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A grieving mother whose baby daughter died in a faulty cot is urging authorities to ban drop-side cots.

7 News reports drop-side cots are already illegal in America and there is growing pressure to stop their sale in Australia.

Carolyn and Colin Possamai cherish their baby girl Shania every day but they also relive the nightmare of finding her tiny sister limp and cold in her cot.

“Colin yelled out she’s dead and I thought she can’t be dead,” Ms Possamai said.
Ten-month-old Natanya had suffocated when her head was wedged between the bars of her cot and the mattress.

“It’s a grief that never really goes away,” her mum said.

Consumer affairs inspectors are determined to prevent more deaths. They are raiding markets and seizing unsafe baby equipment as part of a national product safety crackdown. There is only one thing to do with dangerous cots like these: destroy them.

“You really have to be careful that if you are given goods or you’ve bought them second hand that they haven’t suffered wear and tear,” Consumer Affairs Minister Jane Garrett said.

Natanya’s cot was a pre-loved gift. It looked safe but over time its sliding side had become loose and dangerous.

The problem with some drop-side cots is sliding rails can malfunction due to poorly made or over-used hardware.

This can create a space big enough for a baby to become trapped and suffocate. “We went and bought a fixed-sided cot and it’s easy to use and I tell you what, it’s a lot easier than losing a child,” Ms Possamai said.

In Victoria, a child is injured every three days in a cot accident.

The ACCC is currently reviewing safety standards and drop-down cots. The government has not ruled out a ban.

“Our responsibility is to keep our kids safe and if that is the outcome of the review then that is what will happen,” Ms Garrett said.

Such a tragic event.

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  • Oh dear what a heart breaking thing to happen

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  • how devastating, what a horrible thing to have to deal with

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  • Oh my goodness, this is so horrific. I can’t imagine this happening, I would be so sad.
    Companies definitely need to be super strict with what they put out onto shelves.

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  • Reading this made me sad i couldn’t imagine finding my child not alive I think I will replace the second hand cot I got given

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  • That’s awful, something definitely needs to be done to make them safer.

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  • Such a tragic thing to have happened. My thoughts are with you.

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  • Very sad indeed, my thoughts are with the family.

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  • That’s terrible. This slides in a very weird way. Mine was different. But I wondered it posed the same risks!!

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  • Such a tragedy. I can’t believe how many baby products are not safe. When my boys were babies I had a safety cot which you don’t see nowadays. The top folded back in half and the front was 2 doors. The only unsafe thing you could do was not put the bolt in the slot.

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  • How tragic. I will say though that the dropside cot was the only way I could actually reach into the cot and deal with my little ones. I wonder if there are ways around this kind of thing that allows people like me who are short and with bad backs access to our babies safely?!

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  • I feel for the parents here, however, I don’t think that they should be banned. There should be just better checks done on them to ensure that they are safe. I have a drop down cot myself that I’ve used for both of my kids with no dramas and it would be very difficult for me to be able to reach a baby not able to stand or to change the bedding if I wasn’t able to slide the rail down due to my height.

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  • OMG this is so sad and tragic. I borrowed my sister’s drop-down cot. I thought all cots had a drop-down side. I didn’t even consider checking the tracking or anything. An important reminder.

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  • OMG every parents worst nightmare.

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  • Very devastating. Both my children have/do sleep in a 2nd hand cot with a drop down side (I thought all cots did that? ) thankfully no issues – I made sure the mattress fit snuggly and I know the personnthat gave it to me. I also used a monitor with camera and breathing detector (oricom) highly recommend it, maybe it could have saved this poor baby’s life

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  • How sad for the family. I’m so sorry for their loss xx

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