Nap Nanny Recalled After Baby's Death
After the death of a 4-month old baby girl who died while strapped into a Nap Nanny, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced a recall of 30,000 of the popular baby recliners.
The infant, who was properly strapped into the foam-based bed, was discovered hanging over the side of the Nap Nanny, wedged between the recliner and the bumper of her crib. According to the CPSC and Baby Matters, the manufacturer of the Nap Nanny, the recliners are not designed to be used in a crib and should always be placed securely on the floor away from any other products.
While the Nap Nanny was being used improperly in this case, it isn’t the only incident involving an infant falling over the side despite being properly strapped in. The CPSC says they are aware of 22 similar incidents, most involving infants under the age of 5 months.
The Nap Nanny is a recliner that includes a foam base with an indention for the infant to sit in, a fitted fabric cover and a three point harness. The recalled Nap Nanny recliners are the first generation models that were manufactured without D-rings in the foam to secure the harness straps. If your Nap Nanny doesn’t have these D-rings (see photos at the CPSC site), you should immediately stop using it and contact Baby Matters to receive a coupon for $80 off the purchase of a new Nap Nanny with free shipping.
Consumers with a second generation Nap Nanny recliner – those with D-rings attached to the foam base and Velcro straps inside the fitted fabric cover – should also stop using the product until they have visited the Baby Matters website to view new product warnings and an instructional video with details on how to properly fasten the harness. Those who are unable to view the video online can contact Baby Matters to receive the video by mail.
The recalled Nap Nannys were sold at toy and children’s retail stores nationwide and online from January 2009 through July 2010 for about $130.
For more information, contact Baby Matters by calling (888) 240-4282 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or by visiting their website at www.napnanny.com/recall.
If the recall of the Nap Nanny has you wondering just what baby products are safe to buy, you aren’t alone. The CPSC says they are working to ensure product safety and better inform parents about what products are unsafe. Does that make you feel better? Or have you lost faith in the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s ability to ensure that what we buy won’t harm our children?
Image: CPSC
More from this author:
Summer Break Doing More Harm Than Good?
Twilight Teeth: Freaky or Fab?
Forever 21 Marketing Maternity Wear to Teens?
Christmas in July: Are You Ready?
Food Fibs: The Lies We Tell Our Kids
Birds, Bees and Beyond: How Much is Too Much
Is Ghetto Parenting Offensive?
When Good Parents Have Bad Kids
Should We Need a Prescription for Birth Control Pills?
Contact Lenses Give Teens Lady Gaga Eyes
Grouping Kids by Skill Level, Not Grade
Should We Tell Our Daughters They’re Pretty?
I have to say, that thing looks perfectly safe to me. People putting it in the crib probably thought they were being extra safe, protecting from pets or from falling off a table. I also see the appeal. Our GER baby spent many hours sleeping in his bouncy chair because he needed this sleep position. Plus, that thing looks comfortable!
How tragic for the family that lost a baby! Still, I wonder when people will give up on “sleep positioners” and all that stuff and just let the baby sleep on a flat, unadorned mattress (whether in a crib or in the family bed)? How does an infant learn to turn over, change positions, etc. while in a thing like that? It looks comfy to a sleep adult, as Bob points out, but I can’t believe it is a good sleeping choice for a baby. I guess I’m also just trying to figure out what the point of such a product is: either you’re at home with your baby, in which case she or he is napping in a crib or bed, or you’re on the go, in which case the sleeping can be in a sling or wrap, or in your arms, or in the carseat if she falls asleep while driving, or in a stroller or pram while on a walk. Where/when/why would anyone NEED such a thing?
This product looks like it would help babies with gastro-esophageal reflux, as Bob also pointed out. I’d think a 5-pt, not a 3-pt harness would be better, with connections to the foam base. Bottom line is no product is “approved” for a baby to sleep in unsupervised on a regular basis besides an unadorned crib, and deviation from that means a parent takes on the risk. Horrible thought to lose a child over it though.
@Kate: They market it for kids with “colic, reflux, gas, colds, earaches, flu & other special needs”. Babies with issues sometimes sleep better in a position like this (stomach lower than esophagus). I don’t think its a replacement for the crib so much as a replacement for the car seats, which desperate parents are often tempted to bring inside because their babies clearly sleep better in them than flat in their cribs.
[...] Nap Nanny Recalled After Baby’s Death [...]
I think the real issue here is the continued use of bumpers in cribs. They are a suffocation hazard, and should be recalled as well. If there wasn’t a bumper in the crib, this tragic accident may not have happened at all.
Bob, yeah, I get that. I wrote a piece for Babble a year or so ago about how frequently babies are being diagnosed with reflux these days — it’s a bit of a catch-all, and a lot of docs feel it’s overdiagnosed now. That said, I know that some babies really have terrible tummy pain and of course parents want to do anything to make them feel better. The recommendation though is to raise one end of the crib, so that they’re at an incline but not crunched like they are in a carseat (which can be terrible for things like head shape/plagiocephaly!), or in a too-soft, unstable sleeper like this.
[...] to Strollerderby, the recalled Nap Nanny’s are those without D-rings which secure the harness. If your version [...]
[...] Babble (blog) [...]
[...] a little sleeping contraption called a “Nap Nanny” that has been recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission after a four month-old Michigan baby suffocated in one. [...]
[...] into the foam-based bed, was discovered hanging over the side of the Nap Nanny, wedged between [...]Read More Is this post is an invalid post ? Report link and Comment form is available for registered [...]
Amen, hawkeyemom! I don’t understand why people persist in using bumpers? They’re cute, but dangerous, and every single baby safety guidelines I’ve ever read have warned against them.
I am so sorry to hear this, what a wretched thing to happen.
@Kate. Thanks for the judgment. I used the Nap Nanny extensively and thought of it as a “miracle” product because my baby slept so well in it and so clearly loved it. It was very soft, on a flat surface it was extremely stable. My baby never tried to get out of it. I used it as a portable crib for naps so that I could keep an eye on him while he slept and very occasionally when he couldn’t sleep at night due to a cold and needed to be elevated. Yes, of course I also tried elevating the crib mattress, but, for various reasons which I’ll skip, it was never sufficient. I also feel the need to confess that we put the bumpers back on the crib when he scraped the top of his head raw because he liked to sleep with pressure on the top of his head.
Samantha, I wasn’t trying to judge you or anybody else. But if you read the blog post, you’ll see that the baby died while trying to roll over, a normal developmental step for infants, and was unable to do so safely because her parents had chosen this super-comfy soft nap nanny and crib bumpers. A child sleeping on a flat firm mattress with no bumpers or pillows is able to move his or her body freely, learning to roll over and find the best sleep position for that child. That’s not judgment, that’s common sense that any good baby book or pediatrician will pass on.
Common sense sometimes disappoints when you add complexity. Case in point: Once my baby started rolling around, gravity always brought him quickly downhill where we would find him pressed against the bottom siderail of his inclined crib. We always pulled him back up, and tucked him back in and went back to bed for a few minutes of twitchy sleep, because there was no reasonably safe alternative as far as we were concerned. So, I agree that the crib was the best place for the baby at night, but it nevertheless has some major flaws for babies in need of incline and I therefore can see why someone might choose elect to try one of these at night. I might have bought one of these for supervised daytime naps because it looks less crunching than the bouncy seat we used, which was itself less crunching than a car seat.
It’s so very sad that the baby died. We can blame it on the parents, or the Nap Nanny, or the crib bumper, but the bottom line is that *nothing* is 100% safe, and we take risks with everything we do or buy. So in a case like this, there is no blame, only lessons to be learned. I would also like to point out that babies don’t need to sleep flat on a mattress to learn how to roll over. It can help, but any amount of time spent on the floor is sufficient enough to give the baby time to learn how to shift it’s weight and roll. So, Kate, that argument doesn’t quite hold up as to why all babies should only sleep flat, along with the fact that babies with real reflux and GERD can’t sleep flat without pain.
Every baby is different re: sleeping . . . while this was a tragic occurence, I can’t see it as an indictment of the Nap Nanny, bumpers or sleep positioners – which are things that help a lot of babies sleep.
My daughter was a “diving bunny” sleeper who loved to push her head into things while sleeping – so I did use bumpers, not that I liked them particularly! but it was better, as Samantha noted, than having her rubbing her head against the wood of the crib.
Comments I purchased a nap nanny in Sept 2009 for my baby girl & I love it!!! Parents really need to follow instructions on use of products purchased for their children. It clearly states DO NOT USE PRODUCT IN CRIB! I am saddened by infant death in Michigan my heart goes out to her family. The nap nanny is a great invention & I wish the company the best through this time. I will recommend them to any expecting family! Our baby girl loves hers!!!
There might be a problem with over-diagnosing reflux in babies, I can’t say for sure, but I do know that my son was a PROJECTILE vomiter for the first six months. (And I was exclusively breastfeeding). So bad that I wouldn’t let other people hold him for at least an hour after he ate because they would inevitably get literally covered in puke. He never cried, didn’t act like it hurt, so I wasn’t concerned and neither was the doctor–until he wasn’t gaining weight because of it. So we started him on Zantac and for two weeks he gained an ounce a day and slept so. much. better. And we had tried everything from the Nap Nanny to bouncy seats to swings. Zantac worked so great for us.
[...] In total, SPSC has received 22 reports of injuries to infants caused by the Nap Nanny. [...]
It is sad to see that there was a death from misuse of the product. I know I had a problem with my son crawling out of it and thankfully he was on the floor. I can’t imagine him being on an elevated surface. However, if the product is being recalled and there is in fact an issue with the older models why on earth would the companies be issuing 80.00 coupons? Why not have them send the old ones back and send them a new one. That would be the right thing to do. It almost seems like a way for the company to make more money by saying hey we had a problem with it, but now you have to buy a totally new one. Just my two cents. I am almost positive I have the newer model, but since we just moved I can’t check because I am not sure what box it’s in.
[...] Babble (blog) [...]
Wow, I have been bidding on one of these on ebay and google searching this item for days to find the best color and price avaiable! I even put this item on my baby registry! I have found many stores on line sell these! And in almost every magazine I have looked in for new moms they are promoted they are all the hype no where have I seen the warnings on these and will def further research this item before spending 150.00 on this item! I had no clue that it possed such a danger and the popularity and look and convenience of this item is not worth the safety of my child! Thanks for all your information!