Johnathan Walker:More than 63,000 infant swings recalled due to suffocation risk

The importance of following safe sleep steps with infants

Jool Baby is recalling more than 63,000 infant swings sold at Walmart stores and online because they pose a suffocation risk. 

The swings violate federal law as they were designed and marketed for infant sleep while having an incline angle exceeding 10 degrees, Jool Products said in a recall notice posted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The swing also doesn't include a mandatory warning regarding sleep, the Lakewood, N.J., importer stated. 

The recall involves Jool Baby's Nova Baby infant swings with a manufacture date from June 2022 through September 2023, which can be found on the sewn-in warming label on the back of the swing's seat.

Gray and about 28 inches long by 19 inches wide and 24 inches high, the swings have a round aluminum base with music buttons on the front, a metal seat frame, a cloth seat with restraints and a headrest. The product also has a canopy with hanging toys (yellow moon, blue cloud and pink star.) 

The swings were sold at Walmart stores and the retailer's website, as well as online at www.JoolBaby.com, www.amazon.com, www.babylist.com, www.target.com and other sites, from November 2022 through November 2023 for about $150.

Consumers who have the swings should immediately stop using them for sleep and contact the company for a free repair kit, including new written instructions, updated on-product warnings, a new remote control and new hanging plush toys with non-sleep themes (sun, cloud and rain drop.) Register at www.JoolBaby.com/recall.

Although no injuries or deaths related to the Jool Baby swings have been reported, they fall under the general product category of inclined sleepers for infants that were banned more than a year ago after dozens of infant deaths. 

Production of the recalled Jool Baby swings, which are made in China, began the month after President Joe Biden signed The Safe Sleep for Babies Act, but before it took effect in November of 2022. The legislation prohibits the sale, manufacture or distribution of inclined sleepers for infants and crib bumpers.

Infants should sleep on their backs in cribs or bassinets and not with blankets, stuffed toys, pillows or bumpers, public health officials have long emphasized.

In June of last year, the CPSC disclosed that a popular baby pillow had been linked to at least 10 deaths, with two of those infant fatalities reported after the Boppy's Newborn Lounger was taken off the market in 2021. 

In early 2023, the agency said roughly 100 infant deaths over the prior 13 years had been linked to a Fisher-Price Rock'n Play Sleeper recalled in 2019, reiterating its warning to parents to stop using the product. 

Kate Gibson

Kate Gibson is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch in New York.