About 62,500 children under the age of five were sent to the emergency room as a result of injuries from nursery furniture in 2007, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The vast majority of those injuries came from falls, with the largest category being head injuries.

Nursery furniture includes cribs, playpens, strollers, high chairs, baby baths, play yards, baby gates, infant carriers, car seat carriers used outside of cars, and other furniture designed exclusively for use by small children. A 2005 estimate by the CPSC puts the average annual number of deaths from nursery products at around 80. In that year, about 30 of those deaths involve cribs, 8 in bassinets, and 11 in playpens.

Statistics about baby deaths from these products are not available for years after 2005, says the CPSC, because the high number of product recalls in the last four years makes these statistics difficult to track.

Most of the deaths and serious injuries occurred in cribs. And while a percentage of these deaths come from non- accident causes like Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, it is important to know the following:

For the most part, the only nursery products that are regulated for safety are car seats and cribs, the very products where children are statistically hurt the most.

As for the rest of the products holding your baby-- furniture safety rules for manufacturers are generally voluntary, not mandatory. And, if there are regulations, those restrictions are constantly changing—often based on the results of lawsuits in which there has already been a tragic injury. You may think that the safety of these products is regulated, but likely it is not.

Additionally, most child products are manufactured overseas, primarily in Asia, where rules are more lax and where there are potentially more dangerous ingredients in the plastic and vinyl products, as well as in the paint.

Even though a playpen or bassinet may seem safe, there really are no regulations on the books to protect the babies in them.

This is an area in which parents will bear a great responsibility for assuring that their children are in a safe environment, especially when they are sleeping. But at the same time, if a child is injured because of poor manufacturing, then the manufacturer or the store where you bought the product may be liable for those injuries.

This is a highly complex area of the law that requires the services of a law firm experienced in litigating injuries form nursery products. The attorneys of Gilbert, Ollanik & Komyatte, P.C. have decades of experience and are nationally recognized in this type of complex litigation. Please contact us for a free initial evaluation.