Help - Advice/Opinions wanted

[soontobedaddy]

Hello. Was looking through the baby bargains book, and I realize that it says absolutely do NOT take on a hand-me-down crib. Well, prior to getting the book, we took a hand-me-down from my wife's sister. It's only 5 years old and not subject to recalls, as we could tell. Upon beginning to assemble it, however, I noticed rust on one of the brackets used to assemble side panels into end panels. And also, a bit of rust underneath the mattress spring board. (Not the side that faces the mattress, but underneath.) Came to learn the crib had been stored in a storage unit. I am very hesitant to continuing to use this crib. My wife isn't sure we shouldn't just try to clean it up, since it was from her sister, after all. However, in my eyes, rust and baby's don't mix. That said, the rust area would not be accessible to baby. Still...I'm uneasy. One of those "navigating through family expectations" situations and I'm trying to tread lightly. Curious to hear feedback. I don't want to be over-protective and paranoid, and don't want to toss out what some may say is a perfectly good crib...but to me, it just doesn't seem right to use.

[diegosmom]

You will find on this board you get a wide range of opinions and they will all contradict eachother. However, that being said, we used a second hand crib for my mother's house and ultimatley used it for our second child. It worked out great. We made sure it had all the requirements of a new crib (measured the spacing between rungs, construction, etc). All we did was buy a new matress. That said, it didn't have any rust on it. I think it's going to be a judgement call for you and since no one can see the amount of "rust" it's hard to give an opinion on it. Good Luck!

[Fairy]

Hi there, welcome to the board!

I would not use the crib if it were me, but I am a snob about having all new stuff for a new baby (hand me downs after infancy are fine with me), and the rust would signal, to me, a red flag. Where there's one issue you can see, there may be other issues you cannot. Also, if it's prone to rust down there, is it metal in other places the baby would get to? I will probably be in the minority, here, but I vote no, here. However, I also do understand navigating the hurt feelings that will ensue if you try to not use it. If you don't use it, your SIL is gonna find that out one day, and telling her why will make her feel bad one way or another. This is why when my friends offered me stuff, I kindly and appreciatively declined every time saying we jsut really wanted all new things for our baby due to our excitement, and everyone accepted that fine.

If you do end up using the crib, make very very sure you get a new mattress no matter what.

Good luck!

-- Fairy

[KrisM]

These boards can be confusing! You got lots of responses on your other post too. Here it is: http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=347048