- 2025 saw more child product safety recalls than any year in the past decade.
- Stricter safety laws led to increased recall numbers for children's products.
- Sleep products and toys combined made up about half of all recalls.
There were more product recalls in 2025 than in the past decade, according to an analysis by What to Expect, a pregnancy and parenting resource. It found that recalls issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission for sleep items, toys and other children’s products more than doubled compared to 2015.
According to the report, those products that are intended for use on or with little guys make up a third of U.S. product recalls. The number has grown for several reasons, including stricter laws and enforcement, a plethora of online marketplaces, look-alike products and the sheer number of products, among other contributing factors.
“Last year, the CPSC recalled 145 different baby and children’s products — more than twice as many as it did in 2015. Recalls of baby and children’s products also account for more of the recalls happening — 23% of the recalls in 2015 versus 34% in 2025. In other words, even though the total number of recalls has gone up, baby and children’s products still account for a bigger share of the pie," per the analysis.
It doesn’t mean products are getting less safe, but rather that standards are stricter, the report says. Sleep items like cribs and bassinets got most of the safety attention until recently. Now the focus is broader.
Among the items for children and infants that were recalled, sleep products — from cribs to pajamas, mattresses, bumpers and more — made up about 25% of recalled items, while toys made up another 25%.
Bikes, helmets and ride-on toys account for 15% of the child-related recalls, followed by clothing and infant gear like car seats and bath sets, each at 10%. Miscellaneous “other” items like furniture, decorations and feeding products make up the last 15%.
What to Expect said in a news release that the safety commission is handing out more citations.
“The CPSC has strengthened its enforcement approach,” the commission’s acting chairman, Peter A. Feldman, said. “We are operating more efficiently , using better data and tools, and acting more quickly when hazards are identified. That means we are intervening earlier — often stopping unsafe products before they can cause widespread harm."
For sale and safe not always same thing
But he added that “We are seeing more consumer products entering the U.S. market, particularly from China, which increases the risk that unsafe products will reach consumers.”
Dr. Benjamin Hoffman, past chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention, said anything can be brought to market if it doesn’t violate existing standards. “The burden of proof is to demonstrate harm,” rather than showing a product won’t cause harm.
Sleep products got stricter standards after more than 100 infants died in inclined sleepers between 2009 and 2019. Congress acted in 2021, passing the Safe Sleep for Babies Act, which banned inclined sleepers and crib bumpers — and prompted some safety recalls.
The What to Expect report said there were only between six and 15 children’s sleep products recalled each year between 2015 and 2022. But in 2025, 38 children’s sleep items were recalled.
Other laws have also boosted the numbers, with an eye toward improving safety. For example, Reese’s Law created new safety rules for button cell batteries.
“You can clearly see the impact that these new rules and regulations had on baby and children’s products: The share of recalls that specifically mention a standards violation jumped from 21% in 2015 to 73% in 2025,” per the report.
Shopping online
While shopping online is convenient, the report says parents should take some extra care because third-party sellers are independent merchants and may offer products from elsewhere that don’t have safety laws that are as strict as in the U.S.
“Both Amazon and Walmart tell What to Expect that they require all products sold on their sites to comply with applicable laws and brand policies, and that they use verification processes to check this. However, experts tell What to Expect that some dangerous products can — and do — fall through the cracks," the report said.
Lisa Trofe, executive director of the Baby Safety Alliance, was quoted in the report as noting that companies may try hard to make sure unsafe products aren’t sold on their platforms, but “there are ways for unscrupulous sellers to get around those types of things.”
Per the report, “What to Expect’s analysis revealed CPSC recall listings full of imported third-party products with gibberish brand names like Uuoeebb Infant Walkers, which pose a deadly fall hazard, and YCXXKJ Baby Bath Seats, which could tip and cause a child to drown. Even though they don’t make headlines like recalls of bigger brands, thousands of these products make their way into families’ homes on a regular basis."
The commission, for instance, currently has a recall of Coluans Christmas Light-up Rings, which are being recalled “due to risk of serious injury or death” if children eat the battery. It’s in violation of safety standards for toys, but was sold online recently. A similar recall warns about Gavoyeat Halloween Light-up Rings, also sold online.
Besides those, this month there are recalls of child bed rails, a toy that’s a spiral tower with small balls that a kid can launch, children’s pajamas that could be flammable and even a “tip restraint kit” that’s supposed to reduce the risk of furniture tipping onto kids, among others.
Hoffman likened finding such products and taking them down quickly online to playing “whack-a-mole.”
The power of “new” for safety
Hoffman said the two essentials for baby are a car seat and a safe place to sleep, “and there are firm National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and CPSC guidelines for those. Getting these items new, rather than used, helps ensure they meet the latest safety standards,” the report said.
The challenge with used items is making sure they’ve never been the subject of a safety recall. Secondhand markets can keep items in circulation, sometimes for years. Other items, like books or clothing, are fine secondhand.
Trofe told What to Expect that families that can’t afford a new car seat or crib can reach out to Safe Kids Worldwide. It can help them find donated or discounted products that are safe.
And if an injury occurs or there’s a close call, consumers should report it to saferproducts.gov.
Tips for choosing products
- Car seats should have a label showing compliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213.
- Cribs and portable play yards should have a label showing they were made no earlier than June 2011.
- Other products may have a Baby Safety Alliance verified seal that shows it was tested at the most current and strict safety standards in the U.S.
- Watch for “knockoffs.” Trofe told What to Expect that “if there’s a brand-name stroller that sells for $600 and there’s something that looks very similar that’s only $100, that should be a red flag.”