Facebook Marketplace and Other Retailers Still List Infant Inclined Sleepers

More than 5 million infant inclined sleepers, such as the Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleeper and Kids II inclined sleepers. These products have been linked to at least 92 infant fatalities, according to an ongoing Consumer Reports investigation.

Multiple manufacturers have since pulled the dangerous products off their shelves and an independent study proved that infant inclined sleepers increase the risk of suffocation and death.

Sears and Kmart are the latest retailers to join the growing list of other major retailers that have committed to ban infant inclined products promoted for sleep.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission commended the retailers when they made this decision.

Acting CPSC chairman Bob Adler previously said, “I applaud Amazon, Buy Buy Baby, eBay, and Walmart for their decision to help protect our most vulnerable population by removing infant inclined sleep products from their product listings….Their actions will save children’s lives.”

The products position babies at an angle between 10 and 30 degrees, and typically have padded sidewalls and headrests, go against the AAP’s safe sleep recommendations.

Online marketplaces Craiglist and Facebook Marketplace have yet to enact policies or safeguards that would prevent users from selling infant inclined sleepers secondhand.

“The failure of these manufacturers to recall their inclined sleep products leaves consumers in the dark and their babies at risk,” says Oriene Shin, CR’s policy counsel for product safety. “Parents who bought the items when they were clearly marketed for infant sleep or naps may still be using them for these purposes or may have given or sold the products to other parents and characterized them as sleepers.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Safe Sleep for Babies Act to ban infant inclined sleepers and crib bumpers, and the legislation is awaiting a vote by the U.S. Senate.

Until the rules are finalized, it is up to individual companies to act.

“Consumer Reports commends the companies that are stepping up to help parents keep their babies safe,” says CR’s Shin.