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Lawmakers Urge Banning Sale Of Crib Bumper Pads

The state Senate has passed legislation that would ban the sale of crib bumber pads in New York state.

S.3788A, sponsored by Sen. David Carlucci, D-Rockland/Westchester, would also end the use of crib bumber pads in daycare facilities.

Crib bumper pads are commonly sold by stores as part of crib bedding sets and cover the slats of the crib. Often parents, who do not know about the numerous safety warnings against them, purchase them because they like the way they look in a nursery. The legislative justification accompanying the Senate legislation states stores often display cribs decorated with bumper pads which can lead to the assumption that they are in fact safe. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found crib bumpers have been responsible for 48 infant deaths and 146 injuries to infants from 1985 through 2012. According to its report of the 48 infant deaths, the average age of the child was 4 months old. Crib bumpers were found to have caused infants to suffocate because children fell asleep with their mouth or nose near the bumper. Crib bumpers also led to strangulations due to the ties and injuries when infants old enough to stand climbed on the bumpers and fell out of their cribs.

In 2016, CPSC staff found there were 107 fatal incidents and 282 injuries from January 1990 through march 2016 associated with crib bumpers. Carlucci said recently that a more recent study by Pediatrics found unintentional suffocation was found to be the leading cause of injury death among infants less than 1-year-old. Of the cases looked at from 2011 through 2014, 82 percent were attributable to accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed due to soft bedding.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants sleep on their backs, alone in a crib on a firm mattress with a tight-fitting sheet, without any soft objects or loose bedding. Multiple children safety organizations have also recommended parents remove baby bumpers from an infant’s crib, including the CPSC, First Candle/National SIDS Alliance, American Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Institute, National Institutes of Health, Kids In Danger, and Health Canada.

“As a parent, it’s our job to protect our children, and I simply cannot imagine how the families are coping who have lost a newborn due to crib bumper pads,” Carlucci said. “We know these accessories are not safe due to the risk of suffocation or strangulation of a baby and yet they are still marketed to parents as a matching nursery accessory. It’s time we ban their sale in New York State and prevent further tragedies.”

Companion legislation (A.217A) has been introduced in the state Assembly. where it has been approved unanimously by the Consumer Affairs and Protection Committee and approved by a 21-1 vote by the Codes Committee, with one of those votes in approval cast by Assemblyman Joe Giglio, R-Gowanda. A floor vote has not been scheduled, but the Assembly passed similar legislation in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

“No parent, relative, or family friend would ever intentionally risk the injury or even death of a newborn, but that’s what some have tragically done by purchasing and using crib bumpers,” said Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale. “Pediatricians are very clear that there is much more risk of choking and suffocation by using crib bumpers than there is from head injury if you don’t use them. New York needs to join other states that have already banned the sale of non-mesh bumper pads so that we can eliminate confusion about their safety once and for all.”

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