FDA Warning on Dangers of Infant Sleep Positioners

We’ve discussed how to create a safe sleep environment for your baby recently, with the latest information about infant sleep positioners we need to pay close attention to these basic safety steps when putting our babies to sleep. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned consumers yesterday the importance of not using infant sleep positioners.

Why is it so important to stop using these sleep positioners? In the last 13 years, CPSC and the FDA have received 12 reports of infants between the ages of 1 month and 4 four months who died of suffocation while placed in sleep positioners or who became trapped and suffocated between a sleep positioner and the side of a crib or bassinet. According to CPSC Chairman, Inez Tenenbaum, “The deaths and dangerous situations resulting from the use of infant sleep positioners are a serious concern to CPSC ….. We urge parents and caregivers to take our warning seriously and stop using these sleep positioners, so that children can have a safer sleep.”

Sleep Positioner Hazard

CPSC and the FDA are warning parents and child care providers to do the following:

• STOP using sleep positioners. Using a positioner to hold an infant on his or her back or side for sleep is dangerous and unnecessary.
• NEVER put pillows, infant sleep positioners, comforters, or quilts under a baby or in a crib.
• ALWAYS place an infant on his or her back at night and during nap time. To reduce the risk of SIDS, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends placing infants to sleep on their backs and not their sides.

Please remember that the safest crib is equipped with only a mattress and a tight fitted sheet. Don’t put babies to sleep on top of pillows, comforters or thick quilts and don’t place these items in your baby’s crib, bassinet or play yard. For the safest sleep environment possible, place babies on their backs as well.

If you have any reports of problems associated to using infant sleep postioners please help the FDA and CPSC identify and better understand the risks associated with infant sleep positioners by filing a report through FDA’s MedWatch program by clicking here.

Jennifer Reed