WASHINGTON — The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday that Simplicity Inc. is recalling about 400,000 cribs that put babies at risk of death by suffocation.

The commission said consumers should stop using the cribs immediately.

An eight-month-old baby in Houston, Texas, died when it got stuck between the mattress and a defective drop-down side of the crib.

Plastic hardware on the crib can break or deform, the commission said, causing the drop side to detach and creating a gap where babies can fall in. The commission reported another 25 instances of the drop-side detaching.

The maker of the crib, Reading, Pa.-based Simplicity Inc. appears "to no longer conduct day to day operations," the commission said in its statement about the recall.

The cribs were sold at department stores, children's stores and other retailers around the country from January 2005 to June 2009. They cost between $150 and $300. The commission said the cribs should be returned to the store where they were purchased.