Mothercare And Tesco Ban Baby Sleep Positioners After FDA Warns About Risk Of Suffocation And Death

British retailers have removed baby sleep positioners from sale after a US health watchdog warned about risks of suffocation.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement on 3 October reminding parents and caregivers not to put babies in sleep positioners.

“These products - sometimes also called ‘nests’ or ‘anti-roll’ products - can cause suffocation (a struggle to breathe) that can lead to death,” they wrote.

“The federal government has received reports about babies who have died from suffocation associated with their sleep positioners. In most of these cases, the babies suffocated after rolling from their sides to their stomachs.”

In response to the warning, Mothercare confirmed to HuffPost UK that it had removed the sleep positioners from sale.

A Tesco spokesperson also told us: “We have removed these products from our website as a precautionary measure.”

Mothercare

The sleep positioner was sold on Mothercare but has now been removed from sale.

The FDA stated the two most common types of sleep positioners feature raised supports or pillows that are attached to each side of a mat to raise a baby’s head. The positioners are intended to keep a baby in a specific position while sleeping.

They advised: “To reduce the risk of sleep-related infant deaths, including accidental suffocation and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants sleep on their backs, positioned on a firm, empty surface.

“This surface should not contain soft objects, toys, pillows, or loose bedding.”

In March 2017, British charity Lullaby Trust, which campaigns to spread safer sleep advice to parents, urged parents to put their babies to sleep on their backs.

The charity found almost all (94%) parents had heard of SIDS however, 15% thought it was fine for children to sleep on their tummies and a further 23% neither agreed or disagreed with this statement.

Read the full statement on the FDA website here.

Before You Go

Baby Sleep Tricks

The Guide Book(01 of04)

The Gentle Sleep Solution: The Naturally Nurturing Way To Help Your Baby To Sleep offers a gentle alternative to controlled crying methods. Drawing on her experience as a psychologist, CBT therapist and mother of four, Shallow teaches parents, firstly, how to identify the underlying reason for their baby's troubled sleeping by reading their behaviour, and, secondly, how to respond in ways that will help to reduce their anxiety and allow them to fall asleep independently. (credit:Jupiterimages via Getty Images)

The Bedtime Story Book(02 of04)

Swedish behavioural psychologist and linguist Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin spent more than three years perfecting his bestselling sleep-inducing bedtime story The Rabbit Who Wants To Fall Asleep. Using psychological and positive reinforcement techniques to help little ones to relax, focus and eventually drift off, he describes the story as “the verbal equivalent of rocking a baby to sleep.” (credit:Penguin Random House)

The Smartphone App(03 of04)

The Sound Sleeper app, gives you a choice of sounds for lulling your baby to sleep according to her personal preferences – whether that’s the rhythm of the womb, a gentle ‘shhh’ or the sound of a vacuum cleaner. It also ‘listens’ for your baby and starts playing the sound you’ve chosen as soon as it hears a whimper. You can even track your baby’s sleep and generate graphs to help you learn and analyse your baby’s sleep patterns. (credit:Layland Masuda via Getty Images)

The Night Light(04 of04)

The Sleepy Baby™ Biological LED Lamp light bulb works by filtering out the stimulating blue light spectrum that can inhibit your baby’s production of the sleep hormone, melatonin. Although it provides adequate light for bedtime stories, nappy changes and night-time feeds, your baby’s brain registers the light as darkness, making it easier for them to fall back asleep. (credit:Lighting Science)