Egads. Makes me really reconsider my "cardboard box" theory of cribs. A cardboard box really IS the best place to put a baby to sleep. No rails to get caught in, no moving parts, no soft bedding that could suffocate, and it's portable! Disposable! Economical!

Sigh...
 

Seriously.

This is quite a conundrum. I'm thinking as long as I stabilize that dropside though, I should be okay... I hope?
 

Can you return the crib? Get the conversion kit? Check freecycle or craigslist for a stationary crib? For a while I felt like maybe I went overboard buying our expensive crib, but now I'm glad I did. It's certainly getting its money's worth anyway!
 

No. Maybe. And I'm too lazy and don't want to deal with strangers. LOL.

Off to see about the conversion kit... I found it once and didn't order it. Fooey.
 

Other thought is to just get a cheap crip (unless these cheap ones pose problems too, but at least it's new) from Babies R Us or something. I would imagine they would sell cheap ones for about $100. It's not like you won't get $100 of use out of it.
I went through something similar after we just bought a Britax seat and were in a fender bender (someone hit us). I contemplated keeping the seat that was replaced...but in the end, I didn't think it was worth it.
Good luck either way. Unfortunately, I don't think there is a right or wrong answer.
 

New crib???