PHOENIX – A mom of twins has a warning for other families that has gone viral after she posted a photo of their cribs and told her terrifying experience on Facebook.
“I’ll never forget the image of him there,” Alison Johnson said.
The image she’s talking about is from an incident a week ago after she put her 18-month-old son down for a nap. A few minutes later, she heard him crying. She went to check on him, never imagining what she would see. Caleb had climbed out of his crib.
“He was between the two cribs, using his little arms to hold himself up and if his arms had given out his head wouldn’t have fit between the slots,” Johnson said
Caleb would have been hanging there — by his head — had Johnson not reacted quickly. She’s since moved the cribs further apart and lowered Caleb’s mattress.
She posted her story on Facebook as a cautionary tale. It’s been shared more than 50,000 times. Johnson said despite the few negative comments, she is glad she posted it.
“It’s really hard to think about,” Johnson told KPHO. “It was pretty traumatizing, the whole thing.”
A twin herself, Johnson said she never saw anything dangerous about putting her twins’ cribs next to each other.
“I wanted that for the bonding,” she explained. “I wanted them to be in the same room, to be next to each other and share those memories.”
But because of the cribs’ woodwork, there was still a 6-inch gap between them – just enough for a small child to slide into.
“I’m thankful we shared this story because I’m totally confident that we’ve saved a life by it,” Johnson said.
Thanks to Johnson’s viral post, she said many moms of twins have reached out, saying they have a similar setup and will now change it.
