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What your baby can pull over, fall from or get caught in

The dresser, the stairs, the crib and the blind cord, with the fix the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) publish for each.

The short version

  • Anchor dressers, bookcases and the TV to the wall. A dresser your baby pulls up on can fall.
  • Put your baby on their back for every sleep, on a firm, flat surface with only a fitted sheet.
  • CPSC recommends cordless window coverings. Corded blinds are legal to own, and CPSC found that cord cleats and tension devices are unlikely to eliminate the hazard.

This paper takes six of the hazard categories Goosery uses and gives what CPSC and the AAP tell parents for each, with no advice of ours. In the app, each fix shows up by the time your baby reaches the stage where it matters. Every standard behind the plan is reviewed and signed by a practicing pediatrician. Our paper What your baby can swallow, touch or fall into covers the other six.

Furniture tip-over

Once your baby pulls up, a dresser or bookcase they pull on can fall, and a TV on top falls with it. CPSC recorded 217 tip-over deaths from 2013 to mid-2023: 55% were children aged 1 to 3, and 44% happened in a bedroom[1].

CPSC says to anchor dressers, bookcases, TV stands and TVs to the wall, and to put a TV only on furniture built for one. It also says to keep toys and remotes off the top, so your child doesn’t climb for them[2, 3]. A photo can’t show the strap behind a dresser, so Goosery puts anchoring on the list you check by hand.

Falls

The AAP says to use a changing table with a guardrail on all four sides, and never to leave your baby on it, even strapped in[4].

A 2012 study in the medical journal Pediatrics, of US emergency department visits from 1999 to 2008, found that about a quarter of stair injuries to babies under one happened while someone was carrying them. At the top of the stairs, CPSC says to use only gates that screw into the wall. The AAP recommends gates at both the top and bottom, mounted into the studs[3, 5, 6].

For windows, CPSC recommends window guards, window stops that keep openings to four inches, and keeping furniture away from windows. It says not to depend on screens[7]. Window guards go on Goosery’s list to check by hand.

Entrapment

The danger is an opening that catches a baby’s head or neck. Old accordion-style gates with V-shaped openings caused deaths, and CPSC tells parents to replace them[3, 8].

For railings, the International Residential Code, a building code for houses that the International Code Council writes for states and towns to adopt, generally limits openings to 4 inches in a home built or altered under it[9].

Under a federal rule, home garage door openers made since 1993 must reverse the door when it hits something. CPSC says to test yours monthly with a block of wood on the floor[10, 11].

Sleep setup

This one starts the first night. The AAP says to put your baby on their back for every sleep, on a firm, flat surface with only a fitted sheet: no pillows, blankets or bumpers. Keep your baby in your room on a separate sleep surface, ideally for at least the first six months. The AAP says never to use a couch or armchair for infant sleep, and it cannot recommend bed sharing[12].

Federal rules for full-size cribs say slats can be no more than 2⅜ inches apart, about the width of a soda can, and drop-side cribs haven’t been legal to sell since 2011. A federal law has banned the sale of inclined sleepers and crib bumpers since 2022, but the ban doesn’t reach products already in homes[13, 14, 15, 16].

A row of slats between two rails, with the gap between two slats marked2⅜ inAbout the width ofa soda can
Figure 1. Federal rules for full-size cribs say slats can be no more than 2⅜ inches apart, about the width of a soda can[13, 14].

Sharp edges

CPSC suggests corner bumpers, and latches on drawers that hold knives and other sharp objects. The AAP notes that children can run into glass doors[3, 6].

Cords and strangulation

CPSC staff found reports of 209 fatal and near-miss strangulations on window covering cords among children eight and under from 2009 to 2021, and 100 of them were fatal[17].

Corded blinds are legal to own and common: CPSC staff estimated about 145 million corded custom window coverings in use in 2020. CPSC found that cord cleats and tension devices are unlikely to eliminate the hazard, and it recommends cordless window coverings[3, 17].

CPSC advises keeping baby monitor cords at least three feet from any part of a crib, bassinet or play yard[18].

Sources

  1. Product Instability or Tip-Over Injuries and Fatalities Associated with Televisions, Furniture, and Appliances: 2023 Report. Suchy A. US Consumer Product Safety Commission, February 2024. cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/2023_Annual_Tip_Over_Report_Posted_2024Feb_FINAL_0.pdf
  2. Anchor It, the tip-over safety education center. US Consumer Product Safety Commission. cpsc.gov/Safety-Education/Safety-Education-Centers/AnchorItgov
  3. Childproofing Your Home. US Consumer Product Safety Commission, undated web page. cpsc.gov/safety-education/safety-guides/kids-and-babies/Childproofing-Your-Home
  4. Changing Table Safety. American Academy of Pediatrics, HealthyChildren.org, 2009. healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/at-home/Pages/Changing-Table-Safety.aspx
  5. Stair-Related Injuries to Young Children Treated in US Emergency Departments, 1999–2008. Zielinski AE, Rochette LM, Smith GA. Pediatrics 2012;129(4):721–727. doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-2314
  6. Home Safety: Tips for Families With Young Children. American Academy of Pediatrics, HealthyChildren.org, 2022; adapted from Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age Five, 7th edition (2019). healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/at-home/Pages/home-safety-heres-how.aspx
  7. CPSC Urges Families to Protect Children During National Window Safety Week. Release 26-384. US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 7 April 2026. cpsc.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/2026/CPSC-Urges-Families-to-Protect-Children-During-National-Window-Safety-Week
  8. Commission Announces Agreement To Halt Sale Of V-Shaped Accordion Style Baby Gates. Release 85-006. US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 1985. cpsc.gov/Recalls/1985/commission-announces-agreement-to-halt-sale-of-v-shaped-accordion-style-baby-gates
  9. International Residential Code, section R312.1.3, Opening limitations, with the accompanying code commentary. International Code Council. codes.iccsafe.org
  10. Safety Standard for Automatic Residential Garage Door Operators, 16 CFR part 1211 (57 FR 60455, 21 December 1992, as amended, 89 FR 18538, March 2024). Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-II/subchapter-B/part-1211/subpart-A/section-1211.7
  11. Non-Reversing Automatic Garage Door Openers Are a Hazard. Safety alert, publication 523. US Consumer Product Safety Commission, undated. cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/garage.pdf
  12. Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Updated 2022 Recommendations for Reducing Infant Deaths in the Sleep Environment. Moon RY, Carlin RF, Hand I; Task Force on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Committee on Fetus and Newborn. American Academy of Pediatrics, Pediatrics 2022;150(1):e2022057990. publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/150/1/e2022057990/188304/Sleep-Related-Infant-Deaths-Updated-2022
  13. Safety Standard for Full-Size Baby Cribs, direct final rule, 4 May 2026. US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Federal Register. federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/04/2026-08632
  14. Crib Safety Tips. US Consumer Product Safety Commission. cpsc.gov/safety-education/safety-guides/cribs/crib-safety-tips
  15. 16 CFR 1219.1(b)(1), for the June 2011 compliance date, and 16 CFR 1219.2 (ASTM F1169), for the requirement. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-II/subchapter-B/part-1219
  16. Crib Bumpers Business Guidance, and Safe Sleep for Babies Act Business Guidance (16 CFR part 1309). US Consumer Product Safety Commission. cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Business-Education/Business-Guidance/Crib-Bumpers
  17. Safety Standard for Operating Cords on Custom Window Coverings, final rule, 87 FR 73189, November 2022, including CPSC staff incident and prevalence data in the rulemaking record. US Consumer Product Safety Commission. Vacated by the D.C. Circuit, September 2023, in Window Covering Manufacturers Association v. CPSC, No. 22-1300. law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/cadc/22-1300/22-1300-2023-09-12.html
  18. Infants and Toddlers Can Strangle in Baby Monitor Cords. Publication 5066. US Consumer Product Safety Commission with the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, 2012. cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/5066.pdf

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