Unsafe Newborn Sleep
In their new video, “Throwing Our 3-Year-Old's Birthday Party One Month Late,” they show their newborn sleeping in what they call a “travel bassinet” (it is a portable infant lounger), which is placed on top of the cushioned bench they have in their living room. The bench is at least 1 foot off the ground, probably closer to 2 feet.
Now, I’m sure many of you are well aware of how unsafe this is, but it needs to be said. You should NEVER place a bassinet, pack-and-play, infant pillow or lounger, carseat etc. on an elevated surface, it’s a fall risk. It’s also a lounger not meant for sleeping, it’s meant for supervised awake time. The cushion underneath looks uneven and not firm at all, and at some point someone placed an elephant plushie on the edge of the bassinet, dangling over the newborn. So unsafe in so many ways.
I believe this product is the “Baby Delight Snuggle Nest Dream Portable Infant Lounger”. I can’t find the product on Baby Delight’s website, only currently unavailable on Amazon and other secondhand sites, so it seems it may have been discontinued. The user manual explicitly states:
“ALWAYS use on a stable floor. NEVER place on an elevated surface other than an adult bed.”
It is strictly designed to be used either flat in the center of a spacious adult bed for supervised lounging/co-sleeping or directly on a stable floor during supervised awake time. There are multiple times when Matt shows him sleeping and it appears like they are just leaving him there sleeping unattended for some portion of time.
There’s a lot of infant loungers like this, like the Boppy pillow, SnuggleMe pillow loungers and DockaTot (all of which have caused infant deaths), and they are never safe for sleeping or to put on an elevated surface like this.
All this to say, I CANNOT understand why they are letting their newborn sleep in this setup. Surely, they could move an actual bassinet or crib with legs and stable base to the living room if they want to room-share there during the party. That newborn shouldn’t be sleeping in a foldable “travel bassinet” (lounger) at home, and especially not in the horribly unsafe setup they created. It is beyond lazy and careless. Matt and Abby have the $$$ to have multiple cribs, even hire a nanny to watch during the party, yet they do this, and post it online. This is so dangerous to their child and the child of any viewer that they influence.
(Resources on safe sleep: Safe Sleep Guidelines by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Babylist: How to Use an Infant Lounger, Safe Baby Sleep Guide)