No safe place to lay her head: Amby Bed recall

After Levi’s birth in 2007, my family began it’s love affair with the Amby Bed. Levi (who suffered from silent reflux, which triggered sleep apnea, which thusly scared the H-E-double hockey sticks out of me) started sleeping in one and not only did he sleep but he SLEPT- like through the night.

And he kept on sleeping in it

until around 10 months when he tried getting himself out. For safety and sanity reasons, we transitioned him into a crib (where he did not sleep as well) and packed up the Amby, expecting that our next baby would surely enjoy it too.

When Bo joined our family, he also had reflux type issues. Bo’s reflux was more complex, very much tied to what I ate and we soon found ourselves setting the Amby Bed back up.

At first, Bo seemed quite content to enjoy the gentle sway and bounce of the Amby

but one day, shortly after these photos were taken, Bo managed to scoot to the side and flip the foam mattress up on top of himself.

Considering that Levi slept so safely and contentedly, I figured this to be an odd issue of extraordinary circumstance and opted to pack the Amby up. As he has grown, Bo has proven himself to be a crazy ball of frenetic energy so the Amby incident just seemed to fit in with his generally over active personality- I did not give it too much further thought.

Then little Miss Thang arrived with her preemie reflux

and penchant for screaming bloody murder. Since she was so tiny (born at 5lbs 7oz and down as low as 5lbs 1oz), I felt she needed to do some more growing before we should consider setting the Amby back up- lucky for us, because I soon started hearing about babies who had died in their Amby bed beds due to product malfunction.

At first, The Hubster felt like setting the Amby bed ablaze. We had entrusted it with our sleeping children, never suspecting that it was a suffocation risk. I decided to hang on to it and wait for an official recall, surely if the bed was so dangerous there would be some kind of refund involved. What company could sell such an expensive product and not offer some kind of compensation when the bed fails at providing a safe sleeping environment? Apparently, Amby USA, that’s who.

The official recall hit the web yesterday

Hazard: The side-to-side shifting or tilting of the hammock can cause the infant to roll and become entrapped or wedged against the hammock’s fabric and/or mattress pad, resulting in a suffocation hazard.

Incidents/Injuries: Amby Baby is aware of two infant suffocation deaths in the Amby Baby hammock. In June 2009, a 4-month-old girl in Lawrenceville, Ga died in a baby hammock and in August 2009, a 5-month-old boy from Gresham, Ore.

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the Amby Baby motion beds/hammocks and contact Amby Baby USA for a free repair kit. Parents and caregivers are urged to find an alternative, safe sleeping environment for their baby.

The repair kit intrigues me- what could they possibly supply to remedy the problem since it seems to be an issue with the entire design of the system?

I further Googled, hoping to find a picture or description of the repair kit and instead found that Canada will not allow Amby to send out “repair kits” to it’s residents and that Canadians are being advised to disassemble and toss out their Amby Beds.

So where does that leave us?

It personally leaves me with no safe place to allow Saffi to sleep other then my bed or the pack n play bassinet, which she is fast outgrowing.

Our crib was recalled and now sports a “repair kit” but I have yet to allow Saffi to sleep in there. It just worries me too much. And now, the Amby Baby Motion Bed is recalled. I’m thinking short of an entire design overhaul, no “repair kit” (especially one that Canada is not allowing for it’s citizens) is going to make me feel like my child is sleeping safely and soundly.