Baby Pillows Recalled After 19 Infants Suffocate

Manufacturers are recalling more than 600,000 infant pillows and cushions linked to the suffocation deaths of 19 infants, the government said today.

“Today we are announcing that nine of the 10 firms that made these cushions have agreed to recall their products from the public,” Jacqueline Jones-Smith, chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said in a statement.

One firm whose pillows were involved with “more than several deaths” is resisting the call and could face legal action, a commission official said.

“Don’t buy them. Don’t use them,” Terry Rogers, compliance officer of the CPSC, advised parents during a news conference on the recall. The agency staff “believes these products clearly are dangerous,” said David Schmeltzer of the CPSC.

Nineteen children, age 3 months or younger, have been “found dead, lying stomach-down on one of these cushions” since September, 1987, according to the commission..

Commission staffers explained that the pillows are dangerous because they are so soft they can conform to a baby’s face. Because infants often are unable to roll over by themselves, they can suffocate if they are placed face down.

The recall involves 627,825 small pillows or cushions filled with plastic foam beads.

Recalled are 467,000 Mothers Helper cushions made by Hollander Home Fashions in Newark, N.J.; 110,000 Gold Bug Support Sacks made by Gold Inc. of Denver; 35,700 Cozy Cushions made by Pinky Baby Products of Houston; 12,000 Cozy Baby pillows manufactured by Cozy Baby Products of Mt. Vernon, N.Y.; 3,000 Baby Minder cushions made by The Fourth Little Pig of San Anselmo, Calif., and 125 Baby Sak pillows made by Baby Sak of Pembroke Pines, Fla.