Agency warns on cribs, suffocation

Safety officials announced a recall of 24,000 cribs and warned parents against putting their babies to bed with pillows and other soft bedding that could suffocate them.

The Indonesian-made cribs, imported by Munire Furniture Inc., have improper brackets that don’t allow their mattresses to be fully lowered. This could allow children inside the crib to crawl over the railing and fall.

The recall includes the company’s Majestic Curved Top, Majestic Flat Top, Essex, Brighton/Sussex and Captiva cribs with various model numbers. The cribs were sold at children’s specialty stores between November 2005 and November 2007.

What parents are placing inside their babies’ cribs is another concern, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said. From 2002 to 2004, 241 children under age 5 died in incidents involving nursery products, the commission said. About 40% of the deaths involved cribs, with soft bedding cited as the leading contributing factor.

Many of the children suffocated when lying face down on pillows or other bedding, the commission said. To reduce risk of suffocation and sudden infant death syndrome, parents should place babies on their backs in cribs that meet current safety standards, the agency said.

For more details on the crib recall, call (866) 586-9639 or go to www.munirefurniture.com.