Recalled Simplicity Bassinet After Two Infants Strangled

Six retailers have agreed to stop selling and to recall nearly 900,000 dangerous Simplicity bassinets because of a serious safety risk.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is warning consumers and parents to stop using the convertible “close-sleeper/bedside sleeper bassinets". 

The recall follows the strangulation August 21, 2008 of a 6 ½ month old girl from Shawnee, Kansas who became entrapped between the bassinet’s metal bars. This is the second strangulation death associated with the co-sleeper bassinets.

In September 2007, a 4-month-old girl from Noel, Missouri also became entrapped in the metal bars of the bassinet and died.

You are encouraged to return the item to the store where it was purchased. The following retailers have voluntarily agreed to recall the product and provide a store credit or refund.

Unfortunately, the majority of recalled baby products remain in the marketplace in day care centers, in used furniture stores or in garage sales.

The Simplicity 3-in-1 and 4-in-1 convertible bassinets have metal bars that are covered by an adjustable fabric, attached by Velcro.

The fabric is supposed to be folded down when the bassinet is converted, but if the Velcro is not properly re-secured, an infant can slip through the opening and become entrapped in the metal bars and suffocate.

The warning does not cover bassinets produced in recent months that have the fabric permanently attached over the lower bar.

Simplicity is the same company that had to recall one million cribs last year. The CPSC initiated the recall on the eve of an expose by the Chicago Tribune about its failure to respond swiftly to reports of infant entrapments. 

See more on the recall from CPSC on their web site at www.cpsc.gov. or report  a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC's hotline at (800) 638-2772

• Wal-Mart Stores Inc., of Bentonville, Ark. – (800) 925-6278 or www.walmart.com
• Toys "R" Us Inc., of Wayne, N.J. - (800) 869-7787 or www.toysrus.com or www.babiesrus.com
• Kmart Corp., of Hoffman Estates, Ill. – (800) 659-7026 or www.kmart.com
• Big Lots!, of Columbus, Ohio – (866) 244-5687 or www.biglots.com
• Target of Minneapolis, Minnesota sold at www.target.com only
• J.C. Penney, of Plano, Texas – (888) 333-6063 or www.jcp.com

• RECALLED Model Numbers