Old-fashioned drop-sided baby cribs...

[Aunt Marg]

Remember when the railings of baby cribs slid up and down, allowing a parent, babysitter, etc, to more easily lift a baby or toddler in and out of the crib without straining your back?

Another thread topic inspired me to start this thread, based upon my conversation with another member related to restrictions here in Canada that prohibit the sale of such cribs now.

Speaking from the standpoint of a mom, I had two drop-sided baby cribs in service in my home when my children were little, and what a blessing they were. Not only did the cribs serve as sleeping and napping headquarters for my kids, the cribs made for a safe and convenient place for me to change my kids and dress them.

Often, when I had two in diapers at a time, it was a baby under one arm, a toddler under the other, and one-armed style, I'd lift each kid into their crib at naptime/bedtime, something I wouldn't have been able to do with today's fixed railing version, especially at the toddler stage.

Anyhow, though this would make for an interesting topic hearing your take on drop-sided cribs and how they made your life easier when slinging your children in and out through the day, or... what dangers the drop-sided version presented in your home.

Here is a corner picture of one of the cribs I still have from back in the day. Notice the sturdy steel hardware/slide.

 

[Gaer]

yes, My children had one of those.

 

[Aunt Marg]

yes, My children had one of those.

Did you encounter any dangers with it, Gaer? Any close calls?

Was it a blessing (looking back on it now) as to having a drop-sided baby crib at your disposal?

 

[katlupe]

That is the type of crib I had for my son in early 70's. It is also the type my mother had for my brother and me. She always told me a story about putting me down for a nap when I was a baby, not a toddler yet, but a baby. She came back to check on me because I rarely cried and I was not in the crib! She found me down under the crib! I had gotten out somehow and she was never sure how but after that I started crawling and if she left me for a few minutes she'd find me behind the drapes or furniture.

 

[Aunt Marg]

That is the type of crib I had for my son in early 70's. It is also the type my mother had for my brother and me. She always told me a story about putting me down for a nap when I was a baby, not a toddler yet, but a baby. She came back to check on me because I rarely cried and I was not in the crib! She found me down under the crib! I had gotten out somehow and she was never sure how but after that I started crawling and if she left me for a few minutes she'd find me behind the drapes or furniture.

Gosh, now that's unsettling, Kat.

Your story reminds me of an event that happened to me.

I call it the "the wild-goose chase", where myself, dear husband, and several of the neighbours went on a frantic hunt for my missing daughter.

Dear daughter had climbed underneath her crib and fallen asleep in the early part of the afternoon, and while it would seem simple enough to look under the crib and spot her, such was not the case, as I had pulled the crib comforter out of her crib that morning and draped it over the crib railing to air it out, so the comforter was hanging all the way down to the floor blocking my view under the crib.

Had I just kept calm and been methodical about the way I searched, I would have seen her/found her.

I worked myself into a panic and was crying uncontrollably, because I had convinced myself that she had somehow gotten out the door of the house undetected, and someone took her.

 

[katlupe]

Gosh, now that's unsettling, Kat.

Your story reminds me of an event that happened to me.

I call it the "the wild-goose chase", where myself, dear husband, and several of the neighbours went on a frantic hunt for my missing daughter.

Dear daughter had climbed underneath her crib and fallen asleep in the early part of the afternoon, and while it would seem simple enough to look under the crib and spot her, such was not the case, as I had pulled the crib comforter out of her crib that morning and draped it over the crib railing to air it out, so the comforter was hanging all the way down to the floor blocking my view under the crib.

Had I just kept calm and been methodical about the way I searched, I would have seen her/found her.

I worked myself into a panic and was crying uncontrollably, because I had convinced myself that she had somehow gotten out the door of the house undetected, and someone took her.

That would be so scary! How did you finally discover her?

 

[Aunt Marg]

That would be so scary! How did you finally discover her?

By far, Kat, it was the most scariest time I ever had raising little ones. The fear and numbing shock factor on a scale of 1 to 10, was 100.

I found her as a result of methodic backtracking once I pulled myself together (if you can call it that), but I'm certain it shaved a few years off my life.