After at least 13 infant deaths in rockers manufactured by Fisher-Price, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission warned customers about the risks of inclined products for children in the first months of life.
The deaths occurred in the past 12 years and were associated with the Infant-to-Toddler Rocker or Newborn-to-Toddler Rocker, according to an announcement by Commissioner Richard L. Trumka Jr.
Expert guidance from doctors and the agency says that infants should sleep only on flat surfaces.
Safe sleep
“No inclined product, made by Fisher-Price or any other company, is safe for infant sleep,” Mr Trumka said. “Only a flat, firm surface is safe.”
A different company product, a Fisher-Price sleeper, was recalled in 2019 after being linked with at least 10 deaths.
The risks associated with sleepers and rockers
Sleepers and rockers are similar products, said Dr Ben Hoffman, chair of the Council on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention of the American Academy of Pediatrics. They both place the infant at an incline.
Babies under four months old don’t have the strength to roll over on a flat bed, but the shape of these products allows them to do so.
This can cause them to suffocate with the material on either side, as they can’t roll their bodies onto their backs. Additionally, the angle of these rockers can obstruct infants’ airways.
A Fisher-Price representative said in a statement that the safe use of its rockers includes not using them for sleep, never leaving the child unsupervised or unrestrained, and not adding any bedding material.
