(NECN/CNN) - It's supposed to be the safest place for your baby in your home: the crib where he or she sleeps. But a series of tragedies prompted a federal agency to take a closer look at one style of crib.
Now regulators are banning drop-side cribs entirely, and enacting tougher safety standards for all models.
Parents trust that when they lay their baby down in a crib, their infant is safe and sound.
but a series of tragedies prompted closer scrutiny of a certain style, the drop-side crib.
"My son Tyler got his neck caught between the side rail and the headboard of his 2-year-old drop-side crib," said Michele Witte, who's son died while in the crib.
So after recalls totaling millions of drop-side cribs, the Consumer Product Safety Commission voted unanimously to ban their sale and production here in the U.S., within six months.
"We will not have these dangerous dropsides that we have traditionally recalled on the market," said CPSC chairwoman Inez Tenenbaum.
The CPSC says crib structural issues resulted in at least three-dozen infant deaths in a three-year-span, primarily due to entrapment and suffocation.
While many retailers have already started to phase out the drop-side design, new federal crib safety standards ban them entirely. The new rules also call for more rigorous testing of crib durability and mattress strength, and also sturdier crib hardware.
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"Today is a very good day for our babies, for our children, and for parents and caregivers," said Rachel Weintraub of the Consumer Federation of America. "There are many babies who died because cribs were not safe, and hopefully that will be in the past."
