CPSC article on how soft bedding can kill infants, what to do about it.
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Release # 96-096 .
Study Links Soft Bedding Products and Infant Deaths
Washington, D.C. Research that links putting infants to sleep on soft
bedding with increased risk of infant death due to suffocation will be
presented today by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) at
the annual Society for Pediatric Research meeting in Washington, D.C.
The research was conducted by CPSC in collaboration with the
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the
University of Maryland. It is the first epidemiologic evidence that
directly links the rebreathing of carbon dioxide trapped in bedding to
infants found dead in the prone sleep position.
The research project, completed in 1994, found that about 30 percent
of the 206 infants in the study who died of Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome (SIDS) were found with their noses and mouths covered by soft
bedding. Most of those infants had been placed on their stomachs to
sleep and were found lying on top of soft bedding such as pillows,
comforters and sheepskins. Eighty percent of the SIDS deaths in the
study occurred in babies under four months of age.
"We have not found a cause for SIDS," says N.J. Scheers, Ph.D., CPSC's
project director and epidemiologist, "but our results show that
specific items of bedding used in the U.S., such as comforters and
pillows, were associated with an increased risk for death to
prone-sleeping infants whose faces became covered, compared to infants
on their sides or backs without soft bedding underneath them."
The study followed preliminary evidence suggesting that soft bedding
may play a role in the occurrence of SIDS, which kills some 6,000
babies each year in the United States. The purpose of the study was to
answer two broad questions: (1) are there bedding items that increase
the risk for infants being found dead with their airways covered, and
(2) are there economic and sociological SIDS risk factors that explain
the risk for infants found dead with their airways covered?
The study used a multicenter, case-comparison design with death scene
investigations of SIDS infants, and included using a mannequin to
re-create the position of the infant when found unresponsive.
The study concludes that economic and sociological factors had little
effect on the risk for death with airways covered. Bedding items with
enough softness and malleability to allow pocket formation beneath an
infant's head, particularly pillows and comforters, increased the risk
of death with airways covered. "These items should not be placed near
infants sleeping prone," says James Kemp, M.D., Assistant Professor of
Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine, "and probably
should be avoided regardless of sleep position." CPSC and the
collaborating researchers recommend the following safety guidelines
for infants less than eight months old:
* Place infants to sleep in a crib on a firm, flat mattress.
* Do not place soft, fluffy products, such as pillows, comforters,
or sheepskins under infants while they sleep or nap.
* Place healthy infants on their backs or sides to sleep, as
recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting
the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from
thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's
jurisdiction. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and
families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or
mechanical hazard. The CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer
products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and
household chemicals - contributed significantly to the decline in the
rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the
past 30 years.
To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC's
Hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC's teletypewriter at (301) 595-7054.
To join a CPSC e-mail subscription list, please go to
https://www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx. Consumers can obtain recall and
general safety information by logging on to CPSC's Web site at
www.cpsc.gov.
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