Family Voices — Liam’s Story
Liam died when he was entrapped by the defective drop-side of his crib. He was nine months old.
Submitted by his parents, Nicola and Chad
On April 11, 2005, Liam’s mother put him to bed around 8 pm; she checked on him before she went to bed and he was fine. In the morning, she went into his room but couldn’t see him at first. He was trapped between the side rail that had pushed away from the crib and the mattress. “When I walked closer I could see he was hanging. I lifted up his arms. He wasn’t breathing.” Liam was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Liam was a sweet nine-month-old who had just learned to roll over and sit up with pillows.
What’s happened since Liam’s death?
In December 2005, Simplicity recalled 600,000 Aspen 3 in 1 cribs, sold under the Graco name. But while it was the same crib that killed Liam, the recall mentioned only a faulty mattress support and not the problem with the side rail. Even after Liam’s death, Simplicity and the Consumer Product Safety Commission failed to tell parents across the country about fatal flaws with Simplicity cribs. That recall came more than 2 ½ years later after at least two other babies had died.
On June 28, 2011 the world’s strongest crib standard went into effect, ensuring at long last that new cribs coming onto the market will provide a safe haven for babies and their families through a ban on the drop-side crib design, stringent testing standards and other improvements.
How You Can Take Action
To take action and help prevent further incidents, injuries, and deaths,
there are a number of things you can do:
- Follow the ABCs of safe sleep at every sleep time: 1) Baby is Alone and has their own separate sleep space. 2) Baby is placed to sleep on their Back, and 3) baby sleeps in a Crib, play yard or bassinet that meets the federal safety standard.
- Remove other products such as crib bumper pads, pillows, positioners, extra padding, blankets, stuffed animals, or toys from the sleep environment.
- Share KID’s safe sleep PSA.
- Report any incidents to the CPSC at SaferProducts.gov.
Check out our action steps for all children’s products here.
More Information on Cribs
Although mandatory standards exist for cribs, only recently has an effort been made to strengthen those standards and require testing and verification of new cribs. Because of these standards, all cribs must include proper assembly instructions and diagrams as well as cautionary and warning labels as required by federal law.
More information on Safe Sleep
A safe sleep environment is the one place parents and caregivers can place an infant and know they will be safe, even as the parent sleeps or attends to other things. Infants sleep safest following the ABC’s of safe sleep—Alone, on their Back and in a Crib, bassinet or play yard that meets federal standards and hasn’t been recalled. AAP also recommends babies sleep on a flat surface and unrestrained. Nothing should be in the crib except a firm mattress with a tight-fitting sheet.
View our safe sleep video to learn more about how to keep your baby safe while sleeping.