A Brief Word About the Rock N' Play Recall

As you may or may not have heard by now, The Fisher-Price Rock N' Play sleeper was recalled for mold exposure issues.

Now, before you start freaking out that those evil people at Fisher-Price were selling a baby product containing mold or oddly designed to allow mold. No, they didn't. Yes, Fisher-Price received 600 reports of mold. Yes, sixteen babies were treated for respiratory issues, coughs and hives after sleeping in the product--all of which is very unfortunate. But you know what? None of this is Fisher-Price's fault, and I am quite frankly surprised there was a recall because of this issue.

How in the world do you as a parent put your newborn child in a product on a daily basis and never think once that maybe just maybe it needs to be cleaned frequently? I mean... c'mon. This product is cloth and foam. Babies drool. They sweat. They pee. They poop. Everywhere--and most certainly any place you have them lying for long periods of time.

Look, I get it. You're busy with your newborn and you're really tired. Some of you brand-new mothers may not even have taken a shower for a week. But this is your newborn baby we're talking about. Why aren't you making sure the environment in which you plan to have your brand-spanking new infant sleeping is clean at... oh... I don't know... all times? If your sleeper gets wet, whether by spills or baby's bodily fluids, clean and dry it. If you've been using it every day for a few days... Um... how about... maybe... I dunno?... clean and dry it?

These really aren't hard concepts. If all those words up there are just too much, let's make it really simple:

cloth and/or foam + moisture + lack of drying and/or cleaning = mold

This equation is true whether you're talking about the Rock N' Play sleeper or towels or... well... anything.

The fabric of the Rock N' Play is removable from the frame for a reason. So you can wash it. Heck, it even says on the instructions to wash before use. I guess they should have also added, "And whenever it gets dirty or wet. Hello?!"?

There is honestly no reason why this recall should have happened [much like the Bumbo recall, because it didn't occur to some parents that infant seat without straps + high locations such as a table for cripes' sakes = falls]. That was really sweet of Fisher-Price to coddle the parents who never think to clean their baby gear, and it's really cute that they even issued instructions on how to clean the product to get rid of mold. But, c'mon now. How can people even try to hold Fisher-Price responsible for this one?? Next people are going to be asking Fruit of the Loom to recall their bikini panties for not properly warning people to wash their asses before wearing the undies.

Side note: We used a Rock N' Play, which a friend of mine bought me, with PCT2. It was ah-maz-ing at putting her to sleep. Nearly every picture I posted on Facebook for the first three months of her life is in that sleeper. And ya know what? I cleaned that thing frequently. No mold. Gave it to a friend, who has been using it with her baby. Everything is a-ok on that front too. It's amazing what happens (or rather doesn't) when people take care of their things.