Graco Cribs are Death Traps

Houston, TX"My 10-month-old daughter got stuck in her Graco crib twice," says Maria DeLaGarza. Fortunately she got out with only a few bruises. "I was terrified that I couldn't get her out and she was traumatized." Sadly, there have been four known Graco crib deaths; little Michalla was lucky.

But luck shouldn't come into the equation when it comes to product safety, especially products for children. Especially cribs.

"When I saw the news last week that an infant had died because of a defective Simplicity [(the manufacturer of Graco] crib, I checked [online] to see if the model I had bought had been recalled," says Maria. Sure enough, Michalla was playing in a defective crib. And she had been stuck in it—twice.

"The first time Michalla got stuck, she had her legs caught in the side," says Maria. "This type of crib comes with a dresser attached to it. On the dresser, a railing comes apart and when I found her she was laying face down and her leg was stuck—one side comes loose and it had come off the track and pushed forward.

"The second time she was kneeling towards the front of the crib and her knee got caught in the railings. Luckily I was right there. She was screaming her head off and we couldn't get her out—my husband tried to stand her up a bit to push her leg through but her knee wouldn't come through the two pieces of wooden railing. I pushed on the sides and hit her knee through it to get her out. She got a bit bruised up and you could see indents on her leg from where she was stuck.

My daughter used to sleep in this crib but after these two incidents she won't sleep in there again. Now I would only put her in the crib if I was sitting next to her.

I tried to call Graco crib's 1-800 number but you can't get hold of a human. A taped message asks your address, name and phone number so they can send you a replacement kit for the track. In other words, they want you to repair a defective product!

I just want my daughter to be safe; it turns into a toddler bed and when I tried to assemble that part, the two little rails have a big gap that are attached to the side—it would be so easy to get her clothes stuck in this gap if she tried to climb out.

All I want to do is get a new, reliable crib and not this brand. I want to be reimbursed for the cost of this crib: it was about $200.

This manufacturer deserves the most severe punishment it can get. They cannot bring these babies back. I don't understand why they didn't do more research. Apparently they don't want to talk to consumers and they won't acknowledge this horrendous issue. They need to do something now for consumers: give us a product that isn't going to fall apart or kill our kids. Pick up these faulty cribs, these death traps, and give us our money back. "