Baby dies in cot - designer admits liability.

However, tell me honestly would you put a 7 month old baby in a raised bunk type bed with no adequate restraints at the side and gaps as big as that between the rails?

Absolutely not Maw. This kind of bed is surely only meant for an older child, not a 7 month old baby !

I certainly wouldn't consider putting a seven month old in bed like that!
Maw, I totally agree, where was common sense?
What a terrible tragedy. ?

Ye Gods! Can people not think for themselves? How on earth can that bed be suitable for a seven month old?

It's crazy that the designer felt he had to admit liability when the bed was obviously designed for an older child.

The blame lies squarely with the parents, but of course it's always the fault of someone else isn't it?

Maw I thought exactly the same when I saw the photo.

Yes, I was gobsmacked when I saw the bed and the age of the unfortunate child who died. Never in a month of Sundays would I put a child that young in a bunk bed. Mine were in a proper cot until they were standing up and, one of them, climbing out of it

Jurors heard the couple were told by the designer the bed was suitable for children aged six or seven months and their son first started using it on 28 October 2016.
In a statement read during the trial, Mrs Abbey, 23, said: "At no point was I advised that it was not suitable."

The mother claims that the designer said the bed was suitable for a child that age - but anyone with an ounce of common sense can see that it is not.

How tragic.

We don't know if that is the truth though - perhaps the designer said it was suitable for a child of 6 or 7 years. Even so, it still looks quite dangerous without a guard rail all the way along.

I agree Merlotgran why can people not think for themselves without having to be told what is patently obvious. So sad for the poor child.

Just seen the cot. How can anyone think that it is suitable for a 7month old baby is beyond me.

That bed looks more suitable for a 4 or 5 year old. No way would you put a 7 month old baby in an elevated bed, with a slide, steps and no guard. Terrible way to learn a harsh lesson isn't it?

I don't think this is an isolated case.
Other small babies have died having been put into bunk beds to sleep by their parents.

I don't understand how lacking in common sense some people can be.

I assume the child was sleeping in the bottom bunk? There are clear standards for the width of cot rails for the very reason that children can get stuck. If the designer ignored the standards and was selling the beds as suitable for babies he is at fault. H&S rules really are important because as we see some folk cannot make good judgements without guidance.

www.babycentre.co.uk/a418/safety-in-your-babys-bedroom just reading this would have been useful to all concerned in this tragic case.

Having said that I admit to being foolish. A parent offered me a second hand cot when I had DD1 (1976) and I accepted it..her two kids, that I had taught, had used it. It had an arch shape at each end below the rails. When DD was 9 months she stood on the middle of the arch and climbed over the cot end. From then on she slept on a mattress on the floor until we got a bed for her! So easy to be foolish!

Surely the young baby was sleeping in the bottom bunk?

The bottom bit looks very dark and low - no way would I have put either of my children in there. Trying to make a piece of equipment that suits a tiny baby and toddler old enough to climb up the ladder bit, then down the slide, was always going to be a compromise.

I haven't followed the case - is this the first time a designer has been held responsible I wonder.

I thought the bottom bit was a cupboard Riverwalk
If not, I would certainly not put a child of any age in there.

Thanks for the link MawBroon having seen the picture, I can't believe that anyone would have thought it at all suitable for a baby.

A terrible tragedy.

Riverwalk the last case that I remember about the death of a baby in a cot was when the child slipped between the mattress and frame of the cot and sadly suffocated. Not sure if the manufacturer was sued or not. It was something about the design.

The first link I saw had a photo of a different bed. But even that was unsuitable for a 7 month old baby.

Poor little darling

My thoughts exactly, MawBroon.

The bottom bunk, presumably the 'cot' part of the assembly is like a cage and the sides have bolts on them. There is no room for a child, of even 7 months to sit up in it. I would think it could be airless and very difficult to get a child out of in an emergency like a fire.

Whatever the failings of the design, what parent would think of locking a seven month baby, let alone one any older, in a space so small dark and airless where they could not even sit up?

Utterly clueless.