Millions of video baby monitors made by Summer Infant Inc. are being recalled today because cords on the monitors pose a strangulation risk to infants if they are placed too close to cribs. According to the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), the recalled infant monitors have been linked to the deaths of two infants.
The infant monitor recall involves around 1.7 monitors and 40 different models of handheld, digital and color monitors. The baby monitors were sold at major retailers, mass merchandisers, and juvenile products stores nationwide for between $60 and $300. All affected video monitors include both the camera (placed in the baby’s room) and the hand held device (some models have two hand-held devices) that enable the caregiver to see and/or hear the baby from a specific distance. The brand “Summer†is found on the product.
In March 2010 a 10-month old girl from Washington, D.C. strangled in her crib in the electrical cord of a Summer Infant video monitor. The monitor camera had been placed on top of the crib rail. In November 2010, the CPSC received a report of a six-month old boy from Conway, S.C., who strangled in the electrical cord of a baby monitor placed on the changing table attached to the crib, and the agency learned last month that the monitor involved in that incident was also made by Summer Infant.
The CPSC also learned of a near strangulation incident in which a 20-month old boy from Pittsburgh, Pa. was found in his crib with the camera cord wrapped around his neck. The Summer Infant monitor camera was mounted on the wall, but the child was still able to reach the cord, the agency said. Fortunately, he was freed from the cord without serious injury.
Summer Infant has initiated a campaign to provide new on-product labels for electric cords and instructions to consumers with the recalled video monitors distributed between January 2003 and February 2011. The CPSC and Summer Infant are urging parents to immediately check the location of the video monitors, including cameras mounted on the wall, and all electric cords to make sure the cords are out of arm’s reach of their child.
For more information, consumers should contact Summer Infant toll-free at (800) 426-8627 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or visit the firm’s website at www.summerinfant.com/Home/Product-Recall.aspx to receive a new permanent electric cord warning label about the strangulation risk and revised instructions about how to safely mount camera and keep cords out of child’s reach.
This is not the first time the CPSC has issued a warning involving baby monitors. In October 2010, the CPSC issued a safety alert warning consumers that there had been six reports of strangulation in baby monitor cords since 2004. Since that alert the number of death reports has risen to seven
