What to know about today’s baby product recall
U.S. PIRG Education Fund
CHICAGO — A year after the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warned parents not to use nursing pillows and loungers for infant sleep, the CPSC and The Boppy Co. announced a recall Thursday of 3.3 million newborn loungers.
The recalled products are the Boppy Original Newborn Loungers, Boppy Preferred Newborn Loungers and Pottery Barn Kids Boppy Newborn Loungers. They all have the same risk that the CPSC warned about in October 2020 — babies potentially rolling off, rolling over or falling asleep, ending up in a position that can obstruct their breathing.
The CPSC said it is aware of eight infant deaths associated with the Boppy Co. Newborn Lounger from December 2015 and June 2020. Acting CPSC Chairman Robert S. Adler said, “Since we know that infants sleep so much of the time — even in products not intended for sleep — and since suffocation can happen so quickly, these Boppy lounger products are simply too risky to remain on the market.”
In the CPSC news release, a Boppy spokesperson said the company was “devastated to hear of these tragedies” and “Boppy is committed to doing everything possible to safeguard babies, including communicating the safe use of our products to parents and caregivers, and educating the public about the importance of following all warnings and instructions and the risks associated with unsafe sleep practices for infants. The lounger was not marketed as an infant sleep product and includes warnings against unsupervised use.”
In response, Hannah Rhodes, Consumer Watchdog Associate with the PIRG Education Fund, said:
“Knowing how much babies sleep, it’s a shame that parents have to read the fine print on products that they assume will be safe for their baby to sleep on. We applaud the CPSC for taking the Boppy newborn loungers off the market, but the work doesn’t stop there. We urge the CPSC to review other items like the Boppy newborn loungers and take the dangerous ones off the market.
“Parents can still buy similar products and unknowingly put their babies at risk of suffocating, because of a lack of awareness of the dangers. The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation needs to pass the Sunshine in Product Safety Act out of committee and repeal Section 6(b) that ties the hands of the CPSC from informing the public quickly of dangerous products.”
***
Consumers should stop using the Boppy newborn loungers immediately and contact the Boppy Company for a full refund. Customers can call 1-800-416-1355 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or visit www.boppy.com and select “Recall & Safety Alert” at the top of the page.