Tots in Mind Crib Tents are being recalled following a strangulation death, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) just announced.
The CPSC is now warning parents and caregivers who own these products that infants and toddlers are at risk of serious injury or death over strangulation and entrapment hazards if the dome portion inverts inside, or becomes partially detached from, the crib or play yard.
Tots in Mind recalled its Play Yard Tents in July 2010, offering a repair kit that is no longer available. Also, Tots in Mind is no longer in business and has stopped all sales. Because of this, CPSC staff is urging parents and caregivers to stop using the recalled Crib Tents and Play Yard Tents immediately and warns against any attempts at repairing the defective and dangerous products. The CPSC release on the 2010 recall can be accessed here.
To date, the CPSC is aware of 27 tent failures, including one fatality and one serious injury that occurred between January 1997 and April 2012 from Crib Tents and Play Yard Tents manufactured by Tots in Mind, Inc.
In 2008, a two-year-old boy died after becoming entrapped between the bottom and top rail of a Tots in Mind Play Yard Tent. The boy’s death was reported in the prior recall notice.
In 2007, another two-year-old boy sustained a catastrophic brain injury when the Tots in Mind Crib Tent affixed to his crib inverted and the product’s broken rod trapped him at the neck.
The remaining 25 reports to CPSC involved inverted Crib Tents—entrapments between the tent and the crib/play yard or failures involving the tent fabric and zippers. Three of these resulted in injuries. In one, a parent reported finding her child turning blue and entrapped between the product and the top rail of the Play Yard.
Since Tots in Mind, Inc. is out of business, retailers who sold these defective, recalled Crib Tents and Play Yards are offering refunds or store credit to consumers. The recalled Tots in Mind products were sold at numerous retail stores including Bed Bath & Beyond/Buy Buy Baby; Burlington Coat Factory; Toys R Us/Babies R Us; Walmart; and online on web sites, including Amazon.com. The recalled crib tents and play yard sets sold for between $60 and $85.
Consumers are advised to contact the store where the Tots in Mind Crib Tent was purchased to receive either a refund or store credit, depending on the retailer, and to review return policies for those retailers at their web sites.
This recall includes various models of about 330,000 Tots in Mind Crib Tents or Play Yards. The tent bears a 2-inch by 1½-inch label with the Tots In Mind logo located on the non-mesh portion near the top of the tent. No model names or numbers are located on the tents; product names include Portable Play Yard Tent, Original Cozy Crib Tent, Cozy Crib Tent II, Crib Tent for Convertible Cribs, and Portable Play Yard Tent Plus Cabana Kit.
