Regulators announced the recall of an infant lounging pillow Thursday after it said the item was connected to multiple deaths in recent years.
The Boppy Company Newborn Lounger has been tied to at least eight infant deaths where a child was placed on the lounger and found suffocated on their side or on their stomach, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The deaths occurred between December 2015 and June 2020.
Robert S. Adler, the commission’s acting chairman, called the incidents “heartbreaking” in a statement Thursday.
“Since we know that infants sleep so much of the time — even in products not intended for sleep — and since suffocation can happen so quickly, these Boppy lounger products are simply too risky to remain on the market,” Adler said.
More than 3.3 million Boppy loungers have been sold across the U.S. and Canada, the commission said.
A spokesperson for the Boppy Company said in the recall notice that the lounger is not an infant sleep product and "includes warnings against unsupervised use."
The Boppy Company confirmed it was issuing a voluntary recall of the products and offering refunds to customers on its website.
“Infants can suffocate if they roll, move, or are placed on the lounger in a position that obstructs breathing, or roll off the lounger onto an external surface, such as an adult pillow or soft bedding, that obstructs breathing,” the company said on its website.
