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Millions of “Boppy Lounger” products marketed for infants have been recalled by the Boppy company after eight infant deaths were linked to the products. The loungers are designed to be comfortable places for babies to sit and play. However, they’re also comfortable enough and reclined enough that it’s not uncommon for babies to fall asleep on them.
This presents a major suffocation hazard to babies. Read on for more information about this recall and infant sleep safety.
The Boppy Lounger recall covers three retail products: Boppy Original Newborn Lounger, the Pottery Barn Kids Boppy Newborn Lounger, and the Boppy Preferred Newborn Lounger. Over 3.3 million individual loungers are covered under the recall.
If you’ve purchased any of these products for your baby, you’re strongly encouraged to discontinue using them. You should return the recalled products to the retailer you purchased them from to receive a full refund. The items have been linked to a suffocation hazard related to infants falling asleep in dangerous sleeping positions on the loungers.
The issue with the loungers is that they’re not approved sleep surfaces for infants. Infants aren’t strong enough to move themselves out of some sleeping positions. This means that, occasionally, infants can fall asleep or roll into a position where their airways are blocked. When this occurs, it makes it very difficult or impossible for the baby to breathe.
Even supervision might not catch when this happens. Sometimes, a baby who is experiencing distress from suffocation might physically appear to just be sleeping soundly. This is why infant sleep safety is so important! The issue with the Boppy Loungers is that they’re very comfortable and easy for infants to doze off on, but rolling off of them can easily land a baby in a dangerous sleep position.
Infants should only sleep in approved sleeping products, like bassinets and cribs, that are flat. Flat surfaces offer the smallest opportunity of a suffocation risk. Likewise, items like crib borders or plentiful pillows and stuffed animals should be kept out of infant sleeping spaces, as these items can also present a serious hazard to babies.
It’s important to remember that babies need to be transported to their approved sleeping arrangement right when they fall asleep. If a baby goes from playing with their toys to dozing off in an area that isn’t their crib, they should be moved to their crib right away.
