A popular bassinet company has apologized after receiving backlash for asking a grieving mother to return its product after her baby’s death.
Happiest Baby — the brand behind the wildly popular SNOO Smart Sleeper — issued an apology to “So You Think You Can Dance” alum Brooklyn Larsen for requesting she give back the gifted item following her tragic loss.
Larsen’s son, Rocky, died in utero in November.
According to Larsen’s sister, Kenna Bangerter, Happiest Baby sent the SNOO after her sister said she “would tag them in content with her newborn baby.” However, after telling the company she wasn’t able to create the content “because her baby passed away, they demanded she send the bassinet back.”
In a since-expired Instagram Story, Bangerter said she was “absolutely disgusted” that the company didn’t have the “decency” to give her sister “the space to grieve the bassinet she never got to fill,” adding that “it’s all business for brands like these.”
A rep for the Los Angeles-based company said it “sincerely” apologizes for the “misguided and ill-conceived communication” sent to Larsen from one of its team members.
“We cannot express more emphatically our deepest sympathy for what she and her family have been through following the loss of her son,” read the statement issued on Monday to TODAY. “What was intended to be an effort to provide assistance clearly was a mistake that added to Brooklyn’s grief, for which we are truly sorry. We have taken internal steps to make sure it never happens again. What Brooklyn faced was a tragedy beyond comprehension, and we are heartbroken for her loss.”
Larsen, 29, appeared on season 11 of the popular dance competition series. She and her husband, Tanner, broke the news of the stillbirth in November.
“Our hearts are completely shattered. Our perfect little boy didn’t make it,” the couple shared in joint Instagram posts featuring a slideshow of black-and-white photos from Larsen’s hospital room, including one of them crying with their stillborn son.
“At 40 weeks and 2 days, Brooklyn went into labor on her own. We arrived at the hospital, full of excitement, only to be told the devastating news that they couldn’t find his heartbeat,” they wrote. “We never imagined that this could happen. In an instant, our best day became our worst.”
