A MOTHER in the UK whose baby tragically died by asphyxiation while sleeping in a Bednest cot has spoken out to warn parents ahead of the inquest into her daughter’s death.
Kidspot reports that the cot, which has been endorsed by Jamie Oliver’s wife, Jools Oliver in the past, is available to purchase in Australia despite a voluntary recall of the cot earlier this year, according to consumer advocate group, Choice.
Esther Roseman said, “On April 9, 2015 at 10.39am, our beautiful baby, Grace, who was just seven weeks old, was pronounced dead. She had managed to get her neck over the edge of the folding side of the NCT Bednest crib. Grace died of asphyxiation; her brain was starved of oxygen.
“Immediately following Grace’s tragic death, as her mother, I felt nothing but guilt, self-blame, shame and judged. I felt tortured that I didn’t have the choice of ending my life because I could not be that selfish to my family.
“When it first happened, I had some sympathy for Bednest, assuming it too would be mortified and remorseful. Unfortunately, the company does not appear to believe that the design of the cot caused Grace’s death.”
On the Bednest website, the company claims, “Bednest is a bedside or alongside crib or bassinet. Sometimes called a co-sleeping crib, close-sleeper, bedside sleeper or bassinet. We believe in expert safe sleep guidance which reduces the risk of SIDS. Bedside sleeping is a safe alternative to bed-sharing — keeping the advantages of close proximity and helping breastfeeding, bonding and attachment.”
Choice rejected the Bednest after reviewing the product in November 2014.
“The incident throws the lack of Australian standards for bassinets and bedside sleepers into the spotlight and asks whether the US standard for bedside sleepers, which is the only official standard currently available, is rigorous enough to prevent such accidents in future,” Kim Gilmour wrote for Choice in a post earlier this year.
The Bednest bedside sleeper is not available for sale in the US and Canada.
It’s available for sale in Australia, but it’s been modified.
In February 2016, Bednest sleepers sold between 2013 and 2015 were recalled after concern was raised in the UK about the height of adjustable sides of cribs for infants as their movement ability increased.
Anyone with the sleeper were told to contact Danish by Design in Australia to be sent a small kit, which enabled the half drop side to be fixed. The self-fit modification locked the side panel so that it was no longer capable of folding in half.
New models are now modified without the half-fold feature.
At the time of the recall Bednest told Choice that the voluntary modification was not related to the incident in the UK.
It said: “As a precaution we decided to make available to our customers a kit which prevents the folding panel being left in the half-raised position. This was to address some concerns recently raised by some experts in the UK.”
If you have an earlier version of the Bednest where one of the sides can fold in half, please read this statement which explains why the product has been modified and how you can now fix the side.
If you have more questions, you can email info@danishbydesign.com.au, or call our
office on 03 95880999.
This article originally appeared on Kidspot.
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