Play yards recalled after infant death
Baby supply company Kolcraft Enterprises Inc. is recalling more than 425,000 play yards after a 10-month-old boy was strangled, a government safety agency announced Thursday.
The boy was inside the company’s Sesame Beginnings Travel Play Yard and the restraint strap from the elevated changing table hung down into the main play area and strangled him, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The company is recalling a dozen types of play yards with changing table attachments that have that type of strap.
“These play areas have a serious design flaw that poses a strangulation hazard,” commission spokeswoman Patty Davis said. “A 10-month-old boy died after strangling on one of the recalled Kolcraft play yards’ restraint straps. We don’t want that to happen to any other children.”
Kolcraft spokeswoman Diane Steed noted that the changing tables did bear warnings telling parents not to put a child in the play area when this attachment was on top.
“We would stress to parents again: ‘Do not put your child in the play yard when the changing table is on top,’ ” Steed said.
The play yards were made in China.
One of them, Contours 3-in-1, also features a rocking cradle attachment that sits on top of the main play area. A child who rolls all the way to the side in the cradle could get stuck between the cradle and the mesh wall of the play yard. If there is a blanket or another material thrown over this wall, it could block the child’s mouth or nose and pose a suffocation hazard. The company has received 45 reports of children rolling to the side and getting stuck in this manner, but no reports of injuries.
The play yards were sold around the country from January 2001 to this month. To receive a free replacement strap for the changing tables and a free kit to secure the rocking cradle, call Kolcraft at (888) 655-8484. In the meantime, consumers should cut the existing restraining straps from the changing tables.
For more information, visit the sites https://www.cpsc.gov or https://www.kolcraft.com.
