 2 steps away my son would have been severely injured. I bought him a toddler bed, and I will never own a drop side crib again.
@RainDropPixie@xanga - And I understand your concern. Once you've had that kind of experience, it makes you reluctant to try again, especially when dealing with children.
The recalls of Simplicity cribs were actually not related though to the drop side falling like that though. It had to do with the drop side detaching in a way that would allow a child to be trapped. Mine never once did that. Now the most recent recall of the cribs (every single one from Simplicity, not just the drop sides) is different. Apparently the matress support can come undone - looks like the welds aren't strong enough or something.
As for low cribs like pack-n-plays, that's too low - if it wasn't, I would have just used the pack-n-play instead of buying a crib. Us short folks need something in-between the two and we need to be able to buy it from a non-specialty store. One would think that more would be available given that the average height of US women is just over 5'4". Oh well...
@sinpescado@xanga - His the plastic guide on the drop side had the screws strip right out of the wood. Since they came screwed in it was all manufacturer fault.
I was 5'4" when I had my son, now I'm 5'6" I've never had any issues with the lower cribs, that we had to use in all the childcare centers I've worked in. Maybe I was just tall enough. I don't know.
I just know I'm not using drop sides anymore.