Recalls and Product Warnings
Warning on Infant Sleep Positioners
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have recommended that parents and caretakers stop using infant sleep positioners. Over the past 13 years, the CPSC and the FDA have received 12 reports of infant deaths due to suffocation in a sleep positioner, or from suffocation after being trapped between a sleep positioner and the side of a crib or bassinet.
In addition to the reported deaths, the CPSC has received dozens of reports of infants who were placed on their backs or sides in sleep positioners, only to be found later in potentially hazardous positions within or next to their sleep positioner.
The two main types of infant sleep positioners are flat mats with side bolsters or inclined (wedge) mats with side bolsters. Both types of sleep positioners may claim to help keep infants on their backs and reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). However, the FDA has never cleared infant sleep positioners to prevent or reduce the risk of SIDS. In fact, the CPSC and the FDA are unaware of any scientific studies demonstrating that infant positioners prevent SIDS.
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.
In additon, the American Academy of Pediatrics does not support the use of any sleep positioner to prevent SIDS.
For more information please go to:
FDA: Infant Sleep Positioners Pose Suffocation Risk (Consumer article)
FDA: Infant Positioner Initial Communication
NIH: Preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Suffocation
Reference: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10358.html
