Another Baby Has Died in a Fisher-Price Infant-to-Toddler Rocker

The CPSC warned parents about this rocker a year and a half earlier, but it has never been recalled

Consumer Reports Investigative Reporter, Lauren Kirchner.

By Lauren Kirchner
Investigative Reporter

January 31, 2024

Fisher-Price Infant-to-Toddler Rocker (left and center), Fisher-Price Newborn-to-Toddler Rocker (right). — The Fisher-Price Infant-to-Toddler Rocker (left and center) and Fisher-Price Newborn-to-Toddler Rocker (right).

A 6-month-old baby girl died in a Fisher-Price rocker, according to an incident report to the Consumer Product Safety Commission made public at the end of December.

The CPSC and Fisher-Price issued a warning in June 2022 about this same product, telling parents that these should never be used for sleep. According to the agency’s warning, at least 13 babies were reported to have died in the Fisher-Price Infant-to-Toddler Rockers and Newborn-to-Toddler Rockers between 2009 and 2021. The agency and Kids2 put out another warning the same day that June about a similarly designed Bright Starts rocker, which had been associated with one infant death in 2019.

Both warnings reminded parents that these products were meant to be used under direct supervision when babies were awake. “Parents and caregivers should never use inclined products, such as rockers, gliders, soothers, and swings, for infant sleep and should not leave infants in these products unsupervised, unrestrained, or with bedding material, due to the risk of suffocation,” the notices read.

Neither product was ever recalled.

On November 4, 2023, a baby girl was put in a Fisher-Price rocker after falling asleep, and later died, according to the incident report submitted to the CPSC by one of the girl’s parents. As the parent wrote: “My 6 month old daughter died in this seat after she fell asleep in my husbands arms he put her in the seat for 1 hour and 15 mins 2 feet away from him he woke up and she was on her stomach face to the side (she couldn’t even roll over) with our best efforts and calling 911 it was to late she had passed away.”

Another incident report from March 2023 involved a close call with no injury. A parent described putting a 9-month-old baby in the Fisher-Price rocker awake, restrained, and supervised—and then watched as the baby rolled onto her side and got stuck. “[H]ad I not been sitting there watching her, she wouldn’t have been able to get out of the position,” the parent wrote. “I quickly removed her from the seat and discontinued use.”

Since the 1990s, Fisher-Price has sold more than 17 million rockers worldwide, according to the CPSC.

CR’s safety experts are calling on Fisher-Price to issue a recall of these rockers. They also advise parents to stop using it, given the reported deaths and risk of suffocation.

“It is heartbreaking to learn that a Fisher-Price infant rocker is tied to yet another infant death,” says Oriene Shin, policy counsel for Consumer Reports. “Safety warnings can help keep the public informed, but too often, they are not enough on their own. Fisher-Price has utterly failed to protect the babies and families who rely on their products, and the consequences are devastating. Fisher-Price must recall these rockers to get as many of them as possible out of people’s homes.”

Fisher-Price also manufactured the Rock ‘n Play Sleeper, an inclined sleeper that was the subject of a CR investigation in 2019 and which was eventually recalled after being linked to dozens of infant deaths. In 2023, the CPSC re-announced the recall after yet more infant deaths were reported in Rock ‘n Plays.

Fisher-Price’s parent company Mattel did not respond to multiple requests from CR for comment.

Lauren Kirchner

Lauren Kirchner is an investigative reporter on the special projects team at Consumer Reports. She has been with CR since 2022, covering product safety. She has previously reported on algorithmic bias, criminal justice, and housing for the Markup and ProPublica, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting in 2017. Send her tips at lauren.kirchner@consumer.org and follow her on X: @lkirchner.