Every new mom wants the most beautiful nursery.  Beautiful baby bedding is essential for a comfy nursery.  It's fun to decide on colors and fabrics.  It's exciting to choose paint colors and furniture.  But your job doesn't stop here.  You have to make sure that no only is your nursery beautiful, but that it is safe.  The  most important piece of furniture you will every buy is your baby's crib.  You need to make sure that your baby sleeps in a safe crib.

Even the most beautiful nursery doesn't compensate for an unsafe crib.  Buying the most expensive crib is not the only way you can be sure that your crib is safe, but we do advise you to be aware of cribs sold at steep discounts.  Be very careful if you reuse a crib or buy an old crib that your crib meets safety standards.

There are experts who will help you decide which cribs are safe.  Do your homework before you buy a crib. One of the best experts is The  Consumer Product Safety Commission; they have issued new regulations for cribs that are are the toughest in the world.  "Our standards are so rigorous that a new, compliant crib has to go through more than 75,000 cycles of testing (shake test, mattress support tests, slat tests) to get certified" said Scott Wolfson, the Safety Commission spokesman.

Make sure that the crib that you purchase meets these requirements.  Stores that are stuck with old cribs that are being discontinued because they do not meet the new safety standards have donated these cribs or sold them at deep discounts before the June 28th date.  Be careful if you have bought a new crib before that date that was deeply discounted.

"After dozens of babies had tragically been entrapped and died, and millions of defective cribs have been recalled" these stringent tests are justified.  You as a consumer cannot tell the safety of a crib just by looking at it.  As parents and grandparents, we assume that a crib is the one place that you can leave a baby unattended.  We have to trust safety regulations.

It will now be illegal to sell used cribs, too, at least until the cribs meet the new market tests.  Be wary of used and new cribs sold on Craigslist and eBay as well as those sold privately on newsletters and newspapers.  These may not have met the new market tests.

New crib rules are a major victory for the consumer.  New cribs are tested for metal levels.  Machines simulate a child jumping up and down a crib by dropping a 45 pound weight on the each part of the mattress to test the strength of the mattress.  Machines pull back and forth on the the crib railing, 7,000 times a day to test the strength of the screws and bolts.  Even the slats are tested by dangling an 80 pound weight from each one to make sure it does not come loose or snap.

It's now your responsibility as a parent to make sure that your crib meets these new standards for the safety of your baby.