With a 2-year-old son and another baby on the way, Jeff and Jessica Clochesy are keenly interested in crib safety.

So the Champaign couple were relieved to learn that this week's massive crib recall did not include their model, which they bought secondhand several years ago.

"It's definitely a big deal," said Jeff Clochesy. "You wouldn't want to use something that's not safe."

More than 2.1 million drop-side baby cribs in the United States and Canada are being recalled following reports of four infant suffocations. The cribs were made by Stork Craft Manufacturing of Canada between January 1993 and October 2009.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said the drop-side cribs have a side that moves up and down to allow parents to lift children out more easily. But the agency said there have been 110 incidents of drop-sides detaching from the cribs, and urged parents to stop using the recalled models immediately.

The Stork Craft cribs have had problems with their hardware, which can break, deform or become missing after years. CPSC said there can also be problems with assembly mistakes by the crib owner. These problems can cause the drop-side to detach, creating a dangerous space between the drop-side and the mattress, where a child can become trapped.

The recalled cribs were sold at major retailers including BJ's Wholesale Club, J.C. Penney, Meijer, Sears and Walmart stores and online through Target, Costco and Babiesrus. They sold for between $100 and $400, and were made in Canada, China and Indonesia. Nearly 150,000 of the cribs carry the Fisher-Price logo.

The Clochesys bought their drop-side crib, made by Simmons Juvenile Furniture, two years ago in Wisconsin, where they used to live, and weren't aware of any safety concerns with that model.

"We never even use the side because it's such a pain to use," Jeff Clochesy said, noting that it has a foot lever that looks different from the problematic hardware of the recalled cribs.

He contacted Simmons on Wednesday morning and had an e-mail response within minutes. He said he'd talk with his wife about whether to continue using the crib.

"People are definitely asking questions," said Katie Stafford, managing partner at Babyland in Savoy, which hasn't sold any of the cribs that were recalled and doesn't currently carry any drop-side cribs. "If you've got a drop-side crib, it's something to look further into. As a mom, I would be concerned."

Safety advocates have pushed to eliminate drop-side cribs altogether. More than 5 million have been recalled over the past two years – recalls that were associated with the deaths of a dozen young children.

ASTM International, an organization that sets voluntary industry safety standards, approved a new standard last week that requires four immovable, or fixed, sides for full-size cribs – essentially eliminating the manufacture of drop-side cribs.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is also considering new rules for making cribs safer and could adopt the ASTM voluntary standard as a mandatory one, banning the cribs altogether.

"Most of the crib manufacturers that do still make them are in the process of discontinuing them. People are a little bit nervous about them at this point, since they've had so many recalls," Stafford said. "We're seeing a lot of stationary-side cribs in reaction."

The only manufacturer of drop-side cribs Babyland uses is discontinuing them, she said.

Babyland does sell drop-gate cribs, in which just the top portion of the crib side folds down on a hinge, where an infant can't reach.

"We haven't had any difficulties with those," Stafford said.

Consumers can order plastic kits from the manufacturer to immobilize crib sides. Stafford urged consumers to use only repair kits made by the manufacturer of their specific crib.

"They're familiar with how it works," she said. "They definitely do not all have the same mechanism."

Dr. Carol Rowe, a pediatrician at Carle Clinic in Danville, said she has a stationary crib for her toddler.

"I wasn't a big fan of (drop-side cribs)," she said. "Anytime you have moving parts, that's more things that can break or go wrong."

She advised parents to check the Consumer Product Safety Commission Web site to see if their model is affected.

By law, cribs must be labeled with manufacturer's information, the date it was made and the model number, Stafford said.

The Juvenile Products Manufacturing Association issued a statement urging parents to inspect cribs to ensure all the parts are in place and secure when they assemble a crib. A properly assembled crib is still the safest sleep environment for a child, the association said in a statement.

In the Stork Craft recall, the manufacture date, model number, crib name, country of origin, and the firm's name, address and contact information are located on the assembly instruction sheet attached to the mattress support board. The firm's insignia "storkcraft baby" or "storkling" is inscribed on the drop-side teething rail of some cribs.

Consumers can contact the company, 877-274-0277, to order the free repair kit, or log on to www.storkcraft.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Guidelines for crib safety

The Juvenile Products Manufacturing Association, a nonprofit trade association, issued the following guidelines for parents regarding the safe use of cribs:

– Parents should not use any crib with missing, broken or loose hardware parts. Crib slats or spindles should be spaced no more than 2 3/8 inches apart, and none should be loose or missing. Never use a crib with corner posts over 1/16 of an inch above the end panels (unless they're over 16 inches high for a canopy).

– Never place infants to sleep on pillows, sofa cushions, adult beds, waterbeds, beanbags or any other surface not specifically designed for infant sleep. Never place the crib near windows, draperies, blinds or wall-mounted decorative accessories with long cords.

– When using a drop-side crib, parents should check to make sure the drop side or any other moving parts operate properly. Parents should be sure that hardware is installed properly. When assembling and disassembling drop-side cribs, parents should always confirm that the parts are reassembled following the manufacturer's guidelines as listed in the instructions.

– Always check all sides and corners of the crib to ensure proper assembly with no openings that may trap a child. The crib mattress should fit snugly with no more than two fingers width, one inch, between the edge of the mattress and the crib side. Otherwise, the baby can get trapped between the mattress and the side of the crib.

– Do not try to repair any side of the crib without manufacturer-approved hardware.

– Putting a broken side up against the wall does not solve the problem and can often make it worse.

On the Web

Consumer Product Safety Commission: http://www.cpsc.gov

Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association: http://www.jpma.org/