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You can't buy crib bumper pads in Chicago: it's become the first city to ban the sale of these soft pads that are tied onto the cribs slats and wrap around the inside of a crib.
The city council approved the ban, citing the suffocation risk posed by bumpers and the lack of a federal ban despite reports of deaths, the Chicago Tribune reports. Stores that continue to sell bumper pads can be fined up to $500.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends against using bumper pads, as does Consumers Union. We believe bumper pads are unnecessary and not worth the possible risk. And if a crib has a solid end panel, there's nowhere to tie the pads onto anyway.
Crib bumper pads are prominently displayed in stores as if they are a necessary part of crib bedding. But they are merely decorative. Bumpers were originally designed to keep babies' heads from getting stuck between crib slats. But standards today require slats to be closer together, so that's no longer an issue. Parents may believe the pads will protect their baby's head from bumps and bruises. There are no statistics on how many babies hurt their head in cribs without bumpers. But a bruise is certainly not in the same category of risk as suffocation and strangulation that can result from soft crib bumpers.
Our advice: All the crib needs is a tightly fitted sheet. Keep your baby's crib empty of any soft items, including bumper pads, pillows, blankets, comforters, and stuffed animals; any of those can suffocate or entrap a baby.
—Desiree Ferenczi
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