Hand me down cribs?

[Deleted]

My MIL wants us to use all of my SIL's hand me downs, everything from maternity clothes to the crib.  Some things I don't mind being used or older, but I have read several places that you should not "buy" used cribs.  Any thoughts?  Where to shop for new nursery furniture?

[2curlydogs]

I'd take a hand-me-down crib from family if it were new enough and in decent condition.

[trafficgirl]

I have also heard not to buy a used crib. I believe the safety standards for cribs changed in 2011 (I need to find a source on that), so anything prior to that would not be good.

As for where to shop, there are lots of places. BRU, Buy Buy Baby, Target, JC Penney, IKEA, local baby stores in your town. Someone on here even just got their crib from Burlington Coat Factory.

The two most often recommended sources for ratings on cribs (and other things) is the book Baby Bargains and the website Lucie's List. You may want to start there.

ETA - yup, it was 2011:
www.cpsc.gov//PageFiles/115716/cribrules.pdf

[snickers]

I would not take a used crib.

[2curlydogs]

Jul 30, 2013 11:27:03 GMT -5 trafficgirl said:

I have also heard not to buy a used crib. I believe the safety standards for cribs changed in 2011 (I need to find a source on that), so anything prior to that would not be good.

As for where to shop, there are lots of places. BRU, Buy Buy Baby, Target, JC Penney, IKEA, local baby stores in your town. Someone on here even just got their crib from Burlington Coat Factory.

The two most often recommended sources for ratings on cribs (and other things) is the book Baby Bargains and the website Lucie's List. You may want to start there.

ETA - yup, it was 2011:
www.cpsc.gov//PageFiles/115716/cribrules.pdf

It's actually probably fine, so long as it's not a drop-side. Most of those recommendations were already being adhered to by the better manufacturers.

Signed,
Mom with a crib from 2010

[irish]

We have a hand me down crib. We got a new mattress, which is what they recommend over here even if its reused by a sibling.

[trafficgirl]

Jul 30, 2013 11:31:36 GMT -5 2curlydogs said:

Jul 30, 2013 11:27:03 GMT -5 trafficgirl said:

I have also heard not to buy a used crib. I believe the safety standards for cribs changed in 2011 (I need to find a source on that), so anything prior to that would not be good.

As for where to shop, there are lots of places. BRU, Buy Buy Baby, Target, JC Penney, IKEA, local baby stores in your town. Someone on here even just got their crib from Burlington Coat Factory.

The two most often recommended sources for ratings on cribs (and other things) is the book Baby Bargains and the website Lucie's List. You may want to start there.

ETA - yup, it was 2011:
www.cpsc.gov//PageFiles/115716/cribrules.pdf

It's actually probably fine, so long as it's not a drop-side. Most of those recommendations were already being adhered to by the better manufacturers.

Signed,
Mom with a crib from 2010

It might be fine.  Each person can do whatever they're comfortable with.

ETA - and I don't mean that snarkily. I realized it could come off that way and that's not how I meant it.

[blindyswife]

Jul 30, 2013 11:23:09 GMT -5 2curlydogs said:

I'd take a hand-me-down crib from family if it were new enough and in decent condition.

Yup.

[winecheery]

I'd look into the old/used crib, and if it met current safety standards, and fit my style/decor, why not? It's coming from a source you presumably trust. That being said, if it wasn't up to safety recs, I personally wouldn't feel comfortable taking it. Mostly it's the drop down side (no-no) and the width of the space between bars, I believe.

btw, @beckettbabe I can't tell if your MIL is pressuring you or not...the way you said it "wants us to use SIL's hand me downs" it makes me wonder if YOU don't want to??

[SallySparrow]

Jul 30, 2013 12:23:26 GMT -5 winecheery said:

btw, @beckettbabe I can't tell if your MIL is pressuring you or not...the way you said it "wants us to use SIL's hand me downs" it makes me wonder if YOU don't want to??

This was my concern, too. If it's safe and you're okay with using a hand me down crib, there's nothing wrong with it. There's also nothing wrong with wanting some things to be new. We have a good mixture of hand me downs, new stuff, and "homemade" stuff (like the glider my grandpa built) for BabySparrow. You just gotta do what you're comfortable with.

[KKD]

Jul 30, 2013 11:23:09 GMT -5 2curlydogs said:

I'd take a hand-me-down crib from family if it were new enough and in decent condition.

This is what we did. I wouldn't trust one from a stranger on CL, but the one we have has worked well for us for six years now.

I'm with winecheery; if it meets current standards and fit my style, I would go for it. Though if you'd rather have a new one and can afford to do so, then by all means, ignore your MIL and buy (or register for) a new one instead.

[Deleted]

Thank you for all the feedback. Obviously, safety first, so I will research the model/brand and make sure it is up to par. I am grateful for the hand me down items, but there is also a part of me that wants new things for my child. I don't think it helps that I am an only child, so hand me downs were not common place in my house. I like the idea of a mix of hand me downs and new items!

I get on these kicks where all my brain can think about it is one issue and I drive myself nuts over it - today it was cribs.

[winecheery]

Jul 30, 2013 13:13:18 GMT -5 @beckettbabe said:

Thank you for all the feedback. Obviously, safety first, so I will research the model/brand and make sure it is up to par. I am grateful for the hand me down items, but there is also a part of me that wants new things for my child. I don't think it helps that I am an only child, so hand me downs were not common place in my house. I like the idea of a mix of hand me downs and new items!

I get on these kicks where all my brain can think about it is one issue and I drive myself nuts over it - today it was cribs.

I am a snob about hand me downs, I fully admit it.  I like things to be new also.  

For example, I personally don't like the idea of second hand clothes. I cannot do thrift store, gently used clothing...I just can't. But if someone I knew was offering me some, I wouldn't be bothered as much. Like my mom or sisters or something. I am weird.

Maybe if your prioritize what you will/will not take as hand me downs, it will help?  Like if this crib can work for you, and save you the cost of a new one, you can put that money towards something you refuse to get second hand, like...Idk...a rocking chair, or whatever it is.  Only do what you feel comfortable with.  

[natablue]

You definitely should not "buy" a used crib - in many state's it's actually now against the law to sell a used crib, especially if it's drop-side.

If your SIL's crib is drop-side, I still wouldn't take it, even if it's just a couple years old. I just wouldn't take the risk.

This is my first child, so of course I want a lot of "new" stuff for my baby. Though it's hard to turn down everyone's offers to give us their old stuff. My SIL wanted to give us her 10 YEAR OLD CRIB both of her sons used... I felt bad saying no, but of course I wasn't going to accept a used drop-side crib. Clothes, a rocker and that is one thing.

[Cheesecake]

Ours is second hand, it's gorgeous and to find something in that style (which really was the only stylewe liked) would've cost is 3K for the crib/dresser/armoire set we now got for 200.

They've never done drop side cribs here, so there are no moving parts or anything that could be dangerous /harmful on there. We did buy a top of the line new mattress for it.

Honestly, I'm more comfortable with used. The toxins used to keep mold off wooden items during shipping can take up to 3 years in reasonably ventilated spaces to be completely gone. I've worked on toxin-awareness programs for the local union here and have met men who are severely disabled because they were exposed to that crap when unloading a container. That shit svares me 5 million times more than any safety or germ issue with 2nd hand.

Sent from my Xperia Z, please don't mind typos!

[JayhawkGirl]

If you want a new crib, get it and get what you and dh want. We wanted a convertible set that could grow up with our kids. We also wanted a matching dresser.

You can just tell them you've had your eye on a set and think you're going to go that way, but thank you for such a generous offer.

We were offered my sister's hand me down, which she got second hand. It was not our style and was a drop side. Ds was born just as the concerns about drop sides were coming up so we used that as our excuse.

[sonrisa]

Cheesecake: could you do the rest of us a favor and specify which preservatives are at issue here? What you posted doesn't give us enough information for further research. As a result, it comes off as fear mongering (which I'm sure wasn't your intention). Thanks!

(ETA: the main places I've heard about toxin risks are wooden shipping pallets, which aren't used in cribs so are irrelevant here though very relevant to dock worker health, and composite wood.)

[Cheesecake]

I'll look up the exact toxins tomorrow, it's bedtime here.
Almost everything that's shipped from Asia.has stuff in there. They're not supposed to put that in, but they do.

About 7 or 8 years ago there was a huge scandal here because baby pjs and mattresses had really high levels of formaldehyde and a very extreme insecticide (the name I can't recall atm) in them.
Rules have been tightened after that, but recent studies showed that at least 10 percent of containers from China that haven't been marked as being treated with toxins, actually have high doses of pesticide and fungicides.

Will get back on this tomorrow. Please do make sure that everyone airs out/washes their products before putting babies in/on them.

Sent from my Xperia Z, please don't mind typos!

[Jalapeñomel]

I just read in the baby bargains book that you should never take a hand me down crib...she even put it in caps. But take that with a grain of salt, because I don't know how much trust/faith/belief one should put in that book.

[Cheesecake]

sonrisa, here's some more info.
I definitely don't just want to be fear mongering, but this crap truly, absolutely scares me. The biggest problem is that shippers/merchants worldwide really try to hide this stuff from the public as much as they can, continuously denying claims. However, independent research proves time and time again that there's just so much toxins in those containers.
The ones from Asia are the worst, there are no rules there at all. The US still allows a lot of stuff that has been banned in Europe, but they do set some limits to quantities used, however, shippers break those rules all the time. The fine they get for being caught is much lower than the cost for them of losing a container of products due to insects, fungi or molds and safe methods of fumigation, or labeling containers as fumigated is on average much more expensive than getting caught once in a blue moon as well... It's sad.

That said, here's some info from other sources than myself.

From FNV Bondgenoten website in NL (they have this researched continuously, only available in Dutch though.)
The most used toxins in sea containers whether or not it's shipped on wooden pallets or just boxes in the container or other ways of packaging doesn't really matter are:
Bromomethane
Formaldehyde
Sulfuryl fluoride
Phosphine
Chloropicrin
1,2 dichloorethane (not sure if that's the correct English translation)
Ammonium
Hydrogen cyanide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon Monoxide

There are others used as well, but these are the most used. They're used in between 17 and 33 percent of all sea containers, but only labeled as such in about 40-50 percent of the time.

More later, gotta run to my 3D u/s now.
-------------------

ETA:
A couple of links to articles about it:
www.worldcrunch.com/world-affairs/toxic-shipping-containers-may-be-contaminating-your-food-and-clothes/shipping-health-cancer-imports-ikea/c1s10701/
(I worked for Jan de Jong, who's mentioned in the article, in 2009, which is why this became one of my obsessions. The German researchers mentioned in this article told me about research they did which showed that in some instances it takes 3 years for products to be absolutely completely free of the residual toxins. In most cases airing things out in a ventilated space for 6 weeks will clear products of residual toxins - especially important with mattresses and other materials that come in very close contact with skin and the respiratory system, but can't be put in the washing machine - shoes are another known culprit, those nice bendy soles of kids' shoes usually stay that way during shipping thanks to insane amounts of formaldehyde.)

www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDQQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.safeworkaustralia.gov.au%2Fsites%2Fswa%2Fabout%2FPublications%2FDocuments%2F750%2FHazard-Surveillance-Residual-Chemicals-Shipping-Containers.docx&ei=yAP5UfaDEsbAPJHygPgM&usg=AFQjCNGfjroq0OftCXrUlaOonguP9nZq0Q&sig2=nnpzgNE3aOws2HDJk5n28g&bvm=bv.49967636,d.ZWU
This is a download/word doc, with a report from Australia. On Page 6, under "Containers", it states they checked non-palletised cardboard boxes. On Page 7 under product sampling, they specifically speak of wooden furniture, The paragraphs above that state the worst toxins they found and the amount of containers they found them in.

Now all this obviously is researched for the effects on the dock workers, so whatever they encounter will always be more than you're bringing into your home, however, you never know how long it's been in the container, out of the container, whether the warehouse it was stored in was well ventilated, so you never know if products have had a chance to defumigate. 

[pescalita]

It's totally up to your comfort level and it's okay to say no, even if it's "only" because you want new. Feel free to blame it on safety standards either way.

Personally, I find current safety standards for baby items to be excessively cautious, and I like to look into them more before ruling out any products. Drop side cribs caused 32 deaths from 2000-2011. That wasn't enough risk for me to turn down our hand me down crib, considering I'm 5'2" and couldn't put my child down on the lowest mattress setting without the drop.