Draft rule would ensure all infant sleep products meet strong safety requirements
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) today met to discuss a draft final rule that would require currently unregulated infant sleep products to meet strong evidence-based safety standards. The CPSC commissioners are scheduled to vote on the rule on June 2, and Consumer Reports is urging all four of them to support its approval.
Oriene Shin, policy counsel at Consumer Reports, said, “This strong rule would go a long way to help parents and caregivers keep babies out of unsafe sleep environments. Every CPSC commissioner should vote to approve it. Too many babies have died in products that conflict with expert medical recommendations, and the CPSC staff are right to insist that any infant sleep product meet binding safety standards.”
The draft rule would require that all products intended or marketed for infant sleep must meet one of five mandatory safety standards, such as the current regulation for bassinets. The rule would also ensure that the products better align with American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) safe sleep recommendations, which include that infants should sleep alone, on their back, on a firm, flat surface in their own space, with no extra bedding, to help avoid suffocation and other dangers.
Shin added, “If a majority of the CPSC commissioners vote ‘yes,’ manufacturers would finally be accountable for addressing risks they have downplayed for years. There would be a clear line between infant products for sleep and infant products not for sleep. Companies would not be able to market their products in ways that confuse parents and put babies at serious risk.”
CR’s ongoing investigation into safe infant sleep has revealed that at least 94 infant deaths are linked to inclined sleepers, and has helped prompt the recall of more than five million of the products since April 2019. CR’s investigation also has tied in-bed sleepers, such as the DockATot and the Baby Delight Snuggle Nest, to at least 12 fatalities. CR strongly advises anyone with an infant inclined sleeper or another infant sleep product that isn’t tested to a safety standard to immediately stop using it.
To learn more about the CPSC’s draft final rule for infant sleep products, read today’s Consumer Reports story.
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Contact: David Butler, david.butler@consumer.org
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