Stop Using Crib Bumpers

Baby safety seems to change all the time and now a classic nursery decoration needs to stop being used.

If you found the perfect crib set for your new baby's room, there is one piece you don't want to use.

Doctors say the crib bumpers are not safe and could be the cause of a recent uptick in infant deaths.

Though crib bumpers are not federally regulated a study in the most recent Journal of Pediatrics shows that infant death caused by crib bedding has tripled in the last seven years. And doctors say it's the crib bumpers that are the most dangerous.

Bumpers are such a suffocation problem that both Chicago and the entire state of Maryland have banned bumper sales in stores.

Parents are now encouraged to use mesh bumpers if they insist on using them at all. These mesh bumpers are more breathable, so if your baby rolls into them and can't roll away they can still breath and not accidentally suffocate themselves.

Parents have been warned about crib bumpers for years and Consumer Reports has put them on their "13 dangerous baby products to avoid" list since 2012.

Still parents are buying and using them and sadly infant deaths have resulted because of them. As one doctor put it,

People think they are buying a product that's protecting their infant from hurting themselves, but bottom line is they serve no real purpose."

So if you have bumpers in your baby's crib...many studies say stop using them!