WebProNews

Tag: infants

  • Nap Nanny Leads To Six Infant Deaths

    Nap Nanny Leads To Six Infant Deaths

    A sixth child has died while using the recalled infant recliner called the Nap Nanny.

    According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the latest casualty involved an eight-month-old little girl from New Jersey. The infant was secured with a seat belt in the Nap Nanny, however she suffocated when she was found partly hanging between the crib bumper and the product.

    Baby Matters LLC of Berwyn, Pennsylvania issued a voluntary recall of the Nap Nanny and Nap Nanny Chill products in June 2013. Since then the CPSC has urged parents to stop using the product, and not to purchase these products from yard sales or other hand-me-down stores.

    “Our message to parents is clear: Stop using it. It’s dangerous,” CPSC Communications Director Scott Wolfson said. “There’s been six deaths already, and we don’t want another child to die unnecessarily.”

    According to the press release issued last year, approximately 165,000 Nap Nanny products were sold between 2009 and 2012. While the company has been out of business for two years now, the danger comes from people purchasing this product second hand.

    “This is a product that should be out of homes and we urge all parents to stop using the product,” Wolfson said. “Don’t sell it at a garage sale. Don’t take it back to a local thrift store. Don’t put it on eBay or Craigslist. Just throw it away.”

    The company said that the product was never intended to be used inside a crib, and they are heartbroken for the families who have lost their children due to their products.

    It is now illegal to sell any of the Nap Nanny products in the United States.

    Image via toysrus.com

  • FDA to Tighten Baby Formula Standards

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced new rules surrounding the manufacture of infant formula. The rules are meant to raise standards for formula manufacturing and ensure all formula is safe and nutritious.

    The new rule would improve quality control, notification, and record-keeping for manufacturers of infant formula. Microbial contamination testing will now also be required for infant forumla products. New quality factor requirements that will “support healthy growth” are also established by the rule, as are requirements that all infant formula contain federally-required nutrients.

    “Many families rely on infant formula as either the sole source of nutrition or an integral part of an infant’s diet through 12 months of age,” said Michael Taylor, deputy commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine at the FDA. “The FDA sets high quality standards for infant formulas because nutritional deficiencies during this critical time of development can have a significant impact on a child’s long-term health and well-being. This rule will help to prevent adulteration in infant formula and ensure infant formula supports normal, physical growth.”

    According to the FDA, only 75% of U.S. infants are breast-fed from birth. Three months on from birth around two-thirds of all U.S. infants are estimated to rely on infant formula for at least part of their food intake.

    The new rule (technically an interim rule) will be available for public comment for 45 days. In the meantime, the FDA has stated that many of the rule’s provisions are already followed by infant formula manufacturers in the U.S.

  • Incidence of Infants Sharing a Bed Rising, Says NIH

    The NIH this week revealed results from the National Infant Sleep Position Study that show that the incidence of infants sharing a bed with an adult or another child has more than doubled over the past two decades. Nearly 14% of infant caregivers surveyed in 2010 stated that their baby regularly shared a bed with another person. This is up from just 6.5% who said the same thing back in 1993.

    The practice of infants sleeping with adults is known to increase the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), the unexplained death of an infant. Doctors recommend that infants sleep in the same room as parents, but not in the same bed.

    The new study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics, also shows there is a wide disparity in infant bed-sharing practices across different ethnic groups. Though the practice increased for all ethnic groups, only 9.1% of white infants were found to share a bed in 2010. This is less than half of the 20.5% of Hispanic infants that were reported to share a bed in 2010, and far less than the 38.7% of black babies that reported to share a bed that same year.

    “The disparity in nighttime habits has increased in recent years,” said Dr. Eve Colson, first author on the study and a researcher at the Yale University School of Medicine. “Because African-American infants are already at increased risk for SIDS, this trend is a cause for concern.”

    The study’s authors suggest that advice from doctors can reduce the practice of infant bed-sharing. The study found that parents who knew their doctor was against sleeping with an infant were more than one-third less likely to say they share a bed with their baby.

    “It’s important for doctors to discuss sleeptime habits with new parents in order to convey the risks of bed sharing clearly,” said Marian Willinger, co-author of the study and a SIDS researcher at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

  • Nap Nanny: If You Have An Infant, You Should Read This

    A massive recall is in the news this morning after the company that makes an infant recliner called Nap Nanny says their product has caused infant deaths.

    The Nap Nanny is a soft, reclining surface for babies to sleep on and became enormously popular after its introduction several years ago; however, the company that produced it–Baby Matters–issued a recall in 2010 and made major changes to the design and added new warning labels, saying “these baby recliners contain defects in the design, warnings and instructions, which pose a substantial risk of injury and death to infants.” Despite the changes, parents loved the product and continued to use it; it is now reportedly responsible for five infant deaths and close to 100 infant injuries since 2009. Baby Matters is no longer in business.

    A statement released on the Nap Nanny website reads, “In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Baby Matters LLC of Berwyn, Pa., is announcing a voluntary recall of all models of its Nap Nanny and Nap Nanny Chill infant recliners and covers. This recall is announced as part of the settlement of an administrative case filed by CPSC in December 2012, which sought a mandatory recall of the Nap Nanny and Chill products.

    From 2009 to the present, the Commission staff has received at least 92 incident reports involving the Nap Nanny and Nap Nanny Chill products, including five infant deaths. CPSC is aware of four infants who died in Nap Nanny Generation Two recliners and a fifth death involved in the Chill model. In the incident reports received by CPSC, there were 92 reports of infants hanging or falling over the side of the products, including some infants who were restrained in the product’s harness.

    CPSC urges consumers to immediately stop use of all Nap Nanny and Nap Nanny Chill recliners. Baby Matters LLC is no longer in business and is not accepting returns. In December 2012, four major retailers—Amazon.com, Buy Buy Baby, Diapers.com, and Toys R Us/Babies R Us—announced a voluntary recall of Nap Nanny and Chill models sold in their stores. Consumers who purchased a Nap Nanny from one of these retailers should contact the retailer for instructions on how to obtain a refund for the product.”

    If you own the Nap Nanny or Nap Nanny Chill, discontinue use immediately and dispose of the item. You can go here for more info.