19 skull fractures later, Bumbo adds a safety belt, and another warning label
By James R. Hood, ConsumerAffairs.com
The Bumbo is a baby seat that helps babies sit up before they are able to do so on their own.
This is not a particularly good idea, since babies are not only top-heavy but also tend to be emotionally volatile and physically active. One good rock backwards and an infant can either fall out of the seat or cause it to overturn.
"I was in the bath and my 6-month-old son Billy was in the bathroom with me right next to the bath in his Bumbo playing with a toy when he dropped it. As he was reaching for it, he fell straight out onto his head," a mom named Zoe said in a ConsumerAffairs review in March. "I did not leave him alone. I was right next to him. The purpose of a Bumbo is so that they can sit unaided safely. You don't expect to have to hold them in the Bumbo just in case they fall out!"
It's bad enough if the seat is on the floor, as in Zoe's case, but it's potentially disastrous if it's on a table or a counter. This is not just a theoretical risk. There have been at least 50 accidents, including 19 skull fractures, since October 2007.
October 2007 is the magic date when the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) ordered a recall of about a million of the seats. Were they rounded up and destroyed? Fitted with seat belts? Equipped with safety helmets?
No. Instead, the "recall" consisted of mailing warning labels to parents, cautioning them not to let their children fall out of the seat.
So here we are more than four years later and there are now four million of the seats in the U.S. Once again, Bumbo is issuing a recall, this time to add not just another sticker but also a safety belt that will keep babies from falling out.
The belts won't keep the seats from falling over though. The new warning label will caution parents not to put the seats on an elevated surface or to leave children alone in the seat.
Read the entire article here.
