Crib Safety Now Is Also a Travel Issue

Traveling with infants is made easier because most decent-size hotels and motels provide baby cribs, sometimes even playpens. My wife and I took advantage of it when our two were little.

What we didn’t realize until now is that many of those cribs and playpens were less than safe.

A private group called the National Safe Kids Campaign, encouraged by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, recently conducted a national survey to take a look at cribs and playpens at hotels and motels. The statistics are eye-opening:

* Of cribs inspected, 82% had at least one safety hazard.

* Of playpens inspected, 52% were deemed unsafe.

As a result, the commission has asked national hotel and motel chains to join in a campaign to promote crib and playpen improvements for travelers.

“We encourage parents to ask ahead if where they are planning to stay has a system in place to ensure their cribs and playpens are safe,” said Nychelle Fleming, spokes-

woman for the federal commis-

sion.

The Safe Kids people found loose hardware in cribs, or unsecured mattresses in which babies could become trapped. Sometimes the bedding was too soft, which could lead to suffocation. One major problem was that too many such establishments use adult-size sheets in baby cribs. It’s too easy for them to come loose and pose a threat of strangulation or suffocation.

In the playpens, the group found too-soft bedding and tears or holes in the meshing, which can be an entrapment risk to children.

The federal commission reports that as many as 1,000 babies suffocate each year in too-soft bedding. Last year, 40 babies died after getting trapped in broken crib parts or in poorly designed cribs.

Child safety at motels and hotels is important because we’re a nation of travelers. The commission estimates that children under 2 spend about 7 million nights a year on the road with their families.

So what can be done about unsafe conditions?

One big step: Getting the hotel and motel chains to agree to cooperate in a plan to upgrade their cribs and playpens. Sounds simple enough, but it isn’t quite working out that way.

The commission invited 24 national chains to participate in a safety initiative. Only one agreed.

Fortunately, it’s a big one. Bass Hotels & Resorts operates 2,800 hotels worldwide and about 1,300 in the United States. They include the Crowne Plaza, Inter-Continental Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Staybridge Suites brands.

Bass has agreed to hold a Crib Safety Week, when its staff will inspect all its equipment for children and set up a plan for ongoing inspections. Soon, the hotel chain will add such safety information to its Web site, so travelers will know it’s trying to comply.

That doesn’t satisfy commission chairwoman Ann Brown.

“I’m very disappointed that other hotels are not participating,” she said. “Parents who are traveling should not have to worry about the place they put their child down to sleep.”

For the hotels and motels that won’t participate, here are a couple of the basics that consumers should pay attention to:

Make sure the cribs have a certification label from the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Assn. And get retrofit kits for any cribs with loose boards or screws, or in disrepair. One more essential: No adult sheets on crib mattresses.

*

Readers may reach Hicks by calling (714) 966-7789 or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com.