How to Make a Drop Side Crib Stationary

On June 28, 2011, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) banned the manufacture and sale of drop-side cribs, due to hundreds of infant and toddler injuries and over 30 deaths caused by malfunctioning cribs 1. Certain crib companies responded to the ban and previous recalls by creating immobilizers, special braces which hold the crib's drop side in place. Although you still cannot sell or donate a drop side crib with an immobilizer, it will make the crib safer for you to use with your own child 2. Most immobilizer kits fall into two basic categories: a bracket that screws onto the leg of the crib and a bracket that screws onto the crib's stabilizer bar.

Preparation

Check the CPSC website to see if your crib's manufacturer has an immobilizer kit that you can order. It is safer to use an immobilizer kit created specifically for your crib than to use a general immobilizer, and manufacturers provide them for free.

Review the instructions that come with your immobilizer kit to see what tools you will need to install it 23. Read the instructions thoroughly before attempting to install the immobilizer 23.

Check your crib carefully to make sure all the parts are intact. No parts of the drop side, the track, the wheels or the pins should be cracked, bent or warped. If they are, purchase a new crib.

Raise the drop side of your crib into the highest position.

Leg Brackets

Locate the rubber bumper and screw at the bottom of the drop side track on the crib's left leg. Unscrew the screw and remove it and the bumper.

Slide the immobilizer bracket onto the track until it snaps into place at the bottom of the drop side 2.

Replace the screw and rubber bumper. Screw firmly into place.

Repeat steps one through three with the right leg of the crib.

Stabilizer Brackets

Locate the metal support arm that screws into the wooden rail beneath the drop side. Unscrew the screws from the metal support arm next to the left leg.

Insert the bracket so that its opening lines up with the hole from which you removed the screw and the other side supports the drop side crib.

Re-insert the screw into the hole from which you removed it and screw it back into place. This will secure the bracket to the crib.

Repeat steps one through three for the metal support arm next to the right leg.

Warnings

Never attempt to repair a drop side crib without an approved immobilizer kit, as this may make the crib even less safe for your baby. Follow the instructions specific to your crib's immobilizer kit at all times.