Amazon, Walmart, eBay and Buy Buy Baby say they’ll stop selling inclined sleepers linked to 73 babies’ deaths

Amazon, Walmart, eBay and Buy Buy Baby all say they will no longer sell infant inclined sleepers, a once-popular category of sleep products now implicated in the deaths of 73 babies nationwide.

The four companies took action as the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has moved to ban all baby sleepers that put infants at an incline of 10 degrees or more.

Last April, the federal government announced the recall of 4.7 million inclined sleepers, including the Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play and Kids II Rocking Sleeper.

But similar products haven’t been ordered off store shelves. Consumer organizations say that makes the newly announced decision by the four companies significant.

In October, the federal consumer safety agency urged parents and caregivers to stop using any infant inclined sleepers — even those that haven’t been recalled. And it began the process to create a nationwide rule banning the sale of any baby sleep product with more than a 10-degree angle, which would effectively ban the entire category of products.

But that process is slow. For now, sleepers not subject to a recall can still be legally sold.

The consumer agency’s advice to parents came after a study it commissioned, looking at how infants move in inclined sleepers, found that no inclined sleepers over 10 degrees were safe.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, Kids in Danger, the Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Reports and others have urged parents and caregivers to stop using the sleepers because babies’ heads can loll into an unnatural position and they can be asphyxiated as a result.

But the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, an industry trade group, is opposed to banning the entire category of products, saying the “data is insufficient to draw concrete conclusions on risks related to inclined sleepers, and we encourage additional research on this topic.”

Safety advocates applauded the move by the four companies and urged others to follow suit.

“I think it sends a strong message,” says Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids in Danger, a not-for-profit group based in Chicago.

Still, even if all sleepers eventually are banned, many of them already are in people’s homes and in daycare settings. “They’re still out there,” Cowles says.

In August, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that recalled sleepers were for sale on Facebook Marketplace and eBay, as well as in Craigslist garage-sale listings. Consumer Reports had found the same thing in October regarding Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.

Amazon, one of the four companies announcing it would ban inclined sleepers, says it’s working to scrub all the listings from its platform.

Yet, on Friday, shoppers still could find a $99.99 Hiccapop DayDreamer, a “baby seat lounger” described as a sleep aid by some users. One mother said in a review posted on the site that “my 3 month old son fell asleep in it at 8:30 pm and did not wake up until 7:15 am the next morning so it is definitely comfortable enough for an overnight sleep session.”

“Customer safety is a top priority,” an Amazon spokeswoman says. “In line with the latest research, Amazon will no longer allow infant inclined sleep products.”

The consumer groups are urging parents to get rid of any infant sleep product that doesn’t meet the mandatory federal standards, which currently cover cribs, bassinets and portable play yards. That means ditching all inclined sleepers, infant “nests” and in-bed sleepers.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, based in Itasca, recommends having babies sleep alone, on their backs, on a firm, flat surface with no restraints and no soft bedding or crib bumpers.

Inclined sleepers, which place a baby at an angle of between 10 and 30 degrees, were introduced in the United States in 2009. They grew popular with parents who thought they would help with babies’ reflux and thus would help babies and parents alike sleep better. They were sold with no federal standards or mandatory safety testing.

But reports emerged of babies suffocating when their airways became blocked in the inclined sleepers.

A similar product, the Nap Nanny, on the market between 2009 and 2012, was implicated in six deaths and recalled. Various infant hammocks also have been recalled over the years.