Warnings emerge about Bumbo baby seat

by Roger Sinasohn (Subscribe to Roger Sinasohn's posts) Sep 20th 2007 9:02AM

Categories: Babies, Safety, Development, Baby Essentials

The Bumbo baby seat has become very popular in this country, no doubt because it lets babies sit upright so early on. Nadine Silverthorne noted that she would definitely consider getting one and Rachel Mosteller considers it one of the things that have saved her life given that she has two kids under two. And yet, these innocuous-seeming foam chairs may not be as good as they seem.

A Santa Rosa, California boy is lucky to be alive today, after falling off a table onto a hard kitchen floor while sitting in a Bumbo. Dylan Lamm's skull cracked and began filling with blood. He was rushed to the hospital and airlifted to another hospital where emergency surgery saved his life. So, how did this happen? "He arched his back and the Bumbo tilted and the back folded and he toppled over backwards. When I picked him up, I could feel his head and I could tell it wasn't good," said his father, Kevin Lamm.

The box featured pictures of babies sitting on a table in the Bumbo and the company's website claimed it is safe "on any level surface." Dylan is not the first child to have been hurt like this either. There have been at least two other, similar cases. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has opened an investigation, but has not yet released any findings.

So, while this chair looks pretty cool, it seem prudent at this point to never use it except on the floor (and a padded one at that, preferably) and with plenty of adult supervision. Hopefully, these incidents are all there have been and all there will be. If you have had any problems with one of these, let us know and be sure to contact the CPSC.

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Comments (28)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Kelly 9-20-2007 @ 9:20AM

I bought a Bumbo chair about two months ago and on the box and stamped on the back of the chair is a warning not to use it on any raised surface - maybe this is something on newer models?

RobMonroe 9-20-2007 @ 9:32AM

We have a new one and saw the same warning.

I would think that a good rule of thumb is to never leave a child on a table unattended at any time.

Judy 9-20-2007 @ 9:51AM

I've got to wonder about a parent who would leave a small child unattended in any sort of contraption on a raised surface. I've seen parents do it with car seats, too, and I always wonder what they're thinking. But at least a car seat has straps of some sort - this seat doesn't have anything. It makes me think of those lists of stupid warnings on products that you see sometimes - do not use this hair dryer in the shower - and those kinds of things.

Whatever happened to common sense? And why on earth would you put one of these on a table anyway?

Alice 9-20-2007 @ 10:26AM

We bought ours in November 2006 and our Bumbo's box also cautioned against using it on a raised surface. However, some people may get theirs used and without the original box. Thanks for writing this to raise awareness or this potential danger.

Tamyu 9-20-2007 @ 10:24AM

We bought one about 3 years ago... And I still have the box. It plainly says to never leave your child unattended at anytime, and *not* to use it on raised surfaces.

Either way, I think it`s pretty much common sense to not leave your child out of reach. Especially if they are strong enough to get out of the seat in some way - and even more so if they`re up on something.

My son never liked ours, and our kittens ended up using it as a bed... But the few times I used it were up on our dining table. In front of me, while I was either working on something or eating. NEVER out of immediate reach.

Jamie 9-20-2007 @ 10:33AM

I have a 2.5 month old baby that still jerks his head backwards. I have lost my ballance while holding him in my arms because the movements are unpredictable. He is a healthly normal child, he is still trying to control his muscles. I would expect he would be one of those children that would get out of one of these seats. That is scary to even think about. Thanks for the warning.

Anji 9-20-2007 @ 10:36AM

What stupid bloody idiot puts their baby on a raised surface in *anything*?!

darah 9-20-2007 @ 11:14AM

We have one of these for our daughter- I bought it because in my pre-mom life I taught at a daycare and had seen the benefits of using one of these chairs. In particular, one child had been extremely ill for her first 3 months of life and so, eventually, while she was mentally developmentally ready to begin sitting and wanting to keep her head up to look around her body had not developed enough "core muscle" to allow her to do so. For whatever reason tummy time was not cutting it. Her ped. was ready to send her to a developmental specialist. We suggested using one of these chairs at home in addition to tummy time and within a month the baby was on track developmentally - at least according to ped. standards! I just hate for these chairs to get a bad rap because people don't have common sense. They can do a lot of good, especially in specific cases.

I'm also curious if anyone has been able to find out the age of the child hurt. It might have something to do with his ability to tip the chair, as might his weight.

caitlin 9-20-2007 @ 11:22AM

I remember being warned before we left the NICU to never put my son in any sort of seat while it wasn't on the floor, even if it was just the coffee table. Babies are unpredictable and don't have the best muscle control.

Glad the baby survived, and I hope he his recovery luck will continue and won't suffer any long term effects from this.

Cheryl 9-20-2007 @ 12:22PM

I'm glad I'm not the only person going "WTF" how can they possibly blame the seat for leaving their child on a counter? That's just plain stupid, I'm sorry but the lack of common sense today just blows me away!

Eva 9-20-2007 @ 12:26PM

We never got much use out of ours since my kid learned to escape it very early on. I think they are unnecessary. It was only useful in the slightest as a portable high chair in the very early days of eating solids. These people should not have left their child in this thing on a table all alone. That's clearly dumb. I have used it on a table, and even with four people all around the kid eating, she still almost hurt herself trying to escape. That's when we ditched it for good.

Amanda 9-20-2007 @ 6:32PM

First of all, to everyone who says that they would never do this or that, try having 3 kids under 5, no sleep, little help, etc. You do things out of pure stress and sleep deprivation that you look back on in amazement. That being said, I had my son sitting in one of these on the kitchen table in front of me while I was eating my cereal one morning. Right there, in front of me, he arched his back, flipped out, and was lying on his tummy on the table. I think he was about 4 months old. He was delighted with this trick, and, of course, the seat was retired in our house to avoid a repeat performance.

Sandyone 9-25-2007 @ 6:31AM

I'm curious about this chair and it's effect on baby's hips and spine. I usually don't like to let my kids do anything until they're ready to do it and I know that snugglies are bad for infants' spines. I would think a sitting assistance tool (heh, heh...that's SAT) might not be good for a baby's developing frame.

I use my bouncy chair on the kitchen table and have seen some accidents coming. An aggressive bouncer makes the thing move a smidge at a time and it gets close to the edge. Gonna have to figure out how to keep them up without the movement. Suction cups, but they're not trustworthy. Careful eyes is still the best baby tool out there.

Paula 9-20-2007 @ 9:47PM

It looks like most of us are all saying the same thing. Who on earth would put a baby on a table/couch, whatever without being RIGHTTHERE next to them? My two were bad about trying to roll off the couch while I was changing them and scare the living daylights outta me(I had one hand on them with the other one trying to open the diaper, get wipes out and so on)

Gry 9-21-2007 @ 4:15AM

What I don't understand is the rush to have babies do things they are clearly not ready to do on their own - like sitting in bumbos and walking in those walkers.

Sure, it might be that your baby is frustrated because he/she can't sit up yet, or walk yet, and he/she wants to - but isn't that par for the course when growing up? Aren't they supposed to learn by trying - not just being plopped into some sort of contraption..?

I can understand the need for these things when a child NEEDS the help, like one above poster noted, but for the rest of the normal developing babies these things shouldn't be necessary (at least not for the BABIES, but maybe for their parents sake).

Kim 9-24-2007 @ 7:14PM

This guy had to have been an idiot! I'm considering buying this chair for my son but I would never put him in a seat on top of a table or other surface that is high up! This seat is intended to be used to teach the child to sit up on his own, or during play time, or to simply interact with his family! It really amazes me the stupidity of some people. You have to be careful with children...just because a label says it is okay does not mean you should do it!

Helen 9-25-2007 @ 9:31PM

I am a fully qualified nanny with 19 years experience and I am still amazed at the lack of common sense some people have. Anything that you put your baby in or on has the possibility of causing injury. I have used this chair and have had no problems but then I have never left a baby in it unattended or on a table.

mom2twins 9-27-2007 @ 5:28PM

I have two of them and my boys are just starting to use them...everyone I know that has used them told me they work great especially for feeding and play time..with two it's very hard to do everything you could do with one..so this is a good tool for me to still play with each of them like I did with my daughter...I will keep it off of raised surfaces..convience and lack of sleep are NO EXCUSE for putting a child in harms way..btw..I don't sleep much either, but know I would never put my boys on a raised surface.

Jess 10-11-2007 @ 4:36AM

Please - Parents - DO NOT BUY CRAP LIKE THIS!

This is dangerous for the natural development of a babys back! Can't you see that by just looking at the picture of the scrunched up babies? I saw a pic of a friend's baby who is only 3 months old in one of these and I had to google it - it looked horrible!

The baby does NOT need help in sitting up - EVER! Let him/her develop this skill on its own. It may take a few more weeks or even months, but who cares? Better to learn in his/her natural pace than forceful uncomfortableness...

Unbelievable that companies do not care about the health of babies! You baby will thank you later when it has strong back muscles... Kind of reminds me of binding feet for crying out loud!

Any kind of help like this and walkers (forbidden in some countries) is not only unnecessary but dangerous and sometimes damaging to the health!

We are taught in Europe to just let babies develop naturally. Best advice I've ever been given!

cherry 10-20-2007 @ 5:08PM

i always keep the bumbo seat on the floor (carpeted) and my 5 month son who cannot sit up alone yet has flipped out of it twice already--once while i was just a few feet away in the kitchen and once one right in front of me. he hasn't been hurt (just a little surprised by his own strength) but i think it's time to put the seat away. NEVER leave your child unattended during waketime.

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