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KidCo has announced a recall of about 220,000 PeaPod and PeaPod Plus Travel Beds, portable, tent-like sleeping arrangements for infants and toddlers. Government safety agencies and experts have warned that small tents pose entrapment and suffocation hazards to sleeping infants.
The Consumer Product Safety Agency has received six reports in the U.S. of infants becoming trapped between the tents' sides and inflatable mattress bottom. In one case from last December, a 5-month-old boy in New York City was found dead in the tent.
Consumer Reports safety experts have long warned that a proper crib is the safest place for an infant to sleep. (See our Baby cribs section for free buying advice and Ratings to choose the best model for your needs.) To avoid suffocation, our experts also warn that portable sleepers—such as the PeaPod tents—as well as waterbeds, sofas, soft mattresses, air mattresses, pillows, bean bags, memory foams, sheepskins, or quilts should not be used as infant crib mattresses.
If the child sinks into the material and can't move his head (either to the side or up and away from his chest) he won't be able to get enough air and may suffocate, says Consumer Reports' safety experts. Also, if his head is surrounded by soft bedding he may rebreathe his own breath which can cause a dangerous build-up of carbon dioxide.
For more information about the proper infant sleeping arrangements, see our free crib bedding buying advice.
Consumers are urged to immediately stop using PeaPod and PeaPod Plus Travel Beds, which were sold at independent juvenile specialty stores nationwide and online at Amazon.com from January 2005 through the present. A free repair kit is available by contacting KidCo (toll-free: 855-847-8600 website: http://www.kidco.com/recall-information) but Consumer Reports believes tents are an inherently unsafe place for infants to sleep. We advise owners to stop using these tents.
Sources:
Suffocation, Entrapment Risks Prompt Recall of PeaPod Travel Tents by KidCo [CPSC]
Consumer Product Recall: Peapod Travel Bed [Health Canada]
Recall information and form for PeaPod and PeaPod travel Tents [KidCo]
