Oct 27 2007
Recall of Bumbo Seat
Bumbo seat, sold by Bumbo International is quite popular amongst parents.
The bottom of the children’s seat is round and flat with a diameter of about 15 inches. It is constructed of a single piece of molded foam and comes in various bright and attractive colours.
The seat has leg holes and seat back that wraps completely around the child – very comfy looking. It is quite expensive, that’s why I’ve never bought any.
Recently there is a recall by CPSC. The hazard is described as follow:
If the seat is placed on a table, countertop, chair, or other elevated surface, young children can arch their backs, flip out of the Bumbo seat, and fall onto the floor, posing a risk of serious head injuries.
The incidents were:
CPSC has received 28 reports of young children falling out of the Bumbo Baby Sitter seat, including three skull fractures, which occurred when children fell out of chairs that had been placed on tables.
Seriously, though this product is being recalled, I don’t know why would people ignore manufacturer’s safety warning and put the chair on tables?
The back of the seat contains the following “WARNING”
Never use on a raised surface. Never use as a car seat or bath seat. Designed for floor level use only. Never leave your baby unattended as the seat is not designed to be totally restrictive and may not prevent release of your baby in the event of vigorous movement.
The remedy of this is actually to get a new warning label:
WARNING – Prevent Falls; Never use on any elevated surface.
I don’t see this as big issue lah. Just be extra careful when you use products like this, read the warning label properly first! 
For more detail about this recall, visit here.
You will be surprised how some parents use Bumbo. A friend put her kid (around 1 year old that time) on it and placed the Bumbo on the chair in a hawker centre (yes, I also wondered what was she thinking). The kid arched his back and fell straight to the floor along with the chair. Luckily he was ok but my friend got plenty of scoldings from the people around her, saying that it was crazy of her to use Bumbo like that.
EMYYL: Wow, so the description of the hazard is really matching what you said, here in KL? Terrible moms…
Spore :} Not terrible but ignorant. I have one too but I noticed that it works as long as the baby’s legs doesn’t touch the surface that Bumbo is resting on. It’s getting rather worrying the amount of baby stuff and toys recalls that are being issued.Maybe our older generations are wise after all. Kids don’t need fancy smancy gizmos
EMYYL: Well back then there weren’t so many recalls doesn’t mean the hazards are not there. The old paints in the past contain high level of lead. Only new and expensive paints has lower level (depends). I think the recalls also reflecting the higher restrictions on guidelines. Things like drawstrings on shirts is to be recalled – back then we let our kids wear hooded shirt with drawstrings – never think of the potential hazards.
But I do agree that kids don’t really need fancy toys. Isabel is for one that is not interested in branded toys. Her favourite ‘toys’ are containers, boxes, garbage bins, sticks, etc.