Amazon and Target are among the many newest huge retailers to cease promoting weighted infant sleepwear attributable to considerations about safety. Here, a lady pushes a stroller because the New York skyline is seen from Weehawken, New Jersey.
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Amazon and Target are among the many newest huge retailers to cease promoting weighted infant sleepwear attributable to considerations about safety. Here, a lady pushes a stroller because the New York skyline is seen from Weehawken, New Jersey.
AFP by way of Getty Images
Three of the nation’s largest retailers have pulled weighted infant sleepwear from their cabinets over mounting considerations that the merchandise might be unsafe for infants.
The choices by Amazon, Walmart and Target come amid repeated warnings from federal regulators, medical specialists and safe-sleep advocates over the potential risks of merchandise equivalent to swaddles and sleep sacks that comprise added weight.
“This is a strong first step, and infants deserve more,” Dr. Ben Hoffman, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, mentioned in a press release. “Exhausted parents shouldn’t have to become part-time product safety regulators, but our current system forces them to by allowing infant products onto the market without evidence they are safe.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., additionally introduced final week that he’s calling for an investigation into two of the highest weighted infant sleepwear corporations within the U.S. — Dreamland Baby and Nested Bean — over allegations of misleading advertising claims associated to the safety of their merchandise.
“The stakes are simply too high to allow weighted infant sleep products to be advertised as ‘safe,’ especially without a clear disclaimer explaining the lack of an agreed-upon standard for determining safety,” Blumenthal wrote in an April 25 letter to Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan.
Tara Williams, founder and CEO of Dreamland Baby, mentioned that she believes her firm’s merchandise are secure and that critics of weighted infant sleepwear lack any proof proving in any other case.
“We’re a small business, and at this point it’s the United States government against Dreamland Baby and Nested Bean,” mentioned Williams. “This is not a new product category. It’s been out for over 10 years. There’s over 3.5 million [products] sold with no pattern of hazard.”
Dreamland Baby has offered greater than 1 million weighted sleepwear merchandise, whereas Nested Bean has offered greater than 2.5 million objects.
Manasi Gangan, founder and president of Nested Bean, mentioned her firm is providing is a “safe, effective sleep tool” that has helped hundreds of thousands of infants.
“Any claims to the contrary are false,” she mentioned. “We look forward to working with the FTC and Senator Blumenthal and getting back to what we love: helping families get a great night’s rest.”
Is weighted infant sleepwear secure?
Weighted infant sleepwear corporations say their merchandise will help consolation younger infants and soothe them right into a restful sleep, just like how weighted blankets work for older kids and adults.
But critics argue that weighted infant sleepwear may hurt infants’ creating our bodies and impede their capacity to breathe and pump blood. They warn that the clothes might also forestall infants from shifting round or waking themselves up in the event that they get right into a place that makes them unable to breathe. Skeptics say extra analysis is required to show that weighted infant sleepwear is secure.
“It is imperative that products specifically designed for infants undergo rigorous safety testing and meet the most stringent standards prior to being made available in the market,” Michelle Barry, founding father of the nonprofit Safe Infant Sleep, said in a press release.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health have all warned towards the usage of weighted infant sleepwear.
There has been little scientific analysis into the safety of weighted infant sleep merchandise. One safety study printed within the journal Advances in Neonatal Care in 2020 reported “no adverse events” amongst infants who slept below a weighted blanket, however their coronary heart charges slowed and classes lasted solely 30 minutes at most.
In a safety study carried out on behalf of Nested Bean, researchers discovered {that a} 1-ounce weight utilized to an infant’s chest did “not present clear indications for or against” potential respiration hazards, however that 3- and 9.5-ounce weights “may increase potential hazard and subsequent risk” attributable to decrease respiration charges and sooner pulses.
Williams mentioned Dreamland Baby is presently conducting a safety research involving its merchandise with researchers from Indiana University.
Richard Trumka, a commissioner with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said he wrote letters to a number of retailers alerting them to “multiple infant deaths” from weighted sleep merchandise. CPSC spokesperson Patty Davis mentioned the fee was conscious of 1 loss of life from a weighted infant sleep product.
Williams mentioned she knew of two fatalities involving weighted infant sleep merchandise, however that the post-mortem experiences for each deaths talked about unsafe sleep practices and one would not point out a weighted product in any respect.
Gangan mentioned the coroner’s report in a single loss of life cites “a tragic combination of multiple proven-unsafe sleep practices. It does not mention a weighted product nor a Nested Bean product.”
She mentioned she believes Trumka’s letters “inaccurately attributed multiple infant deaths” to weighted infant sleep merchandise.
“The death of a child is an unfathomable tragedy, yet such an incident does not give public officials license to spread unsupported claims, particularly when they result in endangering a small, minority female-owned business,” Gangan mentioned.
Weighted infant sleepwear pulled from retailer cabinets
Amazon, Target, Walmart and the web site Babylist have all confirmed to NPR that they not promote weighted infant sleep merchandise.
An Amazon spokesperson mentioned it advised sellers in early April that they’d not be capable of provide weighted infant sleep merchandise on the market, a policy change the corporate mentioned it made “with customer safety in mind.”
Natalie Gordon, founder and CEO of Babylist, mentioned in a press release that the corporate values “doing what is best for growing families and keeping a pulse on the newest industry guidance, which is why we have stopped selling these products.”
In a publish on X, Trumka said the retailers’ actions “could save lives, and I’m grateful for their cooperation.”
Trumka additionally mentioned Nordstrom had stopped promoting weighted infant sleepwear, however the firm didn’t instantly reply to an e mail looking for affirmation.
Williams mentioned she had not heard from any of the retailers that stopped promoting weighted infant sleepwear and that Dreamland Baby hadn’t had any incidents with any of the businesses.
Blumenthal requires a federal investigation
In his letter to the FTC, Blumenthal mentioned the 2 producers declare their merchandise are secure, although there isn’t any normal for weighted infant sleepwear and the American Academy of Pediatrics has said the products are unsafe.
“I believe that there is sufficient evidence of potential harm to warrant an investigation. That is the minimum that this federal agency should do,” he advised NPR. Referring to previous advertising claims by the businesses, he added, “other agencies should join in demanding that these companies tell the truth.”
The FTC declined to remark.
Blumenthal mentioned he took an interest within the subject after listening to mother and father’ anxieties and fears about weighted infant sleepwear. “And the more I learned, the more troubled I became and the more questions I asked that have gone unanswered,” he added.
For instance, Blumenthal said Dreamland Baby’s advertising declare on its web site that its merchandise “[exceeded] all Consumer Product Safety Commission standards” was deceptive as a result of there isn’t any normal for weighted infant sleepwear.
Williams mentioned that language referred to current CPSC requirements for issues like flammability and lead necessities. She added that though Dreamland Baby’s employees did not consider the declare was deceptive, the corporate eliminated it in order to not confuse prospects.
“With us really trying to work with anybody involved — CPSC, AAP — we want to make this abundantly clear: This is what the product is. This is what it does. Here are your expected results,” she mentioned.
Gangan mentioned representatives from Nested Bean shared the analysis behind their advertising claims with Blumenthal’s employees and later modified just a few of these claims to make them extra particular.
“Calling for a federal investigation of two woman-owned small businesses may not uncover any more than what has been openly and earnestly shared, only burdening our resources and harming our ability to help families achieve safe sleep,” Gangan added.
Blumenthal mentioned he was “considering legislative steps if the federal agencies fail to use their existing power.”