FDA issued a new Safety Alert Tuesday for infant sleep positioners, which are also known as “nests” or “anti-roll” pillows, warning parents and caregivers not to use the devices due to a risk of suffocation which can — and has — led to death.
Before the FDA’s warning, sleep positioners were hailed as an affordable solution to help deal with babies that have trouble making it through the night. However, with this new information, it seems the devices may contain a defect which makes them not just dangerous, but potentially deadly.
In 2010 alone, FDA and the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) cited at least 12 babies who had died from suffocation after being placed in a sleep positioner.
The new warning applies to all brands and makes of infant sleep positioners, and in fact goes a step further to note that because of the high rate of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), parents should “never put pillows, blankets, loose sheets, comforters, or quilts under a baby or in a crib.”
There were more than 1,600 SIDS-related deaths in 2015 in the U.S. alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The agency reported that about 25% of the fatalities were caused by accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed.
To reduce the risk of sleep-related accidental deaths of children, FDA recommends that parents and caregivers take the following precautions when putting baby to bed:
- NEVER use infant sleep positioners. Using this type of product to hold an infant on his or her side or back is dangerous.
- NEVER put pillows, blankets, loose sheets, comforters, or quilts under a baby or in a crib. These products also can be dangerous. Babies don’t need pillows and adequate clothing—instead of blankets—can keep them warm.
- ALWAYS keep cribs and sleeping areas bare. That means you should also never put soft objects or toys in sleeping areas.
- ALWAYS place a baby on his or her back at night and during nap time. An easy way to remember this is to follow the ABCs of safe sleep: “Alone on the Back in a bare Crib.”
Source: FOX News