Safe Sleep Tips For Baby

by Michele Bender
May 18, 2010

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is making sleep safety a key initiative in 2010, mandating a new federal safety standard for cribs. According to CPSC chairman Inez Tenenbaum, the Safe Sleep campaign seeks to inform parents about sleep hazards, soft bedding hazards, and recalls through videos and educational materials. Recently, the CPSC released a new Safe Sleep for Babies poster. It includes the usual guidelines for parents: put your infant to sleep on his or her back, use a firm, tight-fitting mattress, and never use pillows or comforters in your baby’s crib. But the new poster has an added warning about positioning devices (also called wedges).  These items, which were developed in the 1970s, are heavily marketed to new parents as a way to prevent SIDS because they purportedly encourage back—or side—sleeping. The problem? Side sleeping is not recommended; babies have an increased risk of accidentally rolling onto their stomachs when placed in the side sleeping position. Wedge devices certainly aren’t necessary and, in fact, can be deadly as they may cause suffocation by obstructing the baby’s nose and mouth.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) offers more tips on reducing your baby’s risk of SIDS.

Editor’s Note—September 29, 2010
Today, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement warning parents and caregivers to stop using infant sleep positioners after receiving 12 reports in the last 13 years of infant deaths from suffocation in sleep positioners or when trapped between a sleep positioner and the side of a crib or bassinet. Most of the infants suffocated after rolling from their sides to stomach position.