Mom’s Warning About The Dangers Of Side By Side Cribs Goes Viral

This mom shared her story about a crib accident in hopes of warning other parents

Baby-proofing is essential for most parents, but unfortunately it’s the dangers you never saw coming that can pose the biggest risk. That’s why one mom has issued a warning to other parents after one of her twins was almost gravely injured by his crib.

Alison Johnson is mom to 18-month-old twins Caleb and Libby, and like many parents of multiples, she rooms her kids together with their cribs side by side. She thought the set-up seemed safe, but in a recent post on her Facebook page, she revealed a frightening situation that’s made her think twice.

“This morning I put Caleb down for his nap,” she writes. “Shortly after he started to cry. After a few minutes, I went in to check on him. He had climbed out of his crib and was stuck between his crib and Libby’s crib.”

Caleb’s body fit between the two cribs, but his head didn’t, and Johnson writes that he was “using every ounce of energy he had to hold himself up by his little arms.” She adds, “If they had given out, he would’ve just been hanging there by his head… I generally use nap time as an opportunity to shower. Had I done that today and checked on him after five minutes, he would have literally hung himself.”

Caleb walked away from the incident unharmed, but Johnson says it terrifies her to think about what could’ve happened. “When baby proofing, I never in a million years would have seen this as a potential danger,” she explains. “It’s incredibly heartbreaking to think of what the outcome could have been today. I’m still totally shook up over it and don’t think the vision of him stuck there will ever leave my head.”

Johnson’s post has been shared more than 34,000 times since it went up, and many have commented that they too have their cribs positioned like hers and never would’ve realized the potential risk. That’s one of the scariest parts of parenting: as much as we try to stay one step ahead of our kids and eliminate every possible danger, there are still things we miss. It’s impossible for anything to ever be 100 percent safe.

We all like to think we’re on top of things, but accidents can happen in the blink of an eye. It’s brave of this mom to share her story, rather than keeping it quiet for fear of judgment from other parents. Hopefully her message will reach those who most need to see it and prevent other parents and their kids from ending up in the same scary situation.