Amby Baby Hammock - Recall

If you haven't already heard, there is a huge recall of more than 2.1 million drop side cribs made by Stork Craft. The frustrating part about it is that there were 110 incidents including 4 deaths and these cribs have been manufactured since 1993. I'm not sure why they weren't recalled sooner. Please check your crib asap if you think it may be involved in this recall.

I have recently become aware that Amby Baby Hammocks may be under investigation by the Consumer Products Safety Commission. There are some posts on a few different message boards saying that several infants have died of suffocation in the Amby bed. I have been trying to find out more about this and don't have any other concrete information to offer at the moment, but I don't want to be a part of the silence. Sometime in mid October, the Amby website had a notice posted that they were not currently shipping any product. Their store was open, but you couldn't add anything to a shopping cart. There was no explanation as to why. Now, the Amby website is completely gone. There is a website up, but it is for Australia.

We purchased an Amby bed off of Craigslist to use with our new baby in January, so I'm obviously very concerned about this issue. I'll let you know what I find out. So far I have contacted someone at Amby that I had an email address for, the CPSC by phone and email, the JPMA by email and phone, and have searched the Better Business Bureau for information. I also contacted Dr Sears because he has endorsed the product in the past. None of these contacts have responded to me, but I'm not done pursuing the matter. A consumer research blog that I read, Z Recommends, is also looking into the issue and will post soon with what they've found out.

UPDATE: None of my contacts responded to inquiries I made, but today the CPSC has issued a recall that you can read here. The Amby website is back up with a note about the recall and a form to sign up for a repair kit to be issued some time in January. If you have an Amby, stop using it immediately. I'm changing the date on this post from 11/25 to 12/7 to move it back up to the top of my blog for now.

Fairies and Gnomes

Because of all that we've been learning about toxins in toys, as a family we're very picky about the toys that we choose for our girls. Some of our favorite toys are made of natural materials such as unfinished wood or stuffed with wool. One of the blogs I read, Z Recommends, just posted today about a Canadian recall of several Melissa and Doug toys for paint containing toxins (barium). These items are not recalled in the US, and may not ever be, but they do contain barium. You can read the whole story here. In looking at paint on a toy, I tend to choose water based stains (you can see the wood grain through the paint) or completely unpainted toys. If wood is unfinished, it is simple enough to rub a coat of beeswax on for a bit of protection. These wooden animals that we made for the girls have beeswax on them and they have held up well. In the photo above, Lucy and Julia are playing with some wonderful natural toys that we received from A Toy Garden for review.

The gnome house is such a neat toy. I like that it can be used in so many different ways: as a cave for animals, a stable, a house for gnomes, and I suppose - a bedroom for tired fairies and gnomes...

The gnome house bends, but doesn't completely fold up. Julia kept trying to bend it too far and it held up to her doing so (of course while I'm telling her not to). It is made of pine, and is 19 inches long. I'm sure this will get lots of use in our house because it is so versatile and can be added to any play scene. This comes unfinished, I am planning to add some beeswax to it, just haven't done that yet.

The girls very quickly decided that the gnomes were a mom and baby pair since one gnome is smaller than the other. The gnomes are often sleepy, but do like to join the dollhouse dolls around the table for food or fly with the fairies. They have the cutest wool felt capes and hats which haven't come off even though they have been played with quite a bit. These gnomes would make great stocking stuffers and come in various fun colors. Of course they are the perfect size for the gnome house.

We also received two beautiful fairy dolls. These are 5 inches tall (about the same size as our Plan Toys dollhouse dolls), have cotton dresses, tulle wings, and are stuffed with wool. These fairies are very well made, soft, and slightly bendable.

The fairies have been flying around our house ever since we received them. Lucy and Julia love to make them "fly" and run around with them. They are a bit big to fit through the holes in the gnome house but are a good size for our dollhouse, and are frequent visitors. Their bodies are well sewn and their wool stuffing makes them nice to hold. Their arms and legs are bendy, so they can sit down. The fairy doll is a bit pricey, but is definitely a quality well made item that will last.

A funny side note: while flying her fairy around the house, Lucy said "Follow me, yelled the fairy!". She's continued with that kind of talk while playing recently: "Lets go, said the gnome.", "I'm tired, cried the baby", etc. I think its rather funny, and must be because we read so many books around here. She doesn't watch much television to see and hear characters speaking in first person, just hears about them in "book language".

If you'd like to go shopping at A Toy Garden for these or other fun things I've reviewed in the past (here and here), Sonya has given us a discount code. Act quickly because this expires on the 10th of December. "littleword5off" will get you $5 off of a purchase of $50 or more. A Toy Garden has a great selection of natural and handmade toys that would be great choice for Christmas gift giving.