Mbabyjon’s Pink Star-Print Crib Bumpers Violate the Federal Ban on Padded Bumpers, and the CPSC Says Parents Should Stop Using Them and Throw Them Away

A soft, padded band of fabric tied around the inside of a crib, pink with black and white stars on one side and white with pink stars on the other, finished with pink ribbons. That is how the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission describes the Mbabyjon crib bumpers it is now warning families to stop using.

In a product safety warning dated Oct. 1, 2026, the CPSC said the bumpers can obstruct an infant’s breathing and create a risk of serious injury or death from suffocation. Padded crib bumpers have been illegal to sell in the United States since 2022, and the agency said the seller has not agreed to a recall.

Which Mbabyjon bumpers the CPSC flagged

According to the CPSC, the bumpers were sold online at Mbabyjon.myshopify.com for $15 to $28. They carry no markings or labels, which means a parent cannot check a tag or a model number to confirm what is on the crib. The agency identified them by their look: pink with black and white stars on one side, white with pink stars on the reverse, and pink ribbons used to tie them to the crib slats.

The CPSC also cautioned that the firm may have sold the same bumpers in other colors or patterns. The warning does not list a sales date range or the number of units sold.

The seller is listed as Mbabyjon of Newark, Delaware. The CPSC said it issued the company a Notice of Violation and asked it to recall the bumpers or offer customers a remedy, and that the firm has not responded. No incidents or injuries tied to these specific bumpers have been reported, according to the agency.

What the CPSC told families to do with them

The agency’s instructions are short. Families who own the bumpers should stop using them immediately and dispose of them. The CPSC was explicit that the bumpers should not be passed along: “Do not sell or give away these hazardous crib bumpers,” the warning states.

That last point matters for anyone clearing out a nursery. Baby gear often moves through hand-me-down bins, consignment sales and online marketplaces, and a bumper with no label offers no clue to the next family that it was ever the subject of a federal warning.

The CPSC asks parents to report any injury or problem involving the product at SaferProducts.gov. The agency’s hotline is 800-638-2772.

Why padded crib bumpers are banned outright

Crib bumpers were once sold as a way to keep babies from bumping their heads or getting arms and legs stuck between slats. Pediatricians stopped recommending them years before Congress acted.

In its 2022 safe sleep policy statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics said bumper pads and similar products that attach to crib slats or sides “are not recommended because they have been implicated in deaths attributable to suffocation, entrapment/wedging, and strangulation.” The AAP added that with current safety standards for crib slats, bumper pads are not necessary to protect against head entrapment or injury. The same statement, published in the journal Pediatrics and written by Dr. Rachel Moon and colleagues on the AAP’s Task Force on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, notes that about 3,500 infants in the United States die of sleep-related causes each year.

Congress followed with the Safe Sleep for Babies Act, approved May 16, 2022. The law declares crib bumpers, including padded crib bumpers, a “banned hazardous product” under the Consumer Product Safety Act, regardless of when they were made.

The CPSC then voted 4 to 0 on Aug. 7, 2023 to approve rules carrying out the ban. According to the agency, the statute took effect Nov. 12, 2022, and it bars the manufacture, sale, distribution and importation of crib bumpers. The CPSC’s definition covers padded crib bumpers, supported and unsupported vinyl bumper guards, and vertical crib slat covers. The only item carved out is a non-padded mesh crib liner.

A pattern of online sellers the CPSC can’t reach

The Mbabyjon warning is one of several the CPSC has issued this year over bumpers still being sold online despite the ban, and the sellers in those cases have also ignored the agency.

In February, the CPSC warned about Muduo crib bumper sets sold on DHGate.com for about $45 to $55, saying the China-based marketplace did not respond to its contact attempts. In May, it flagged about 630 CPLRECR crib bumpers sold on TikTok Shop for about $35 between September 2025 and February 2026. That seller, based in Hong Kong, was also unresponsive to the CPSC’s request for a recall.

When a company won’t recall a product, the CPSC’s main tool is a public warning like this one. That leaves the job of finding the bumpers, and getting them out of the crib, to the families who bought them. The agency has used the same approach for other products this fall, including its warning on Power Quick Pot pressure cookers after Tristar declined to recall them. Recalls with a cooperating company look different, as in the Costway high chair recall, where buyers can get a free replacement.

What a safe crib looks like, according to the CPSC

The CPSC used the Mbabyjon warning to repeat its basic safe sleep guidance. Infants should sleep on a firm, flat surface such as a crib, bassinet or play yard, with only a fitted sheet. Blankets, pillows, padded bumpers and other items should stay out of the sleep area.

Babies should always be placed on their backs to sleep, and the agency says an infant who falls asleep in an inclined or upright position, such as in a car seat or swing, should be moved to a firm, flat sleep surface.

For parents who added a bumper because a baby kept getting a foot or arm through the slats, the AAP’s position is that modern crib slat standards already address that risk, and the bumper adds danger rather than protection.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: קרלוס הגדול – CC BY-SA 3.0/Wikimedia Commons