Four more firms to stop selling inclined sleepers amid scrutiny
Four more companies announced they will recall their infant inclined sleepers, the latest step in a renewed push by federal regulators to remove these baby products from the market.
The recalls are notable because the companies - Graco, Summer Infant, Delta Enterprise and Evenflo - agreed to the voluntary recalls with the Consumer Product Safety Commission despite no deaths being directly associated with their products.
The majority of the more than 70 infant deaths tied to inclined sleepers occurred in the Fisher-Price's Rock 'n Play - a popular nursery product recalled nationwide in April 2019, igniting criticism about why the CPSC had not acted sooner.
Medical authorities said the Fisher-Price product violated "safe sleep" guidelines by allowing babies to sleep at a steep angle. And Fisher-Price had invented its sleeper without medical safety testing or input from a pediatrician, a Washington Post investigation found.
A couple of companies joined Fisher-Price in recalling their own versions of inclined sleepers.
But several companies kept selling them. Almost all product recalls are conducted with a product-maker's cooperation. The CPSC has limited options if a company balks.
The four new recalls announced recently are the result of a "sustained pressure campaign" by CPSC officials in recent months to remove the entire class of products from the marketplace, according to a senior agency official who requested anonymity to discuss agency deliberations.
The agency's campaign began after the release in October of a study by an outside expert hired by the CPSC that found the product's design was dangerous. It wasn't just the Rock 'n Play. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences report said all inclined sleepers appeared to put babies at risk of suffocation.
That same month, Robert Adler took over as the new acting CPSC chairman. And agency staff tried new tactics to force the hands of reluctant companies.
In November, the agency announced it planned to eventually ban all infant sleeping devices that allowed babies to sleep at an angle of greater than 10 degrees - effectively banning inclined sleepers. But that rule-making process can stretch on for many months.
In December, Adler publicly congratulated four retailers - Amazon, Buy Buy Baby, eBay and Walmart - for agreeing to stop selling all inclined sleepers in stores or online, regardless of whether they had been recalled.
Then, early this year, the CPSC targeted an inclined sleeper with a rare product safety alert - a message that stops just short of a recall but is clear about the agency's intent. It was the second alert the agency issued in January - but those two were the first in nine years, signaling the resurrection of a tool the agency seemed to have abandoned.
"To date," the agency wrote in its safety alert, "CPSC and Summer Infant have not reached agreement to recall the SwaddleMe By Your Bed Sleeper. CPSC intends to continue pressing for a recall."
That recall has since taken place. Summer Infant's product was joined by recalls for Graco's Little Lounger Rocking Seat, Delta Enterprise's Incline Sleeper and Evenflo's Pillo Portable Napper.
The recalls were applauded by safety advocates.
Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids in Danger, said the group "is glad to see CPSC using their authority to get these dangerous product off the market and out of homes."
Cowles added that she hopes parents listen and stop using the products.