Having cribs placed side by side have safety risks, Arizona mom of twins warns parents.
Alison Johnson, 37, from Arizona shared on her Facebook account the details of an incident that nearly cost her son's life.
In the post, Johnson said that she put her son Caleb in his crib for his naptime. Soon after she heard crying and when she went on to check, she saw that Caleb tried to climb out of his crib and got stuck in between the two cribs that were placed side by side.
"His body fit through, but his head wouldn't," Johnson wrote. She said that his son struggled to get out and was trying to hold himself up using his little arms. "If they had given out he would've just been hanging there by his head."
Johnson said she rushed to remove his son from the gap.
"It was just terrifying," the mom of three said.
Johnson explained that the twins' cribs have a gap in between them because of woodwork on the backboard. She never thought that the gap would pose as a threat to his 1-year-old son. Johnson was relieved that she did not take a shower nor did something else that particular day; otherwise she would not be able to hear Caleb's cries for help.
Johnson knew that she would receive backlash from other mom's if she post it on Facebook but decided that warning other parents is far more important.
"I knew some people would judge me. I knew that would happen, but I just don't care because I feel 1,000 percent confident in my heart that we've saved at least one life." Johnson said.
As of writing, the post has had over 50,000 shares.
Johnson's concern is not without basis. A 2011 emergency room data showed [pdf] that about 10,000 infants and toddlers in the U.S. are involved in a playpen or crib accident every year. The 19-year data showed that more than 80 percent of these accidents are secondary to toddlers who attempt to climb out of the crib -- similar to what Caleb tried to do.
To reduce the incidence of toddler accidents in cribs, experts recommend transitioning to toddler bed once the child's height reaches 35 inches.
In another study focused on crib safety, researchers found that use of baby bumpers may cause child suffocation and death. In over two decades, there was a reported 48 infant deaths due crib bumpers.
