This article is part of “Death by Delay,” a series on how consumer product hazards have cost lives.
Staff at the Consumer Product Safety Commission have proposed a major redesign of most baby loungers and similar infant cushions, citing 79 deaths from 2010 to 2022 — most of which occurred after babies were placed to sleep on the pillowy products.
If adopted, the proposal would create the first federal safety requirements for infant loungers, which are intended to provide a place for caregivers to safely put their babies down while awake and supervised. The new requirements would also apply to crib pillows, head positioners, nursing pillows that are marketed as loungers, and other infant support cushions.
The proposed safety measures would require infant support cushions to be as firm as a crib mattress and would effectively limit the height of the cushion’s walls to less than 2 inches. The changes are meant to reduce the risk of babies suffocating on the padding or getting their bodies stuck in a position that could constrict their breathing, staffers wrote.
The products would also need more prominent warning labels cautioning against using the cushions for sleep or while babies are unattended.
“You’re going to see a radically changed market — you’re going to see the products firmer, flatter and thinner,” CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. said in an interview. “They’re going to be less likely to be used for sleep, and children are going to be far more likely to survive in them.”
A proposed warning label that would need to be attached to infant loungers.Consumer Product Safety Commission
The proposal follows an NBC News investigation that found that at least 25 deaths had been linked to baby loungers since 2015, according to federal databases, autopsy reports, lawsuits and other records, which led to calls from two lawmakers to “eliminate” loungers altogether. The CPSC’s figure of 79 deaths covers a longer time period and includes a broader range of infant support cushions.
Trumka and the CPSC’s three other commissioners will decide whether to adopt the staff’s recommendations in a meeting scheduled for Nov. 29. If the commission moves ahead with the proposal, the public will have the chance to give feedback before it is finalized and is implemented.
Manufacturers have defended their products as safe when used as intended, while babies are awake and supervised. The Boppy Company, which previously sold a popular lounger, and two other lounger manufacturers, Snuggle Me Organic and DockATot, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The CPSC staff recommendations estimated that the proposed redesigns could cost the industry up to $27 million in the first year, which staff said could be covered by “implementing modest retail price increases.”
The recommendations come two years after the CPSC and The Boppy Company recalled more than 3 million Boppy infant loungers, citing eight deaths of infants who reportedly suffocated after being placed in the product.
Since then, more babies have died in the Boppy Newborn Lounger and loungers made by other companies, NBC News’ investigation found.
The CPSC staff did not mention brand names for the products in the 79 deaths, which came from an analysis of data from January 2010 to December 2022. Staff said that 63 of the fatal incidents involved loungers, but did not specify if that included nursing pillows that are also marketed for lounging, which were not in NBC News’ count of lounger deaths.
Different types of infant support cushions.Consumer Product Safety Commission
Even though loungers are marketed for awake time, newborns can quickly nod off in the cozy, pillow-like product, according to Dr. Rachel Moon, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ task force on sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS. And if infants are cradled inside a lounger with high side walls, caregivers may be more likely to step away, Moon noted.
Moon said she suspected that the 79 deaths tallied by CPSC staff were a “vast underestimate,” since reporting deaths to the agency is voluntary.
“Any death is too many deaths when it comes to a baby,” she said.
Babies can suffocate if they turn their faces into loungers’ padded surfaces. They can also asphyxiate if they get stuck in a position that inhibits their breathing, such as when infants’ chins fall to their chests, or their bodies arch backward, reducing oxygen flow. Death from asphyxia can occur in as little as three minutes, CPSC staff said in the memo that accompanied Wednesday’s recommendations.
Death by Delay
- As federal officials delayed rules on infant loungers, babies continued to die.
- Nursing pillows are associated with more than 160 infant deaths, NBC News investigation finds.
- CPSC advances first safety requirements for nursing pillows after dozens of deaths.
- Federal officials want to repeal a law that delayed warnings about dangerous products.
Brandon Movitz’s son, Pierce, was 10 weeks old when he died while sleeping in a DockATot Deluxe+ lounger in the family’s Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, home in July 2020. A medical examiner found that Pierce died of positional asphyxia, according to an autopsy report reviewed by NBC News.
Movitz said he was grateful for the CPSC staff’s lounger safety recommendations but that manufacturers should still make more efforts to educate parents about potential dangers. Images of babies napping in loungers have continued to pop up on social media, muddying the message that they are not to be used for sleep.
“We thought we were making a good decision, a safe decision, putting our baby in one of these,” he said. “Had we known that there was an increased risk, or had that been something that was actually prevalent and talked about and something that we could be educated in, we wouldn’t have put Pierce in it.”
DockATot has not commented on Pierce’s death.
Last year, the CPSC accused the company of violating new rules on infant sleep products, pointing out that the Deluxe+ newborn lounger had previously been sold as an in-bed sleeper. DockATot denies any wrongdoing but agreed to phase out the product, which is listed as sold out on its website.
In recent weeks, the CPSC has advanced proposed safety rules for nursing pillows and rockers, two other baby products associated with infant deaths.
Suzy Khimm
Suzy Khimm is a national investigative reporter for NBC News based in Washington, D.C.
Elizabeth Chuck
Elizabeth Chuck is a reporter for NBC News who focuses on health and mental health, particularly issues that affect women and children.