Health Canada has issued a warning about a popular infant and toddler travel bed, sold in North America as the KidCo PEAPOD, after receiving two reports of infants rolling over and getting their faces trapped between the mattress and the side of the product, posing a suffocation hazard.
From their advisory:
Health Canada is currently in discussions with the company about how it will address the safety concerns related to the use of this product. In the meantime, the department is warning consumers to immediately stop using the product for infants under one year of age.
This follows an incident reported to the Consumer Product Safety Commission in the United States last year, where a five-month-old baby allegedly suffocated in the same model listed in the Canadian advisory. The user guide posted on KidCo's website states that the PeaPod is designed for infants from birth to approximately three years of age.
Health Canada continues:
Infants should never be placed to sleep in products that are not specifically designed to accommodate an unattended sleeping infant, such as carriages, strollers, car seats, playpens, infant swings and bouncers.
Other options for travelling parents include renting baby equipment, or researching other travel cot or bed options that are approved by federal regulators.
Corinne McDermott is a family travel expert and the founder of the award-winning website, Have Baby Will Travel. Connect with Corinne on Twitter or Facebook for tips and advice.