Federal law requires that bedside sleepers comply with the bedside sleeper standard and with additional requirements, including those of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA).
Manufacturers and importers of bedside sleepers must certify in a Children's Product Certificate that the bedside sleepers comply with the standard and the additional requirements after the bedside sleepers have been tested for compliance at a CPSC-accepted, third party laboratory. These requirements are discussed below and in greater detail at www.cpsc.gov/BusinessEducation.
A bedside sleeper is a durable infant or toddler product as defined in section 104(f), and is a type of bassinet. 84 FR 49948–49. Section 5.1 of ASTM F2906 states that bedside sleepers are subject to the requirements in ASTM F2194, Consumer Safety Specification for Bassinets and Cradles. Section 3.1.2 of ASTM F2906 defines a bedside sleeper as “a rigid frame assembly that may be combined with a fabric or mesh assembly, or both, used to function as sides, ends, or floor or a combination thereof, and that is intended to provide a sleeping environment for infants and is secured to an adult bed.”
The standard seeks to minimize the risk of deaths and injuries associated with the use of bedside sleepers, including those related to entrapment and suffocation hazards, structural integrity and product assembly, and a lack of consumer education regarding proper use of the product.
The standard is published in the Code of Federal Regulations at 16 CFR Part 1222. The standard incorporates by reference ASTM F2906-23, with some modifications. ASTM F2906-23, the Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Bedside Sleepers, contains the specific requirements and descriptions of the tests in place for the various types of these products.
In addition to complying with the bedside sleeper standard, the product must also meet the specific requirements outlined in 16 CFR part 1218, Safety Standard for Bassinets and Cradles, and ASTM F2194, the Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Bassinets and Cradles, as modified. Please visit the Bassinets and Cradles Business Guidance page for more information.
ASTM F2906 and F2194 can both be viewed free of charge at the ASTM Reading Room.
The ASTM standard includes performance requirements for bedside sleepers, including specific performance, testing, and labeling requirements. The key provisions of the ASTM bedside sleeper standard include the following:
- Compliance with 16 CFR part 1218, Safety Standard for Bassinets and Cradles, and ASTM F2194, the Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Bassinets and Cradles, as modified – to ensure products meet fundamental safety requirements for sleeping environments (suffocation, stability, small parts, pinching, shearing, unintentional folding, loading, side height, and sharp edges.)
- Multimode product – to prevent safety hazards when used in other product modes and configurations (play yard, bassinet, changing table, or handheld carrier.)
- Minimum side height on lowered side – to ensure safe occupant retention.
- Product disengagement – to ensure that attachments provide safe occupant retention and prevent entrapment hazards.
- Fabric sided enclosed openings – intended to prevent entrapment and suffocation hazards.
- Bedside sleeper accessory (sleep surface collapse/tilt) – to prevent suffocation and entrapments from misassembly with bedside sleeper accessories from missing key structural elements.
- Warnings – intended to alert the caregiver to infant fall, entrapment, and suffocation hazards when using bedside sleepers.
Bedside sleepers are subject to requirements for surface coatings, lead and phthalate content, testing and certification, registration cards, and tracking labels. These requirements are discussed below and atwww.cpsc.gov/BusinessEducation:
- Surface Coating Limit Bedside sleepers must not be painted with paint that contains more than 90 ppm (0.009 percent) lead.
- Lead Content Limit: Bedside sleepers must not contain greater than 100 ppm (0.01 percent) of total lead content in any accessible component part.
- Phthalate Content Limits: Plasticized components of bedside sleepers must not contain more than 0.1 percent of the following eight specified phthalates: di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), or benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP), diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP), di-n-pentyl phthalate (DPENP), di-n-hexyl phthalate (DHEXP), and dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP).
- Testing and Certification: Bedside sleepers, like all products that are designed or intended primarily for children 12 years of age or younger, must be tested by a CPSC-accepted, third party laboratory for compliance with the bedside sleeper standard and all other applicable children's product safety rules. Based on that testing, a domestic manufacturer (or importer) of bedside sleepers must issue a Children's Product Certificate specifying each applicable rule and indicating that the product complies with those rules.
- Product and Outer Package Labeling Requirements: Durable infant or toddler products, such as bedside sleepers, must be permanently marked with specific labeling information, including tracking labels, on the product and on the packaging. In addition, durable infant or toddler products are required to have additional product markings and a product registration card attached to the product. This chart summarizes the specific labeling and registration requirements that durable infant and toddler products must meet.