NEWS from CPSC

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

CPSC Safety Alert Relates Soft Bedding Products And Sleep Position To Infant Suffocation Deaths

WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) today is issuing a Consumer Product Safety Alert to warn consumers about the role of soft bedding products and sleep position in infant suffocation deaths.

In the Alert, CPSC urges parents not to put infants to sleep on fluffy, plush products such as sheepskins, quilts, comforters, and pillows (including those products intended for use by infants). Some infants have been found on their stomach with their face, nose, and mouth covered by soft bedding. Such soft products may cause infants to rebreathe exhaled air and suffocate.

Instead, the CPSC recommends that parents put infants down to sleep in a crib on a firm, flat mattress. No soft, fluffy products -- pillows, sheepskins, toys -- should be under the infants while they sleep.

The CPSC Alert further states that results of Commission studies also support the current recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to place healthy infants on their back or side to sleep. In April 1992, the AAP issued a recommendation that the sleeping position of healthy infants should be changed from the stomach (the prone position) to the back or side. The AAP revised their sleep position recommendation after evaluating data which indicated an association between Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and infants who sleep on their stomach.

The CPSC's recommendation and support of AAP's sleep position stems from preliminary results of a staff project on infant suffocation. The aim of this on-going project, which began in October 1991, is to evaluate the role bedding and other soft products may play in infant suffocations. In the conduct of this project, the staff is working closely with medical researchers and other groups and organizations involved in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) research. The CPSC project may help answer some of the questions posed by infant deaths. The project is not designed to determine the cause or causes of SIDS.

The CPSC initiated this project after taking actions against infant bean bag cushions because of the suffocation risk. Thirty five infant suffocation deaths were linked to these products. During April and July 1990, all manufacturers producing infant cushions voluntarily agreed to recall these products and cease future production. In October 1990, the Commission began a rulemaking process to ban future production of infant cushions; a final rule was published in June 1992, which took effect on July 23, 1992.

The Commission urges consumers who may still have infant cushions in their possession to destroy the product immediately. Infant cushions not destroyed may find their way back into infant use at a later date.