
Fisher-Price Recalls Rock ’N Play Sleeper Linked to Infant Deaths - jonas21
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/12/business/fisher-price-rock-n-play-recall.html
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beager
I respect that they recalled it amid the pressure, but I feel for all the
families, including mine, who would be SOL without the rock n play. It was the
only thing that worked until 4 months.

I also really feel for the families who lost their babies this way. What an
unfathomable horror.

~~~
rhino369
My newborn was laying in one when I read the story. It was a very useful
product, but I can't imagine losing my baby.

I'll have to research a safe alternative.

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xienze
At the risk of being “that contrarian guy”, I’m going to say it: this danger
here is overblown. And yes, I used a Rock ‘n Play for my firstborn and I plan
to use it for the one on the way. The reason these children died is because
the parents were putting them in Rock ‘n Play after the point at which the
children could roll over by themselves, which F-P explicitly said NOT TO DO.

It’s a great product if you use it the way you’re supposed to...

~~~
eridius
The initial warning last week said this was due to infants over 3 months who
were capable of rolling and not using the harness. They also said only 10
deaths.

Consumer Reports did an investigation and discovered 32 deaths, including some
where the infant was less than 3 months old and died without rolling over.

> _There is, for example, the mother in Hidalgo County, Texas, who placed her
> 2-month old daughter on her back for a night’s sleep on Oct. 19, 2013,
> according to a lawsuit filed by the family against Fisher-Price. At 4 a.m.,
> when the mother checked, all was well, but by 7 a.m., the baby had stopped
> breathing. Her head was tilted to the side with her chin on her shoulder,
> compressing her airway. She was pronounced dead at the scene from positional
> asphyxia, or an inability to breathe caused by her position._

> _The most recent deaths CR found occurred in spring 2018—one involving a
> 1-month-old girl in Knoxville, Tenn., and the other a 9-day-old boy in
> Copperas Cove, Texas._

There's another where a 7-week-old nearly died with their grandmother in the
room, but thankfully she noticed the kid turning blue and lifeless and got him
breathing again in time.

At this point I had to stop reading the article, it was upsetting me too much,
but you can keep reading if you want to:
[https://www.consumerreports.org/recalls/fisher-price-
rock-n-...](https://www.consumerreports.org/recalls/fisher-price-rock-n-play-
sleeper-should-be-recalled-consumer-reports-says/)

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ethagknight
The only way my three kids would sleep at night was in one of these. Probably
acid reflux, but it’s a bummer these are getting recalled. I don’t really
understand how a child could suffocate in a rock and play any more so than in
a traditional crib.

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in_cahoots
In addition to rolling over and suffocating, young babies with weak neck
muscles died through positional asphyxia. Their heads tilted to one side and
closed off the airways as they slept. It’s the same reason infants aren’t
supposed to sleep in car seats outside of the car- the additional risk is
worth it while driving, but not while stationary.

~~~
nikofeyn
are neck braces ever used then?

~~~
in_cahoots
I’ve never seen one. The best workaround is the SNOO, a ‘smart’ bassinet that
is flat, rocks the baby, and is certified as a safe sleep surface.
Unfortunately it costs upward of a thousand dollars while the Rock N’ Play
only costs $40.

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claydiffrient
Tragedy that this has happened. That being said, I'm not sending mine back.
I've had it for 5 years since our first was born and my third uses it
regularly now.

The babies don't sleep in it during the night. I buckle them in and I use my
foot to help soothe them to sleep next to me while I work at my desk. If they
sleep in it, I'm awake and alert and with them.

~~~
debt
"The babies don't sleep in it during the night."

Yeah I get a feeling people were using these to kind of get out of soothing
the baby at night. People were putting their baby in it and like walking away
or going back to bed.

The Snoo I think is what most people want, but it's pretty expensive. But you
can put the baby down, restrain them properly and then walk away or go to bed.

~~~
sanderjd
> _get out of soothing the baby at night_

I don't think you meant it this way, but just a note: it's not selfish for
parents to prioritize getting some sleep for themselves at night. It is not
good (or safe) for anyone if all the care providers are too sleep deprived to
function.

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wincy
Cosleeping solves both problems. A sober adult will not roll over onto the
baby and a mother can sleep through even feeds. Around month three of our
first child my wife commented that it was amazing our daughter was sleeping
through the night without feeding. But she’s just fuss a little and my wife
would roll over and feed her on demand without waking up. It was so easy for
both of us.

~~~
octorian
Co-sleeping is basically at the very top of the list of things "they" say YOU
SHOULD NEVER EVER DO, OR YOU ARE A TERRIBLE PARENT. So I don't think its fair
to recommend it as an alternative to pretty much any other sleep contraption.

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noja
Lots of (surprisingly angry sounding) people in this thread blaming sleep
deprived parents for not reading the manual of something that Should Just
Work.

Comparing the risk to driving a baby around in a car is a fallacy.

The product is badly designed: once the baby can turn over there is a risk of
suffocation _and the product does not allow for that_ (but it should).

A better comparison is to compare this product to the same product without the
design faults, be that mesh fabric or whatever.

~~~
in_cahoots
The problem is actually worse than that: even if you buckle your baby in it’s
still unsafe for unmonitored sleeping as the baby’s airway can compress due to
the incline. Using the product as the picture and text on the box depicts
(sleeping next to Mom as she sleeps in bed, great for ‘all-night’ sleep) risks
death. The initial CSPC statement and the company’s response all
(deliberately?) ignore that issue and those deaths.

The American Academy of Pediatrics is clear: the only safe way to sleep is on
a baby’s back, with no padding and on a flat surface. This product was never
certified for safe sleep; Fisher-Price calls it a ‘sleeper’ instead of a
regulated term like bassinet or crib to get around this fact.

~~~
stevenhubertron
Exactly. The CEOs should be charged with murder and the company sued into
extinction. There is clear intent to mislead new parents into thinking this is
safe.

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kcmastrpc
It's really important to read the article:

Mattel said in a statement on Friday that it stood by the safety of its
products but agreed to the voluntary recall “due to reported incidents in
which the product was used contrary to the safety warnings and instructions.”

People would put stuff in the crib with the baby, padding, leave them
unattended, etc. The product isn't at fault, it's the parents who are too
stupid to read/follow directions.

~~~
lmkg
Proper safety engineering accounts for human factors. Blaming the parents is
improper.

Safety-critical fields like aviation assume that trained, certified pilots are
fallible and design their systems to be resilient against human error. This is
a product design to be sold to and used by not just laypeople, but laypeople
who have probably only gotten four hours of sleep in the last four weeks.

~~~
ip26
How do you engineer away the ability to put blankets in a rocker, or crib for
that matter?

Aviation tackles a lot of this with rigorous checklists, drilling, and
constant ongoing training. They don't just design the plane to be impossible
to fly wrong.

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blub
Engineering the rocker/crib out of existence is a valid solution if it's prone
to misuse and that's what they did.

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objektif
Whats a safer alternative to these things?

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octorian
Following a strict list of guidelines that ensure the infant is in the most
uncomfortable position imaginable, making absolutely certain that they are
physically incapable of falling asleep _.

(_ without first screaming until 4am)

~~~
objektif
Haha that sounds about right. I meant to say is there a magical product that
will set them to sleep for 8 hours straight without pooping, peeing and that
will burp them occasionally?

~~~
octorian
Its called hired nighttime help. We did that with #2, after the experience of
going through hell with #1. (Thankfully, both became quite easy to deal with
after a few weeks. But at the beginning, its hard to see past the next 24
hours.)

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barking
Tangential point here, I found the range of prices for this amazing, $40 to
$140. Why aren't shops who gouge people getting called out more often?

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antidaily
We have 3 of these. Youngest is too small to roll over in it. But i guess we
shouldnt risk it. Yikes.

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leesalminen
My partner and I are expecting our first child. She was building out a
Wishlist on Amazon for things we’d need. Most of what was picked was not on
Prime, was not sold by Amazon.com and had few (<10) reviews.

We had to have “the talk” about Amazon and how looking for “deals” on crap to
buy the baby isn’t smart. I wouldn’t buy replacement windshield wipers for my
car on Amazon, let alone a crib the baby would sleep in.

~~~
evmar
I believe you have been downvoted because your comment is irrelevant to the
article. As far as I understand it, Rock 'n Play and similar are dangerous for
infant death not because of their construction quality, but because the shape
of the device is fundamentally unsafe.

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macspoofing
You're correct, but given the problems that Amazon has with counterfeit goods
and allowing the sale of uncleared products in regulated categories, OP does
have a point.

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caprese
an irrelevant point in this article thread because nobody talking about this
fisher-price toy is a cheapskate.

everyone here already agrees, now lets talk about this issue at hand.

