700,000 Rocking Baby Sleepers Are Recalled After 5 Infant Deaths

The children’s product company Kids II has recalled 700,000 rocking baby sleepers after the deaths of five infants who had used the rocker while unrestrained.

Kids II, which manufactures baby product for brands such as Baby Einstein, Ingenuity, Bright Starts and Disney Baby, is offering consumers a refund for their recalled baby rockers, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement Friday announcing the recall.

Approximately 694,000 Kids II rocking sleepers were sold nationwide at Walmart, Target, Toys “R” Us and online from March 2012 to this month, according to the safety agency. The sleepers usually cost $40 to $80.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends “that infants are put to sleep on their back on a flat, firm surface, and these are on an incline,” said Dr. David Fagan, vice chairman of pediatrics at the Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York. “We would never recommend any of these products.”

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According to Fagan, research from the 1990s proved that putting babies to sleep on their backs on a flat, firm surface caused incidents of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, to drop significantly.

“Every nap and every night,” Fagan said.

The allure of the sleepers or rockers is the promise of rocking babies to sleep, giving parents a free moment. But the idea that babies can be rocked to sleep is more myth than fact.

“The perception that rocking soothes the infant and puts him to sleep has not been proven,” Fagan said. “It is not fact.”

To request a refund, consumers can call the Kids II recall hotline at 866-869-7954 or fill out a form online.