New Mandatory Toddler Bed Standards Passed by CPSC

Federal regulators have approved new guidelines for toddler beds, which are designed to prevent infant deaths. 

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced last week that it had unanimously approved the new toddler bed guidelines, which must be followed by the manufacturers of any toddler bed marketed in the United States. The new rules will also apply to cribs that convert into toddler beds.

The CPSC has received 122 incident reports involving toddler beds since 2005, with at least 43 of those incidents resulting in a personal injury and four resulting in the death of an infant.

The new CPSC toddler bed federal standards include the following requirements:

• The upper edge of the guardrail must be at least five inches above the toddler bed’s mattress.
• Spindle/slat strength testing for toddler beds must be consistent with the testing required for crib spindles/slats.
• Separate warning labels to address entrapment and strangulation hazards must appear on toddler beds.

The new standards go into effect six months after the new standards are published in the Federal Register for all toddler beds that are manufactured in the U.S. or imported into the country from abroad. New standards were mandated in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 as part of a wide array of new child furniture safety rules.

Last year, the CPSC passed new federal standards for cribs as well. The new crib rules require more stringent pre-market testing for safety and durability. The commission also banned all drop side cribs, which had been linked to 32 infant and toddler deaths since 2000 and were suspected in 14 other fatalities.

By June, all cribs on the market in the United States will need to have fixed sides, and hotels, childcare centers and other facilities that provide cribs will have one year to replace any drop side cribs they use.