Just about everyone in Ohio would agree that infants and children are deserving of special protection because they are the most vulnerable and defenseless members of our society. That's what makes a recent product recall so alarming.
The product being recalled is a "portable sleep tent" made by KidCo Inc. of Libertyville, Illinois. The company recalled 220,000 of these portable sleeping tents after a New York City infant was killed in one in 2011. Nine other infants have been injured in them as well.
The portable sleeping tents were sold as Pea Pod Traveling Cribs, Pea Pod Travel Beds and Pea Pod Plus Travel Beds. They were sold in specialty stores, "natural living" stores and on Amazon from January 2005 until the present.
Evidently, there is a chance a baby's head could get caught between the mattress portion of the portable tent and the flaps, which would make it impossible for the baby to breathe.
KidCo has offered kits that can be used to refashion the portable sleeping tent so that it is safer, but a spokeswoman for a watchdog group said she would prefer it if refunds were offered. She pointed out that a "portable sleeping tent" is not categorized as a bassinette or a crib, so there are not testing benchmarks for safety.
As we said, recalls of products that affect children and infants are especially concerning because children do not have the reasoning and decision-making abilities of adults. In other words, they don't choose to use a product -- it is chosen for them.
Hopefully, any parent who purchased one of these items is aware of the recall and can act before harm comes to his or her child.
Source: WIBW-TV, "Baby's Death Spurs Recall Of 220,000 Infant Travel Beds," Nov. 19, 2012
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