My Graco Pack n Play experience

[kandamom]

Since a number of people have asked what happened with our Graco product, here is the story about my son's pack n play. I didn't mean to alarm anyone, but now you will all know what to check for to make sure that your kids are safe.

My son was 16 months old at the time, and he liked to chew on the plastic corners along the top of the pack n play. I never though much of it, since it was a baby product. I didn't think it could possible pose any kind of choking hazard. One day I happened to be sitting in the room while he was in the pack n play, and I saw him munching a corner. Just a couple minutes later, I took him out of the pack'n'play and noticed something small on the floor near where I was standing. I looked to see where it could possibly have come from and was horrified to discover that a small, sharp piece of plastic had fallen from where he had been chewing the pack’n’play. I think the piece might have fallen to the floor while I was taking him out. I don't know if he had chewed it loose and it was brushed off, or if it had landed on him or his lamb blanket and fell when I took him out. There were even bite marks on the pack’n’play by where the piece had come off. (Graco denies this, but I have pictures to the contrary.) One of the other corners had a loose piece as well. I was told that the Graco engineers decided that the product had been dropped onto a hard surface. (It hadn't been, unless it was during distribution.) Despite numerous requests, I was never allowed to talk to the engineers who had evaluated the product. The engineers had determined that the pack n play had been dropped, and as far as the information I received, it was "case closed". This pack'n'play was used in a carpeted living room and only VERY rarely moved. I put my son in his pack n play when I needed to shower, do laundry, etc. I never imagined that he wouldn't be safe in it. Fortunately, the piece ended up on the floor, rather than in his mouth, and I found it before he did. I shudder to think that he could have chewed off that piece while I was in the shower or doing laundry, etc. The pieces broke off of the edges of the plastic corners, by where the plastic contacts the cloth along the sides. We had a base model that was navy with jungle animals. It was purchased in July 2007 at Babies R Us. I have always heard about serious problems resulting from unsafe baby products, but I never thought it could happen to us. I always try to be so careful, but I never would have thought to check for this problem. Graco did pay for me to send the item back & reimbursed me for the product. While I appreciate this gesture, it is of little comfort when I think of what could have happened to my son or what could happen to another child. While I am shaken up by what happened, my main issue is that I feel like Graco did not fully investigate the issue. If they would have worked with me to try to figure out what had happened, I would not have a problem with purchasing Graco products.

I contacted Graco, the CPSC, Babies R Us, and safekids. Sometimes I feel like I should do more - maybe contacting someone higher up at Graco. I also should write reviews at Amazon and Babies R Us. At least then, people considering a pack n play purchase would know to look for the problem. But what about all the babies and toddlers who are currently using pack n plays? What can a concerned consumer do? I truly hope that we had a defective unit and that it is a very isolated incident.

Thanks for letting me share my story. I'm new here, but I try to figure out how to post some pictures. I'll add those as soon as I can.

As much as I want my son to have a MyRide, I no longer trust Graco with his life.

Rebecca

I tried to add a second post with pictures, but I could not upload them the usual way. The message said something about a problem with the server. How can I get the pictures up here? Thanks.

 

[aisraeltax]

i have the same concerns. im using the My Ride for 5 lbs RF'ing, then its getting sold.

 

[4boysmom]

I am curious to see the picture update. Did the P&P have any visible stress marks before this? I have a BabyTrend "P&P" so am curious to see what is going n since I can't completely visualize what happened.

 

[kandamom]

I just can't figure out why the pictures won't upload. They are well within the file size limit for a jpg.

I didn't look too closely at the Baby Trend model, but, if I'm thinking of the right one, it did look different than the Graco design. The piece came off right above a joint (or whatever you would call it) in the plastic. Hopefully, someone can come along and help me with these pictures.

Rebecca

There were visible stress marks by the second piece that came off. It was coming loose, so I pulled it off.

 

[Holly]

Are you trying to attach them? Do you have a photobucket account to upload them to? If so, upload them there, then the code under the picture that begins with IMG, copy and paste into your post.

I have a Graco pack n play too, mine is the big colorful square one called the "tot block" Mine was bought in 2007 too.

 

[ctbcleveland]

kandamom,

Thanks very much for sharing your experience here. I can imagine how troubling it was considering that you feel other children are at risk.

I want to make one suggestion to you. The blog below is written by a father. They have taken up the interest of promoting safer children's gear and seem to be able to get a reaction out of the big baby products companies. If you are able to share your story with them, something might happen.

http://www.zrecommends.com/

This blog taught me about BPA WAY before it was in the headlines. I stopped using BPA bottles in the summer of 2007.

They also helped a concerned mom get Carter's and the CPSC's attention about the chemicals used on their "label-free" baby product tags.

It might at least open the door to other people reporting similar experiences.

Let's hope that they are right and it was just a freak situation with the one that you had.

 

[kandamom]

Holly, thanks for the tip. I just created an account and added the pictures, so I'll give it a try.

I have more where these came from, but this should give people a good idea. You can clearly see bite marks in the area around the missing piece in one of the pictures. (I'm not sure how they will look after resizing, though.)

 

[sparkyd]

Thanks for posting this!

 

[werforpsu]

thank you for posting, i have teh exact same pack an dplay (same jungle animals and everything also bought in the summer of 2007. my second boy is on his way and it is something to remember if he is a chewer (my first was not one to put anything in his mouth)

 

[Jonah Baby]

Looks to me like either your kiddo had some seriously strong teeth or the plastic at that corner had somehow gotten stressed. I'm thinking exposure (extreme or recurring) to a heat or cooled source...could've happened during shipment? Wonder if the store put it in a different box than it came from the factory in...

 

[kandamom]

Looks to me like either your kiddo had some seriously strong teeth or the plastic at that corner had somehow gotten stressed. I'm thinking exposure (extreme or recurring) to a heat or cooled source...could've happened during shipment? Wonder if the store put it in a different box than it came from the factory in...

It appeared to be the original box from the factory. That was my thought as well - it must have been something that happened during shipping, if it was from some kind of abuse to the product. It was actually two corners that were across the pack n play from each other (not on a single side and not on the same corner). Once I found the first piece, I checked all of the other corners. The piece on the second corner was loose. It came off easily when I pulled it. I just hope this is an isolated incident.


Rebecca

 

[bobandjess99]

I'm not really sure what to say. i guess I just can't see why you are so upset with graco over this.
It DOES look to me like damage and not some sort of manufacturer defect. I totally believe you that you personally did not drop it or whetever, but I'm thinking you are possibly correct in that it happened in shipping or at the store or something.
I guess i'm a little torn here. Yes I understand being scared and upset that your child was potentially put into harms way. But....although, it sounds like you received some crappy customer service, which is not what one hopes for, I really don't understand why you would hold Graco responsible for the defect. It's not like it was a design flaw, or something like that. The product you bought was obviously damaged at some point after production. I mean, ANY product on the entire planet could be damaged by the UPS guy, and you don't blame the company that made the product because it is broken. It's not like all items that exist in the world are supposed otbe completely unbreakable? Yes, okay, blame them for poor customer service...but I also have to look at it from their end. You might have been a scammer who had broken her own P&P and was trying to set them up for a huge lawsuit.
and you said they did pay for you to send it to them and refunded you your money.
You bought a broken product.
You got your money refunded for said broken product.

What is it you expect? Were you under the impression that Graco uses some sort of super space age plastic in their products that never breaks?
Yes..you buy a baby product, you expect it won't harm your child.
But to me, this clearly falls into the "accident" category. Not negligence on the part of graco. Not deliberate intent to harm. Just an accident. Yours was broken. I'm sorry. But I think you're way out of line in your reaction, and it doesn't make me think poorly of Graco at all.
now...the comfortsport? THAT I can hate graco for.

 

[Maedze]

:yeahthat:

 

[natysr]

I think your story is a great reminder to us parents to regularly inspect all items that we allow our children to teethe on.

 

[kandamom]

I think your story is a great reminder to us parents to regularly inspect all items that we allow our children to teethe on.

Absolutely!! I had checked pretty much everything else he regularly chewed on, but it never even crossed my mind to check the pack n play. If I had folded it up more often, I might have noticed it earlier. But yes, you are right - check EVERYTHING they chew on and check regularly.

Rebecca

 

[kandamom]

What is it you expect? Were you under the impression that Graco uses some sort of super space age plastic in their products that never breaks?
Yes..you buy a baby product, you expect it won't harm your child.
But to me, this clearly falls into the "accident" category. Not negligence on the part of graco. Not deliberate intent to harm. Just an accident. Yours was broken. I'm sorry. But I think you're way out of line in your reaction, and it doesn't make me think poorly of Graco at all.
now...the comfortsport? THAT I can hate graco for.

Since I believe that this was a very serious issue, I expected Graco to be a little more concerned about what might have happened. My child could have been seriously injured or worse by this "broken" product. They didn't seem to want to hear it when I insisted that I had not dropped it on a hard surface. It was not broken when we bought it, which was over a year before this happened. I know that Graco had no intention of harming my child, but I am concerned that if there is a problem, be it in manufacturing, shipping, etc., that other children could be at risk. Obviously, I don't assume they use some kind of "super space age plastic", but this broke right above a seam in the plastic, so it makes me wonder. I've seen other play yards that don't have a seam there. Again, I certainly hope that this was an isolated case. I can understand how reading about another person's experience wouldn't make you think less of a company, but after this experience, I personally will not buy another Graco product. I certainly don't expect others to do the same, especially since Graco has some great affordable car seat options (that really do look nice). And kudos to them for bringing the first 40 lb rf seat to the US market.

I only shared my story, because some people on here had asked about it.

Rebecca

 

[zeo2ski]

Thanks for sharing, I was curious what your Graco story was.

It's understandable that you were so shaken up about what could have happened, but you did the right thing by contacting Graco--and they did the right thing by replacing your item and they now know that it happened and probably filed it and would be on the look out for others reporting this type of accident. They did exactly what should have been done with respect to you as a customer, and who is to say they didn't look into the issue?

However, I have a bit of a problem with people blaming a product or company for something that would be preventable with proper inspection and supervision, both of which are required when using almost ANY baby or child product and it says so right in the manuals. We are the parents and are ultimately responsible for the safety of our children, not any product. The pack and plays say never leave child unattended. I'm not sure why you would NOT expect it to break--it is not meant to be chewed on

 

[kandamom]

The pack and plays say never leave child unattended. I'm not sure why you would NOT expect it to break--it is not meant to be chewed on

hmmm...I thought that all baby products were supposed to be safe for chewing. I thought recalls were typically issued if a baby product posed any kind of a choking hazard. (Not that I would expect a recall after a single incident.) To be clear, I'm not blaming Graco for what happened. I feel that they did not thoroughly look into the issue, and that is what concerns me. (This is based on my conversations with them.) I could be completely wrong, but don't people put their children to sleep in pack n plays sometimes while traveling, etc.? Wouldn't that be unsupervised use as well?

Natysr sums it up perfectly - be sure to inspect everything our babies chew on regularly. And that would include everything they would have the potential to chew. I'm not sure I had seen him chew the corners prior to the time this happened. In any case, I hope people take away this message and check everything, including the plastic corners on their pack n plays. I am so vigilant about pretty much everything, but I never would have thought of this one.

Rebecca