posted
I'm sure most of you are aware of this, since it's been out a week, but I thought it worth mentioning. Link to recall page
quote:Infants Strangled to Death in Simplicity Bassinets: CPSC Urges Consumers To Stop Using Simplicity 3-in-1 and 4-in-1 Convertible “Close-Sleeper” Models WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is urging parents and caregivers to stop using convertible “close-sleeper/bedside sleeper” bassinets manufactured by Simplicity Inc., of Reading, Pa. CPSC has learned that on August 21, 2008, a 5-month-old girl from Shawnee, Kan. was strangled to death when she became entrapped between the bassinet’s metal bars. This is the second strangulation death CPSC has learned of in the close-sleeper bassinets. On September 29, 2007, a 4-month-old girl from Noel, Mo. became entrapped in the metal bars of the bassinet and died.
CPSC is issuing this safety alert because SFCA Inc., the company which purchased all of Simplicity Inc.’s assets at public auction in April 2008, has refused to cooperate with the government and recall the products. SFCA maintains that it is not responsible for products previously manufactured by Simplicity Inc.
quote:Due to the serious hazard these bassinets pose to babies, CPSC urges all consumers to share this safety warning with day care centers, consignment stores, family and friends to ensure that no child is placed to sleep in a Simplicity convertible bassinet covered by this warning.
Please share this information with anyone you know who might possibly have one of these bassinets!
What is worst about this to me, is that this is the SECOND child to die in this bassinet, and no action was taken until now, despite the construction violating federal safety laws.
The father of the child searched to see if they had missed a recall after their baby died, and only then found the local news stories about the first baby who died. The first baby's parents urged a recall but none was ever put out. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
When I heard about this earlier this week, I was totally disgusted that SFCA would refuse to cooperate with the safety commission and issue a recall. I understand that they didn't manufacture the bassinet, but it just seems unconscionable to me that they'd be so callous about it.
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Not only callous, but an extremely bad business decision. How much does it hurt in the long term to be known as the company that doesn't care whether its products kill babies, compared to having to buy back or retrofit a few thousand bassinets?
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Oh my goodness. We have one of those!! We RARELY used it because Katababy didn't like it. She sleeps with us. I didn't put it together, so I was unaware the gap between the metal bars was even there--the material folds over it.
That picture IS heartbreaking and makes me want to cry.
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
There is a lot of misinformation about co-sleeping, and it would be easy to come to the conclusion, as you evidently have, that it is unsafe. Co-sleeping can be done safely, just as putting a baby to sleep in a crib can be done unsafely.
It is true that certain organizations discourage cosleeping, and they tend to make blanket statements against it rather than stating why it can be dangerous and how those dangerous situations can be prevented. Sleeping with an impaired parent, on a couch, with soft bedding, with a non-parent, in a bed with dangerous gaps between the mattress and other parts of the bed are all ways that cosleeping can be very dangerous. Some of the dangers of cosleeping are the same as the dangers of sleeping in a crib, and they all must be avoided.
I made an informed decision regarding the safety and well-being of my child when I chose to cosleep. I believe that my decision has made her happier, healthier, and yes, safer, than if I had put her in the traditional crib down the hall. I don't judge other parents for choosing differently, and I expect the same courtesy.
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
It's okay. I didn't know him before, but his comment is enough to make me put him on my permanent ignore. I don't let "Internet People" upset me. (Well, not for long, anyway.)
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
That comment put me on your permanant ignore list...Wow.
Do you dispute the fact that many babies are killed or injured while co-sleeping with their parents?
Do know that the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission both recommend that you should not co-sleep?
I understand that it is a touchy subject anytime you are intentionally putting your child at risk with careless behavior.
I sometimes feel a bit guilty when I let my 11 year old ride in the front seat and my 3 year old ride in a booster seat instead of a car seat.
Posts: 571 | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Did you know that co-sleeping has been the subject of many myths and that studies done haven't necessarily controlled for some of the variables proven to increase risk of SIDS? Did you also know that your tone is way rude?
And yeah, I would feel guilty, too, considering my four and a half year old is still harnessed and has at least a few years to go before outgrowing her seat, the iliac crest is fully developed around 5.5 to 6 years so I don't intend to let her in a booster until then, and I sit in the back seat MYSELF if I can, it's so much safer (but state law says kids under 12 MUST be in the back unless all other seats are occupied, here.) But then, carseats are kind of my "thing..."
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
There are safe and unsafe ways to co-sleep. Just like there are safe and unsafe ways to transport a child in a car.
Posts: 289 | Registered: Jan 2002
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quote:How do you drive from the back seat. That seems pretty unsafe...
That would be why she said "if I can." Presumably that doesn't include when she's driving.
At least, that's the presumption anyone intending to discuss things, rather than simply be rude to others, would make.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Minerva: There are safe and unsafe ways to co-sleep. Just like there are safe and unsafe ways to transport a child in a car.
In context, it would be more correct to say that there are safe and unsafe ways to co-sleep, just like there are safe and unsafe ways to transport an underage child in the front seat...
And yeah, I didn't really think Ms. Kerry was drving from the backseat... duh.
Posts: 571 | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
I've read a couple of articles giving more information on the company that bought Simplicity's assets and their refusal to do a recall: Here and Here.
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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