Consumer Reports calls on Fisher-Price and Kids2 to deliver more timely, transparent, and effective recalls of hazardous products
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) today reannounced the recall of Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleepers and Kids2 Rocking Sleepers. Since the recall was announced in April 2019, eight more infant deaths associated with Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleepers and four with Kids2 Rocking Sleepers have been reported to the CPSC.
“Fisher-Price and Kids2 have had years to get their dangerous sleepers out of people’s homes and make their recalls effective, but they have utterly failed,” says Oriene Shin, policy counsel at Consumer Reports. “It is alarming that they haven’t done more to prevent harm with infants’ lives on the line.”
“We hope that the CPSC’s reannouncement of these recalls leads to more inclined sleepers being returned or destroyed. But we should also be clear: at least twelve babies died after the 2019 inclined sleeper recalls were announced, leaving at least twelve families shattered. Fisher-Price and Kids2 failed parents and caregivers, who deserve companies that act more quickly when a product puts babies at risk and deliver timely, transparent recalls that are effective in removing these hazardous products,” Shin adds.
When the Fisher-Price Rock ’n Play Sleeper debuted in 2009, it quickly became a must-have item for new parents with the promise of peaceful sleep for babies—but what the public didn’t know was that the product design did not follow medical advice. In April 2019, a CR investigation exposed the dangers of the Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleeper that was tied to at least 32 infant deaths due to suffocation. Days following the investigation, the CPSC and Fisher-Price announced the recall of the product.
According to CR’s ongoing reporting and today’s news, nearly 100 infant deaths have been linked to inclined infant sleep products like the Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleepers and Kids2 Rocking Sleepers. While inclined sleep products are no longer allowed to be sold, thanks to a new CPSC rule and the Safe Sleep for Babies Act, millions of inclined sleep products may continue to be in people’s homes and put infants at risk.
CR urges parents to stop using inclined sleepers or any other sleep products that don’t meet federal safety requirements. CR also recommends that parents and caregivers take extra caution to ensure that a baby in a rocker is awake, and move an infant that falls asleep in a rocker to a crib, bassinet, or play yard. American Academy of Pediatrics safe sleep recommendations say that babies should be placed alone on a firm, flat surface in their own space, with only a fitted sheet and no added items such as blankets, pillows, padded crib bumpers, or toys in their sleeping space.
++
Media Contact: Emily Akpan, emily.akpan@consumer.org