Another baby has died in a Fisher-Price Infant-to-Toddler Rocker
Fisher-Price hasn't recalled its rockers, even though the Consumer Product Safety Commission warned parents about them in June 2022
According to an incident report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission that was made public, a 6-month-old baby girl died in a Fisher-Price infant-to-toddler rocker—the same rocker the CPSC and Fisher-Price warned parents about in June 2022, a year and a half before this baby died.
In that warning, the CPSC said the rocker should never be used for sleep, and that at least 13 babies had died in them between 2009 and 2021. They warned parents that these types of rockers should only be used when babies are awake and being directly supervised.
“Parents and caregivers should never use inclined products, such as rockers, gliders, soothers, and swings, for infant sleep and should not leave infants in these products unsupervised, unrestrained, or with bedding material, due to the risk of suffocation,” the warning read.
But despite the warning and more than a dozen babies’ deaths, the product hasn’t been recalled. A similar warning has been issued about a Bright Starts rocker, which was responsible for one infant’s death in 2019. It also hasn’t been recalled.
The incident report from December says that on Nov. 4, 2023, a baby girl was put in a Fisher-Price rocker after falling asleep, and later died. Her parents wrote to the CPSC, “My 6-month-old daughter died in this seat after she fell asleep in my husband’s arms he put her in the seat for 1 hour and 15 mins 2 feet away from him he woke up and she was on her stomach face to the side (she couldn’t even roll over) with our best efforts and calling 911 it was too late she had passed away.”
Another incident report sent to the CPSC in March of 2023 recalled a close call where the baby was thankfully not injured. In that report, a parent said they put their 9-month-old in the Fisher-Price rocker awake, restrained, and supervised. While they were watching, the baby rolled onto her side and got stuck.
“[H]ad I not been sitting there watching her, she wouldn’t have been able to get out of the position,” the parent wrote. “I quickly removed her from the seat and discontinued use.”
The Fisher-Price rocker has been available for sale since the 1990s, and CPSC says the company has sold more than 17 million of them worldwide. Fisher-Price also manufactured the Rock ‘n Play Sleeper, an inclined sleeper that was recalled after it was linked to dozens of infant deaths.