U.S. product safety regulators and Fisher-Price are telling parents not to let their infants fall asleep in the company's rockers after 13 infants died while on their devices between 2009 and 2021. Axios reported that the announcement is being called a "safety notice" and not a recall, according to Fisher-Price's parent company Mattel.
The deaths occurred when the babies fell asleep in Fisher Price's Infant-to-Toddler and Newborn-to-Toddler rockers. The American company and U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said the rockers should never be used for sleep, and babies should never be left unrestrained or unsupervised in them.
Fisher-Price, which is a division of El Segundo, California-based Mattel Inc., recalled a similar product last year when four infants died after the babies were placed on their backs unrestrained in the 4-in-1 Rock 'n Glide Soother. Those fatalities, all of whom were children under the age of 4 months old, transpired between April 2019 and February 2020.
A similar Fisher-Price product also recalled in 2019
The CPSC recalled in 2019 a similar Fisher-Price product, the Rock 'n Play Sleeper, after 30 fatalities of infants were reported, according to the Associated Press. Parents, doctors, and consumer advocates had warned Fisher-Price for years that its product was unsafe and should be recalled.
CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. said that a gag order implemented by U.S. Congress in 1981 prevented the federal agency from issuing an immediate warning to consumers without first seeking permission from the product's maker, Fisher-Price. Trumka said the gag order in the most recent case delayed the warning message by two months.
In a news release separate from Tuesday's product warning, Trumka noted that Congress must immediately repeal the gag rule. He added that dangers would remain hidden in people's homes if CPSC could not issue timely warnings.
Sleep surface angle should be 10 degrees or less for infant sleep products
CPSC finalized a new rule requiring infant sleep products to have a sleep surface angle of 10 degrees or less. The said rule goes into effect on June 23, 2022. CPSC and Fisher-Price noted that the best place for infants to sleep is on their back on a firm, flat surface without blankets or other objects near them.
Fisher-Price has sold more than 17 million rockers since the 1990s worldwide. Consumers are encouraged to report incidents involving these or other infant products of Fisher-Price to the CPSC at saferproducts.gov.
The commission said in a statement that parents and caregivers should never use inclined products, such as rockers, gliders, swings, and soothers for infant sleep and should not leave babies in these products unsupervised, unrestrained, or with bedding material due to the risk of suffocation.
A separate warning was also issued on Tuesday, June 14, for Bright Starts and Baby Einstein rockers by the commission and the company Kids2. The company has sold more than 1.8 million rockers worldwide since 2012.
