WASHINGTON — Consumer safety officials once again warned parents Monday about two 2019 infant sleeper chair recalls — the Fisher-Price Rock n' Play and Kids2 Rocking Sleepers — saying more deaths were reported after the recalls were announced.
Editor's note: The video above is from the initial Rock n' Play recall in 2019.
"We are issuing this announcement because, despite their removal from the marketplace and a prohibition on their sale, babies continue to die in these products," Consumer Product Safety Commission Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric said in a statement. He warned families who still have the sleepers to stop using them immediately.
A new CPSC notice said approximately 70 infant deaths have been reported since Fisher-Price's 2019 recall of 4.7 million Rock n' Play sleepers. Most of those happened before the recall and were reported later, but some happened afterwards — when the products were off the shelves.
"We now know of approximately 100 infant deaths in the Rock n' Play, including eight that happened after the recall was announced," Hoehn-Saric said.
Another notice reannounced a smaller 2019 recall of Kids2's Rocking Sleepers, which included 694,000 sleepers in total. It said 11 reported deaths happened before the recall, and another four happened after the recall was announced.
"Unfortunately, today’s announcement highlights the fact that these products are still in too many homes, and babies continue to be put at risk," Hoehn-Saric said.
Both recalls included all models of the sleepers, which were sold online and at big retailers like Walmart and Target for years until April 2019.
According to the notices, infants died in the sleepers after they "rolled from their back to their stomach or side while unrestrained, or under other circumstances."
It is illegal to sell or distribute recalled consumer products like the sleepers, CPSC says. Hoehn-Saric urged resellers and donation centers to make sure they're not selling or giving away recalled products.
The agency did not specify when the post-recall deaths happened. According to a 2022 Consumer Reports story, recall progress reports showed that Fisher-Price had learned of seven additional deaths by the end of 2020. The site also found a 2021 CPSC incident report on the death of a sleeping four-month-old who died after rolling over in a Rock n' Play.
Consumer Reports said as of December 2020 — the most recent data available in reports it reviewed — only about 8% of the recalled Rock n' Play sleepers were accounted for. While low response rates are common in consumer recalls, the site's product safety advocates called on Fisher-Price to "redouble its efforts to get these sleepers out of consumers’ homes."