Play yards recalled after baby is strangled

WASHINGTON — Baby-supply company Kolcraft Enterprises is recalling more than 425,000 play yards after a 10-month-old boy was strangled, a government safety agency said Thursday.

The boy was inside the company's Sesame Beginnings Travel Play Yard and the restraint strap from the elevated changing table hung down into the main play area and strangled him, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

The company is recalling a dozen types of play yards with changing-table attachments that have that type of strap.

"These play areas have a serious design flaw that poses a strangulation hazard," said CPSC spokeswoman Patty Davis.

Kolcraft spokeswoman Diane Steed noted that the changing tables had warnings telling parents not to put a child in the play area when this attachment is on top.

The play yards were manufactured in China.

One of the play yards, Contours 3-in-1, also features a rocking-cradle attachment that sits on the top of the main play area. A child who rolls all the way to the side in the cradle could get stuck between the cradle and the mesh wall of the play yard. The company has received 45 reports of children rolling to the side and getting stuck, but no reports of injuries.

The play yards were sold between January 2001 and September 2007.

To receive a free replacement strap for the changing tables and a free kit to secure the rocking cradle, call Kolcraft at 888-655-8484. In the meantime, consumers should cut the existing restraining straps from the changing tables.