US and Canada Raise Questions On Safety of Pea Pod Travel Beds reports Bunk Bed Blitz

(EstateNewsWire.com, November 15, 2012 ) Matthews, NC -- The Chicago Tribune reports the safety of KidCo PeaPod travel beds are being looked at on both sides of the US-Canada border. The lightweight, colorful pop-up tents have been marketed as ideal sleeping spaces suitable for newborns and children up to age six. Easily portable, parents often view them as more practical for travel than unwieldy playpens.

Some models of the fold-up travel tent include an inflatable mattress which goes into a zippered compartment on the floor. Because the PeaPod’s base is water- and wind-resistant, as well as top-mounted flaps fold down over the plastic sides to screen out wind and sunlight. To avoid suffocation hazards, the Libertyville, Illinois-based advises against using mattresses, pillows, comforters or other bedding in the PeaPod. It also warns against leaving children unattended in the fold-up tents.

Health Canada, however, recently advised parents not to use the product at all with children below the age of one. Despite the company’s warnings, the federal health agency noted it had received reports of infants who rolled over and got their faces trapped between the mattress and the tent sides, even when the PeaPod was being used properly. An agency spokeswoman said it was possible for an infant to get too close to the PeaPod’s walls, which “do not necessarily allow for free flow of air."

In the United States, a Consumer Product Safety Commission spokesperson says the agency is "actively investigating certain models of the PeaPod," although it has not yet taken further action.

The agency learned of the death late last year of a five-month-old boy in a PeaPod Plus Portable Children's Travel Bed model P201. The boy’s mother said the infant was “rolled three-quarters of the way onto his belly, face-down and with his weight pressing him into the non-breathable plastic siding of the travel crib." An autopsy was reportedly inconclusive in ruling out SIDS as a possible cause of death.

KidCo president Ken Kaiser said the company was cooperating with both the US and Canadian agencies. He also observed the incident was the first reported with the model, tens of thousands of which had been sold.

One Chicago-based child-safety advocacy group, Kids In Danger, said the PeaPod was symptomatic of a broader problem with child-safety regulations for hybrid products. The PeaPod had met standards for a sleeping area, but had not been required to meet other safety standards. Such safety features should include side-rigidity standards for such products as playpens and cribs. Nancy Cowles, the group’s executive director said such hazards were not adequately investigated before the PeaPod went into stores, thus “leaving babies to find the flaws.”

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