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After at least five infants died while sleeping in a product made by Fisher-Price, the company has recalled more than two million of the product, the Snuga Swing, because it poses a suffocation risk, according to the recall.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Fisher-Price announced the recall on Thursday.
There were reports that five infants, who were one month to three months old, had died between 2012 and 2022 while the product was being used for sleep, the recall said.
“In most of those incidents, the infants were unrestrained and bedding materials were added to the product,” it said.
The recall said the product should never be used for sleep and that consumers should immediately remove the headrest and the body support insert before “continuing to use the swing for awake-time activities.”
However, a commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Richard L. Trumka Jr., said in a statement that the latest recall was “doomed to fail and will keep many babies in harm’s way.”
“Merely warning parents to stop using these products for sleep now will not be as effective as removing them from homes and day cares,” he said. “Fisher-Price cannot un-ring the bell. Dangerous products will remain in homes after this recall.”
He said Fisher-Price is offering consumers $25 in the recall, though the swings sold for about $160.
“I fear that this dangerous approach will keep babies at risk of death just to save Fisher-Price money — a horrible example of putting profit over people,” Mr. Trumka said.
Mr. Trumka said that consumers should throw the swings away. He also noted that past recalls or warnings about other types of infant swings have not stopped deaths from happening.
Mr. Trumka’s views do not reflect those of the commission, according to the statement. Mattel, the parent company of Fisher-Price, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about his statement.
Since 2010, more than 2.1 million Snuga Swings have been sold in the United States and about 99,000 were sold in Canada and another 500 in Mexico, the recall said.
Mattel has an online guide for consumers who want to know if their swing is included in the recall. A list of affected products is also on the commission’s website.
Fisher-Price and other companies have in recent years issued recalls or warnings about inclined infant swings after the products were linked to deaths.
At least eight infants died after the Fisher-Price Rock ’n Play Sleeper was recalled in 2019, the commission said in January 2023. About 100 infant deaths over 13 years were tied to that product.
Also in January 2023, the commission issued a renewed warning about another product that had been recalled in 2019, the Rocking Sleeper, made by Kids II, which has been linked to 15 infant deaths.
In June 2022, the commission and Fisher-Price warned that there had been at least 13 infant deaths linked to the company’s Infant-to-Toddler Rocker or Newborn-to-Toddler Rocker and that they should never be used for sleep.
Swings, and any other inclined seating products, such as rockers, should never be used for infant sleep, the commission said, and blankets and other bedding materials should never be added to them.
The commission said the best way for an infant to sleep is on their backs on a firm, flat surface, such as a crib or bassinet. The surface should have nothing on it but a fitted sheet, the commission said.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has echoed this guidance and said that inclined sleepers are dangerous because an infant may fall asleep in a chin-to-chest position, which can restrict their airway, and they can roll out of the seats and become trapped.
With the Safe Sleep for Babies Act, Congress in 2022 made it illegal to manufacture and sell inclined sleepers for infants.
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