Be very careful when adding accessories to cribs because what you least expect to happen may end up happening. It happened in London a few months ago but it is now when we learn about this tragic news: a 14-month-old baby died after his pajamas were hooked on a hook that parents had added to the crib, probably to serve to hang things.
The news comes through the Daily Mail, where we read that the girl was taking a nap like noon. They put the baby to sleep in her crib, like every day, and the mother went every hour to see that everything was going well. When he went at two in the afternoon, his daughter slept peacefully. When he went at three, He found it hanging from the hook by the pajamas, already out of breath. He picked it up and ran to the house of a neighbor who tried to revive her until the ambulance took her to the hospital. At 16:06 in the afternoon they certified her death, because nothing could be done to save her.
Apparently, the parents had bought the crib at IKEA (the one you see in the photo) and also one of these hooks, called KROKIG, intended as a hanger anywhere, least in the crib, Sure. I imagine the parents put it as a practical solution. Maybe to leave a towel, a blanket or similar when I was a baby, without realizing that when I grew up it could be dangerous. The girl must have tried to leave the cradle with such bad luck that her pajamas got caught and she drowned.
Spokesmen of the well-known furniture company, knowing the news, explained that although both elements are from their stores, they are not marketed as a complement to each other. Just in case, to prevent something similar from happening, they decided to add a new warning in the assembly instructions of their cribs:
Do not hold, stick or add any element inside or outside of your crib. It could dangerously catch your baby.
Other possible dangers in the crib
I imagine that there are few parents who put hooks in the crib and that is why I have doubted that such a situation can be repeated, but I have remembered that we put a crib mobile on one side that had some protrusion that could have made a hook and I preferred to make this entry as a warning. Anything you add to a crib must be removed as soon as the baby is able to take the railing or bars and climb in some way, because of danger of something similar happening. Another option is not leave the child alone, or make use of the well-known surveillance cameras.
In our case, as the children have always taken naps in our arms because if they did not wake up immediately, and as at night they have slept with us, we have not had to watch something like that at any time, but many children do sleep alone and when they move they try to get out of their cribs, at the risk of falling and at the risk of something as horrible as what happened to this girl, for an accessory located where it should not.
A crib is useful for the baby to sleep, but not as a safe place for a crawling and crawling baby, unless the height of the mattress can be lowered so that it is impossible to get out.
What does a crib have to have to be safe
- The crib must be approved. The BOE contains the rules and guidelines that manufacturers must follow to make a crib a safe place for children's sleep. The European regulations in force today are the UNE-EN 716-1: 2008. When buying a crib we must make sure that it complies with these regulations.
- Have a correct distance between the bars. The distance should not be too small, where a finger can be caught, or too large where the head can enter, for example. The correct distance would be between 4.5 and 6.5 cm.
- Than not made of toxic materials. This is logical, but today you know… the materials cannot be toxic to the baby. It is possible that you suck the bars and even that, when you grow up and stand, nibble on the railing.
- Than the barrier is fixed strongly when he doesn't have to move, so that only dad and mom are able to lower and raise it.
- That he minimum width of the cradle is 60 cm and that is at least 20 cm longer than the child. The height of the cradle base, where the baby is going to sleep, must also be modified: from about 60 cm from the ground at the beginning to 30 cm when the child grows and we lower the base.
- It must not have protections or chichonera. Until now they were used so that the child was not harmed, but it is possible that he gets too close to them and can not breathe well.
- Have decorations, stickers or drawings well glued or painted, so that the child can not tear them off.
- Count on wheels that can be locked (at least two should be able to be blocked). When the baby stands up we must move the cradle away from windows, sofas or beds to avoid using them as an aid to get out. In addition, we will have to lower the mattress to a lower position to prevent him from leaving alone.
- There should not be cushions, no stuffed animals, or loose bedding.
- He mattress has to be adequate for the crib you have. This way it will be well adjusted and there will be no gaps where the baby can get caught in some way.
