The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Fisher-Price on Tuesday alerted parents and other caregivers against using the company’s Infant-to-Toddler Rockers and Newborn-to-Toddler Rockers for sleeping children.
The advisory stated “at least” 13 children died in the Fisher-Price rockers between 2009 and 2021, and warned adults never to leave infants unsupervised or unrestrained in the devices.
Fisher-Price, a division of El Segundo, California-based Mattel Inc., recalled a similar product last year after four infants died after they were placed on their backs unrestrained in the 4-in-1 Rock ’n Glide Soother. Those fatalities, all children under 4 months old, occurred between April 2019 and February 2020.
In 2019, the CPSC recalled another similar Fisher-Price product, the Rock ’n Play Sleeper, after 30 infant fatalities were reported. Doctors, parents and consumer advocates had warned the company for years that the product was unsafe and should be recalled.
CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. said a gag order implemented by Congress in 1981 prevented the agency from issuing an immediate warning to consumers without first seeking permission from the product’s maker. In the most recent case, Trumka said the gag order delayed the warning message by two months.
“Congress must immediately repeal the gag rule,” Trumka said in a release separate from Tuesday’s product warning. “If CPSC cannot issue timely warnings, dangers will remain hidden in people’s homes.”
Trumka commended Congress for passing the Safe Sleep for Babies Act – which President Joe Biden signed into law in May – which makes it illegal to sell or manufacture inclined sleepers for infants.
“In the coming months, CPSC will take on the question of whether products like the Fisher Price Infant-to-Toddler Rocker fall under that ban,” Trumka wrote.
A new rule finalized by the CPSC requires that infant sleep products have a sleep surface angle of 10 degrees or less. The rule goes into effect on June 23, 2022.
“The CPSC will aggressively enforce the rule in order to protect the most vulnerable among us, our children,” CPSC chair Alex Hoehn-Saric wrote in a statement.
Fisher-Price and the CPSC said the best place for infants to sleep is on their back on a firm, flat surface without blankets or other objects near them.
Fisher-Price has sold more than 17 million Rockers worldwide since the 1990s.
