To be really fucked off at crib regulations

[HannahsLife]

I'm in the US - I'm not sure if the same issue exists in the UK.

But it is currently illegal to sell/make a crib with a drop down side. I'm barely 5 feet tall and have a small crib, and yet today I am in tears because I'm so fed up with barely being able to reach my baby, my back is killing me from all of the excessive and unsafe bending and the baby wakes up often when putting her down because I have to lift her instead of the gentle way I could lay her in the bassinet or pack and play.

Who tf designed this? Was it men or really tall women? How about designing a crib which is SAFE and well made rather than just banning another thing with no regards to the consequences for women and mothers.

So. Fed. Up.

Also my husband is snoring and the baby is finally asleep but I can't sleep and I want to kill him too.

This explains it actually

babymore.co.uk/guide-advice/about-drop-side/

'The US safety commission (CPSC) banned drop sides in 20111_, with a new safety standard aiming for tougher testing on the stability and durability of cots. The incidents reported in the US were mostly caused by malfunctioning of cheap plastic mechanisms, in some cases parents ignored malfunction of the mechanism and continued the use of cot, result in the drop side rail partially detaching from the cot and creating a dangerous V shape gap between mattress and the drop side rail, where a young infant could get caught and trapped.
The US safety standards of cots were and still are very much different than British and European ones. Before the 2011 US ban, unlike British safety standards of cots, US standards did not require the mechanism of drop side be auto locked while the rail was in the top position, and did not require the drop side mechanism to unlock with only two consecutive actions before the side could be moved. The testing of the drop side mechanism was also not as detailed and rigorous as the British and European standards.
Therefore, the differences in UK drop side mechanism means that it would not be possible for incidents like those in the US to happen on a British cot bedd_
Since the US ban of drop side, British and European safety standard of cot EN716 was revised in 2011 and 2013. Additional requirements were added to the standard along with more rigorous testing to drop side cot. i.e. the mechanism now must auto lock in both top or bottom positions, with two consecutive actions to unlock and lower/rise the rail.._'

They are still legal in UK there were different standard to start with and have also been updated.

babymore.co.uk/guide-advice/about-drop-side/

The US safety commission (CPSC) banned drop sides in 2011, with a new safety standard aiming for tougher testing on the stability and durability of cots. The incidents reported in the US were mostly caused by malfunctioning of cheap plastic mechanisms, in some cases parents ignored malfunction of the mechanism and continued the use of cot, result in the drop side rail partially detaching from the cot and creating a dangerous V shape gap between mattress and the drop side rail, where a young infant could get caught and trapped.

The US safety standards of cots were and still are very much different than British and European ones. Before the 2011 US ban, unlike British safety standards of cots, US standards did not require the mechanism of drop side be auto locked while the rail was in the top position, and did not require the drop side mechanism to unlock with only two consecutive actions before the side could be moved. The testing of the drop side mechanism was also not as detailed and rigorous as the British and European standards.

Therefore, the differences in UK drop side mechanism means that it would not be possible for incidents like those in the US to happen on a British cot bed
Since the US ban of drop side, British and European safety standard of cot EN716 was revised in 2011 and 2013. Additional requirements were added to the standard along with more rigorous testing to drop side cot. i.e. the mechanism now must auto lock in both top or bottom positions, with two consecutive actions to unlock and lower/rise the rail.

British drop sides have been around for decades with a long history of safety records so parents continue support them for their obvious benefits.

I've no idea what would be safe to suggest to OP - raising mattress up somehow would seem to be best bet but not sure if that could create safety issues.

@DullAndOvercast Snap although yours is much more nicely formatted

x-post there - but UK ones are safe.

I'd be considering a way to butcher/adapt the cot you do have.

Could you cut the edges off and put a hinge and catch type system on it?

Alternatively, instead of a step stool for you to stand on, have something much bigger, wider and more stable, so you're less likely to slip off. I'm thinking of the types of solid boxes that schools use as stages in primary school.

Hugasauras - I'm very slow at posting.

Get another mattress and put on top of the other mattress.

I’ll say YABU (because of safety issues with drop side cots) BUT agree with the terrible design making life tricky.

Cots should cater for shorter people, for example by not having drawers underneath to allow the top to be lower down.

My MIL is very petite and we inherited a cot, the like of which I have never seen before or since, but it turned out to be a design she had made with tiny legs so the cot was a standard design but just lower to the floor to start with. More like a wooden travel cot but with a 2 height base so the initial sleep height was about a 18" off the floor.
Could you get something made up like that? Most cots seem to be essentially modular so you might only need new legs or a base to be made.

I'm 5' 7" and would have struggled without a drop side cot! We got ours second hand about 8 years ago, and don't remember reading any about drop sides being phased out/illegal in the U.K.

Can you switch to a regular bed, and have a safety rail on the side that you can fold up/down

I'm in UK. All our kids had (at least second)-hand drop-down cots; when they had children I acquired more second-hand drop-down cots for my GC's visiting us. When they outgrew "my" cots, I sold them on to other grannies.

We were really, really careful about cot safety; all new mattresses the right size; fixings , bases and drop mechanisms carefully checked and maintained. No problems at all.

I've no idea if they are still sold new here, but I often see old dropside cots
being advertised, for sale in charity shops etc.

More dangerous than what short mums have to do normally?

I'm 5'1 and with sleeping baby in arms would have to lean against cot side then pivot over it with my stomach on cot side feet in the air until baby reaches mattress.

I'm sure having my feet on something firm would be safer.

Chop the legs much shorter? Just leave a small space for air flow.

Would it be legal to get one posted from the UK? It could be an ond family heirloom.

I was thinking the same thing last night. I have 5'3" and we've just had to drop the cot to the bottom level cos she can pull herself up. But now it means I can't put her down gently lying down as I can't quite reach with her lying down. I have 5o put her in sitting up which means bed times have become more prolonged and my back is killing me. My husbands trying to take over bed time as much as possible but it's not easy at all.

We have a travel cot for when dd visits with dgs and I can’t lift dgs out as it really hurts my back.
I think once your dc can stand up in the cot you may find it easier to lift them.

@Bells3032 They are legal and safe in the UK so just buy one to make your life easier.

Hi OP, I totally get what you mean. I'm 5'2" and my son has a mamas and papas cot bed. It was fine when it was raised at the top and in the middle settings. However, when he got bigger and the mattress went to the lowest setting I did have an issue. I couldn't reach the bottom so if my son needed soothed I couldn't gently place him back in bed, I essentially needed to just plonk him down the last couple of inches which inevitably woke him up again. It was also impossible for me to reach him if he was lying in the furthest corner of the bed (against the wall). So if he was in that position and I had to wake him from a nap I couldn't actually touch him. My husband is tall and I was reliant on him to lift and lay our son when he was there. But, I just had to work round it to be honest.

I took the sides off the cot as soon as it was safe to do so. This was earlier than my friends but they weren't having the same issues as me. It made life so much easier!

get your kid a floor bed OP!! My toddler sleeps in a small double size floor bed so I can lie down with him while he goes to sleep. Works a million times better than trying to transfer a sleeping baby into a cot. If you can't afford a new bed you can just put the cot mattress on the floor, or cut the legs off the cot and take off one side. Obviously make sure the room is childproofed

We never used a cot at all. Double mattress on the floor in the corner of the room. Baby slept next to the walls and I slept on the "outside". Once baby got bigger we swapped to a toddler sized floor bed (an Ikea Sniglar with the legs cut off).

Cots are basically just cages and some babies don't like being caged!

Floor bed is your answer

Get one from Ikea. They are European size. The American cots are absolutely gigantic for no reason at all.

So the low cot that we had was along the same lines as this one ( though 60 years older!). We had a mattress on the floor and a baby gate on the outside of the door too so all our children were in their rooms overnight but they could get in and out of the cot from quite a young age. As it's so close to the ground this was never a problem.

www.wayfair.co.uk/Harriet-Bee--North-Cot-V111604570-L371-K~U000593469.html?refid=GX433676171460-U000593469&device=m&ptid=930574989255&targetid=pla-930574989255&network=g&ireid=120158006&device=m&gbraid=0AAAAADgW2yLz9wFRycDPnJk-t-eqcd2Kn&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI99zdyLLx-gIVhevtCh1bXA4EEAQYASABEgJqrvD_BwE

Could you remove the feet/legs of the cot so that it is lower?