IKEA Issues Warning For Parents After Toddler's Pyjamas Catch On Cot Causing Her Death in 'Tragic Accident'

IKEA Cot Warning After Baby Dies In 'Tragic Accident'

IKEA has issued a warning about attaching hooks to their cots after a 14-month-old baby died when her pyjamas became entangled on a plastic hook.

Violet Anderson had been put in the cot at 12pm on 17 April 2014 and was checked by her mother every hour.

At 3pm, Mrs Anderson found the toddler hanging from the outside of the cot, after her pyjamas caught on a hook attached to the side of the cot.

Violet was immediately taken to King’s College Hospital where they performed CPR, but was pronounced dead at 4.06pm.

The post-mortem examination completed on 26 August concluded it was a "tragic accident".

Coroner Sarah Ormond-Walshe said, according to the Mirror: "The hook is not part of the same product range as the cot, it is not designed to accompany the cot and not designed to be screwed into the cot."

IKEA vowed to add new wording to the warning signs on its cots, going "over and above" British standards.

IKEA’s deputy country risk manager Gary Robertson told Southwark Coroners’ Court their Swedish head office said the statement added will warn buyers: "not to attach, stick, or add any item to the inside or outside of your cot, it may became a catch hazard for your baby."

The toddler was in a Somnat cot and Krokig hooks had been attached on the outside of the cot.

The Somnat cot is not currently listed on IKEA's website, but the Krokig hooks are.

Krokig wall hooks

Robertson said, according to the Daily Mail, the hooks were intended to be screwed into walls and were never marketed alongside cots, either online or in stores.

Ormond-Walshe added, reported the Daily Mail: "IKEA have done a very full investigation, I need to go no further than what I have heard today in relation to their investigation.

"This is a 14-month-old baby - very well cared for - at the family home that has been put in its cot and found a short time later, having been checked over approximately every hour, where a bit of its clothing became caught in a plastic hook which had been attached to the cot at one point.

"This is just simply a tragic accident where the part of the clothing of Violet has got caught and she has become entangled."

Ormond-Walshe sated that the cause of death was "hanging" and came to the conclusion it was an accidental death.

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