Many new parents favor the Bumbo Baby Sitter Seat because it's more stable than a bouncy chair, but more flexible than a highchair. However, the manufacturer is coming under some serious fire after a 9-month-old boy fell out of the chair and fractured his skull. This isn't the first time that the company has had problems with infant injuries related to its product–in 2007 they recalled Bumbos after the Consumer Product Safety Commission received 28 reports of injuries, including several skull fractures. Consequently, Bumbo added a warning label to their product telling parents to only use the seat when it is placed on the ground. The Bumbo maintains high popularity with nearly 4 million sold in the U.S. since 2003.
Kevin and Lucy Ferrell, the parents of the 9-month-old baby, filed a lawsuit in Austin, TX for the injuries that their son sustained. Company records obtained as part of the lawsuit have revealed more disturbing findings related to Bumbo. In fact, the reports show at least 300 incidents of baby injuries, and in late November the CPSC announced an additional 45 incidents since the recall as well as 18 older cases. More disturbing is the fact that these incidents occured both when the seat was placed on the floor or when it was elevated, rendering the company's warning in 2003 useless.
The attorney for Bumbo says that he cannot comment on the litigation, but provided a statement from the company:
The Bumbo baby seat is a safe product for infants when it is used as intended: on the floor and never on an elevated surface. Children should always been closely supervised when they are in the Bumbo seat.
Toys R Us is also named in the lawsuit for knowingly stocking a baby product that has caused injuries. Toys R Us says it complied with the 2007 recall by removing all of the seats at that time and working with Bumbo to update the product with the warning label.
recently named in the 2009 edition of Best Lawyer's In America, David Mittleman has been representing seriously injured people since 1985. A partner with Church Wyble PC—a division of Grewal Law PLLC—Mr. Mittleman and his partners focus on medical malpractice, wrongful death, car accidents, slip and falls, nursing home injury, pharmacy/pharmacist negligence and disability claims.
4 Comments
Dianne
I'm sorry this baby was hurt, but it is not the bumbo seats fault the parents let a mobile baby sit on the table in it. I mean really, common sense should tell most people that it's not safe to put a 9 month old baby, that can roll, in an unsecured seat on an elevated surface. Where were the parents, I do daycare and I have a hard time believing a child could arch is back, flip out of the seat and roll off the table if his parents were right there. At 9 months of age, he should have been buckled into a high chair.
Amanda Vega
Just a quick update - the chair has had a recall reminder as of late as the injuries due to the lack of straps has increased to well over 50 injuries to children. If you have a Bumbo chair and would like it replaced for free, Prince Lionheart who is a competitor to Bumbo, has a safer version of the chair (with straps to prevent wiggling out of the chair) is doing a campaign to replace up to 1,000 Bumbos with their bebePOD. If you want more info you can email us at amanda@brilliantbabyproducts.com. Disclaimer: we are Prince Lionheart's PR agency for this promotion.
David Mittleman
Thanks for reading my blog, Dianne. The problem with Bumbo is that the injuries have occurred both when the chair is placed on an elevated surface or on the ground. Some Bumbo competitors have incorporated a seat belt feature on their products that are similar to the Bumbo chair to avoid having a similar incident occur where a baby could fall out and fracture its skull.
Hary
bumboo chair is a great product for what it has been built for, ie: helping baby to sit-up. I don't recall reading, "helping parent to keep baby in one place, handfree" so that in some parents mind, it is used as a "baby sitter seat" as it says in this article. Also, there is no need to add a seat belt as the whole idea is to be able to put baby in the chair and take the baby out of the chair after his/her sit-up exercises. Like any baby related product, ie: pushchairs, Highchair ... it is always said "not to leave baby unattended". I totally agree that a baby who is able to roll and ready to walk should not be put in the bumboo chair anymore but in a high chair as Dianne stated. in fact, I would recommend the use of the bumboo chair as it has other features such as strenghening baby leg muscles, preparing baby to stand up. My 8-month old baby showed me that he was able to almost stand up by pushing himself up out of the chair and then fell back in it again. he found the whole exercise amusing as he discovered some new skills that his body can do. the way to freedom.
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