For years, in all the editions of the Consumer Reports Best Baby Products books I’ve written, http://www.amazon.com/Best-Baby-Products-Consumer-Reports/dp/1933524243/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285850913&sr=1-1, we’ve been telling readers not to buy sleep positioners because they’re a suffocation hazard and that “bare is best” when it comes to crib safety. Nothing should be in the crib when your baby is sleeping other than a tight-fitting mattress and fitted sheet.
Don't use the flat-mat style sleep positioner
Finally, the FDA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission are putting a warning on sleep positioners, urging parents not to use them. For more info, see this statement issued September 29, 2010: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2010/09/sleep-positioners-a-suffocation-risk/.
A warning isn’t exactly a recall so that means that sleep positioners may still be on the market. But manufacturers of infant sleep positioners with medical claims (that the sleep positioners help prevent SIDS or GERD or positional plagiocephaly, flat head syndrome, for example) will need to stop making these products until they’ve been reviewed and cleared by the FDA.
Don't use the inclined-wedge style sleep positioner either. No style is safe.
Even sleep positioners that have been cleared have work to do. “FDA has informed manufacturers of cleared devices of the agency’s serious concern and has requested that they submit clinical data showing the benefits of their products outweigh the risk of suffocation or other serious harm.”
CPSC and the FDA are warning parents and child care providers to:
- 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.
Over the past 13 years, CPSC and the FDA have received 12 reports of infants between the ages of 1 month and 4 four months who died when they suffocated in sleep positioners or became trapped and suffocated between a sleep positioner and the side of a crib or bassinet.
I don’t know about you but I’ll sleeping better knowing these products are now under scrutiny and fewer parents will be using them.
