Amazon and three other retailers have agreed to participate in a recall of Nap Nanny baby recliners, which have been linked to baby deaths. The other retailers include Buy Buy Baby, Diapers.com and Toys R Us/Babies R Us. At the request of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), these retailers have agreed to voluntarily participate because the manufacturer, Baby Matters, LLC, is unable or unwilling to participate in the recall.
CPSC is warning parents and caregivers that these baby recliners contain defects in the design, warnings and instructions, which pose a substantial risk of injury and death to infants. This recall includes the Nap Nanny Generations One and Two, and the Chill™ model infant recliners.
This recall comes after a July 2010 recall issued jointly by CPSC and Baby Matters, LLC that offered a discount coupon to Generation One owners toward the purchase of a newer model Nap Nanny, and improved instructions and warnings to consumers who owned the Generation Two model of Nap Nanny recliners. At the time of the 2010 recall, CPSC was aware of one death that had occurred in a Nap Nanny recliner and 22 reports of infants hanging or falling out over the side of the Nap Nanny, even though most of the infants had been placed in the harness. Subsequently, despite the improvements to the warnings and instructions, additional deaths using the Nap Nanny recliners were reported, including one in a Chill model. Since the 2010 recall, CPSC has received an additional 70 reports of children nearly falling out of the product.
The Nap Nanny is a portable infant recliner designed for sleeping, resting and playing. The recliner includes a bucket seat shaped foam base and a fitted fabric cover with a three point harness. Five thousand Nap Nanny Generation One and 50,000 Generation Two models were sold between 2009 and early 2012 and have been discontinued. One hundred thousand Chill Models have been sold since January 2011. The recalled Nap Nanny recliners were sold at toy and children’s retail stores nationwide and online. All models were priced around $130.
CPSC Lawsuit against Baby Matters
Prior to this December 2012 recall, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) sued Baby Matters, LLC of Berwyn, Pennsylvania. The CPSC complaint (document filed with the court to commence the action) provides some information about the first two infant deaths linked to the Nap Nanny recliner:
On April 17, 2010, a 6-month-old girl died when she suffocated while using the Nap Nanny Generation Two model. She was not secured in the harness. She was found with her face pressed between the Nap Nanny and the crib bumper. The medical examiner determined that the probable cause of the baby’s death was positional asphyxia.
On July 9, 2010, a 4-month-old girl died when she suffocated while using the Nap Nanny Generation Two. The product’s harness was secured around the infant, but it failed to adequately restrain her in the seat. She was found by her mother in the Nap Nanny, with the harness secured but with her head tilted back and her neck hyp0erextended. Her face was pressed against the bumper pad of her crib. The medical examiner determined that the probable cause of the child’s death was position/compression asphyxia.
Child safety lawyer Eric Hageman and his Bad Product Law Team help parents whose children are hurt or killed by defective products.They have won millions for their clients in personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits against manufacturers, distributors, retailers and others.
