If you are preparing for the arrival of a baby, you already know how expensive it can be to raise a child. Getting cheap baby furniture may be high on your list of priorities to bring home baby. Cheap baby furniture doesn’t have to be poor quality, either. There is plenty of inexpensive baby furniture which can be functional and fashionable without being poorly made. Cheap baby furniture can come in a variety of styles and colors, allowing for versatility of use from one baby to the next if so desired. There are a variety of places where you can buy inexpensive baby furniture, but it is important to make sure you are getting good quality for a reasonable price.
Tricks To Finding Cheap Baby Furniture
There are a lot of places where you can find baby furniture at a very reasonable cost. You can scour garage sales, thrift stores, and second hand stores for good baby furniture. People will often be willing to get rid of their baby’s old cribs, changing tables, and dressers as their babies outgrow them–particularly families who know they won’t be having any more children in the future. Once the furniture is no longer being used, it makes no sense to store it or to keep it lying around. People will often be willing to let other people take it off their hands for pennies on the dollar. And since babies are typically not very hard on their furniture, you can get a steal on high quality baby bedroom furniture.
Baby Furniture To Avoid
There are a lot of good deals to be had on baby furniture if you know where to look. Conversely, there are some things you should certainly look for to avoid furniture which is shoddy or, even worse, has safety recalls and can result in serious injury of your baby.
Here are some things to avoid when searching for cheap baby furniture:
- Drop side cribs
- Furniture painted with lead paint
- Cribs with cracks
- Cribs with bowed legs, slats, or sides
- Cribs with slats greater than 2 3/8 inches apart
Drop side cribs have recently been in the news for important safety recalls. They have now been banned, and it is illegal to sell drop side cribs in many areas of the country. While many look sturdy and well made, and the idea of being able to move a side of the crib down in order to gain better access to your baby seems good, they can seriously injure or even kill your baby. There were a number of faulty parts involved in the drop side cribs, and part of the crib could pop off track leaving a gap where your baby could fall between the crib side and the mattress. This gap has actually led to suffocation and death in numerous cases.
It may seem self-explanatory to avoid cribs with lead paint, but they are still out there. If you are interested in a second-hand crib or furniture for your baby and are unsure whether or not the paint is lead based, you can do one of two things: You can take your chances and strip the paint, sand the wood, and repaint using a non-lead based paint. Or you can pass altogether. Lead based paints are no longer being used in anything used for children, but some antiques or hand-me-down cribs have often been adorned with lead based paint unbeknownst to many parents. it is better to be safe than sorry, and if you absolutely love a piece and the price is right it may be worth buying, stripping, and repainting on your own.
Cribs with bowed legs, slats, or sides pose the same sorts of risks as those with cracks. While in many cases, it will be just fine and won’t cause any types of injuries, in other cases it represents a weak point in the crib. It can mean that the crib is not durable enough to withstand the weight of your baby, and could be a point of collapse.
Cribs with cracks also seem to be self-explanatory as something to pass on. Often, however, parents think they will fix the crack or that it is minor enough that it won’t affect their baby. A crack which seems small, however, can pose a serious risk to your newborn. It could be a stress crack, and as your baby gets a bit bigger, the whole crib could collapse on your baby. It could also pose a risk by catching your baby’s clothes or even skin as a pinch and scratch hazard to your new bundle of joy.
Cribs nowadays have to meet fairly strict safety regulations, and one of those regulations is that the slats cannot be any more than 2 3/8 inches apart. It seems like a tiny space (about the size of a soda can), and it may seem like your baby cannot possibly get a single part of his or her body into that space, but it can happen. While a baby may not be able to get his head into that space and suffocate, there is the hazard of an arm or leg getting stuck between slats. While it may seem merely uncomfortable, for a delicate baby’s body it can cut off circulation to an arm or leg in just a few minutes and quite possibly result in amputation of the limb if left long enough (overnight). It is extremely important to be sure the slats are no wider than 2 3/8 inches to protect your baby’s overall well-being.
Cheap baby furniture can be found in many places. You can find excellent quality but inexpensive furniture in a lot of different places online, or by scouring garage sales, thrift stores, and antique shops. When looking for cheap baby furniture (particularly if it is second hand or antique furniture), it is extremely important to be aware of what the current safety regulations are. It is also a good idea to look for current recalls on cribs and other furniture so you know what is safe for baby and when the deal is too good to be true. Cheap baby furniture can certainly be one place where you save a little bit of money when bringing home your bundle of joy. Just be sure your cheap baby furniture is only cheap on the pocketbook, and not cheaply made.
