Pregnancy
Does Maryland Want To Ban Crib Bumpers?
Anyway, we all want our children to be safe and we’re willing to spend good money to ensure just that. But sometimes we can get more than carried away. Right now the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is debating whether to ban the sale of crib bumpers in Maryland. The Washington Post story on the “threat” of crib bumpers has no good data to help parents decide whether they will choose whether or not to have a bumper, just an allegation that they are “increasingly considered suffocation hazards.” But the story is only able to identify two such situations.
I used a crib bumper for my oldest and at the time, we weren’t warned about suffocation but, rather, SIDS. I asked two doctors at our pediatricians’ office and got two different answers. One basically explained that bumpers can help kids who bash their heads against the crib railing or it can keep them from getting limbs caught in the crib and getting broken. Another said that it might cause restricted air flow and it might lead to SIDS, but that no one knows what causes SIDS so it’s all conjecture.
When I used a bumper, I did make sure my daughter was well positioned when she was too young to move if she got caught and when she was a bit older, it certainly didn’t matter as she could move herself.
Yes, you have to install bumpers correctly. Yes, you have to monitor. And yes, sometimes tragic accidents happen to very conscientious parents. But risk is part of life. We don’t ban cars or ovens, even though these kill dramatically more people than crib bumpers.
Besides, a ban on Maryland sales would only help Virginia, Pennsylvania and Delaware sales. If crib bumpers are really more dangerous than, say, alcohol, cars or kitchen knives — let’s act like it and put some tooth behind this. If we instead want to accept certain risks the cost of living in a free society, lay off the crib bumper ban.