The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today warned consumers to stop using infant sleep positioners. 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.
Most of the infants suffocated after rolling from a side position to a stomach position. In addition to the reported deaths, the government 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 the sleep positioners.
The two main types of infant sleep positioners are flat mats with side bolsters or inclined mats with side bolsters.
Both types of sleep positioners typically claim to help keep infants on their backs and reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, but the Food and Drug Administration has never approved these products as safe. And the government said it was unaware of any scientific studies demonstrating that infant positioners prevented death or were proven to prevent suffocation or other life-threatening harm.
For more information regarding this warning please visit the CPSC website.
