A company explains why it won’t recall infant loungers even after baby deaths

David J. Neal
·2 min read

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday warned the public to stop using four kinds of Leachco Podster infant loungers because, the agency said, infant deaths in 2015 and 2018 show them to be a hazard.

While the agency says Leachco won’t issue a voluntary recall, the company immediately explained its stance on its website: The loungers aren’t meant to be used for a sleeping child and has warnings to that effect. The Podster, Podster Plush, Bummzie and Podster Playtime, Leachco says, are safe for lounging.

“The CPSC is wrongly telling consumers to stop using the Podster altogether instead of explaining that no lounger should be used in a crib or bed and no lounger is safe for unsupervised sleep,” Leachco said.

The Leachco Podster and Podster Plush
The Leachco Podster and Podster Plush
The Leachco Bummzie.
The Leachco Bummzie.
The Podster Playtime, one of the Leachco Podster loungers the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a “stop use” warning about Thursday. Leachco argues the loungers are safe if used as intended.
The Podster Playtime, one of the Leachco Podster loungers the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a “stop use” warning about Thursday. Leachco argues the loungers are safe if used as intended.

According to the CPSC, the babies who died, one just 17 days old and a 4-month-old, suffocated when a shift in position blocked their noses or mouths. Baby deaths and agency pressure began a Pottery Barn recall of three million loungers in September.

3 million baby loungers sold by Pottery Barn and others recalled after 8 infants died

“For decades, CPSC has emphasized that the best place for a baby to sleep on is on a firm, flat surface in a crib, bassinet or play yard,” the CPSC said.

Leachco argues that baby care “can be an exhausting job and parents and caregivers need products to help them. For as many hours of the day that infants need care, it simply is not reasonable to expect parents and caregivers to put them in a crib.”

The consumer group Kids in Danger supports the commission’s stop-use warning.

“While the infant lounger company may have warned about sleep, the intuitive use for a newborn lying on a lounger is to let them continue to sleep on it,” the group said in an email. “Supervision, even close supervision, while sleeping in an unsafe product is not enough.”

First Candle, an organization that says it’s devoted to eliminating sleep-related infant deaths and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, says that the CPSC is applying sleeper standards to loungers and there will be consequences for that.

“We are deeply concerned that, if juvenile products that parents need to safely care for their baby are no longer on the market, they will turn to other makeshift solutions which have no safety standards and are not intended for the use of caring for a baby,” First Candle wrote in support of Leachco.