Retailers
Join CPSC in Promoting Safe Bedding Practices for Babies.
Each Year 900 SIDS Deaths May be Caused by Soft Bedding.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - To prevent deaths from soft bedding,
seven major retailers are joining the U.S. Consumer
Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in kicking off a safety
campaign promoting safe bedding practices for babies.
As many as 900 baby deaths each year attributed to Sudden
Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) may actually be caused
by suffocation in soft bedding, such as quilts, comforters,
pillows and sheepskins.
Babies "R" Us, IKEA, JCPenney, Kmart, Lands' End, Sears
and Target, which account for the majority of baby bedding
sales, are making changes to crib displays in retail
stores, catalogs, advertisements and websites. Beginning
this Spring, shoppers will no longer see cribs made
up with pillows, quilts and comforters. Many retailers
will be including cautionary statements about the use
of soft bedding for younger babies in their catalogs,
on signs attached to cribs, and on inserts that accompany
baby comforters and quilts. When babies are featured
in crib ads, they always will be pictured sleeping on
their backs. Other retailers are going to create bedding
safety brochures for customers and add quilt racks to
their nursery product lines.
Since 1994, CPSC has warned about the danger of soft
bedding to babies under 12 months. But when consumers
went to stores or browsed through catalogs, they often
got a different message. Cribs made up with comforters,
quilts and pillows may have encouraged parents to use
these items in the crib with an infant. Parents unaware
of the warnings, would not know that these items could
be deadly for young babies.
"Parents
and caregivers will no longer get a mixed message on
how to create a safe sleeping environment for their
baby," said CPSC Chairman Ann Brown. "Whether browsing
through a catalog or floor display, cribs will now display
a safe way to put baby to sleep."
For babies under 12 months, CPSC, the American Academy
of Pediatrics and the National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development recommend the following to help
reduce the risk of SIDS:
- Place
baby on his/her back on a firm, tight-fitting mattress
in a crib that meets current safety standards.
- Remove
pillows, quilts, comforters, sheepskins, pillow-like
stuffed toys and other pillow-like soft products from
the crib.
- Consider
using a sleeper as an alternative to blankets with
no other covering.
- If
using a blanket, put baby with his or her feet at
the foot of the crib. Tuck a thin blanket around the
crib mattress, only as far as the baby's chest.
- Make
sure your baby's head remains uncovered during sleep.
- Do
not place baby on a waterbed, sofa, soft mattress,
pillow or other soft surface to sleep.
CPSC
has worked with manufacturers to get warning labels
on infant pillows, and is now working for a similar
warning on baby quilts and comforters.
For
more information about children's safety and recalls
of children's toys and products, contact:
U.S. Consumer
Product Safety Commission
Washington, DC 20207
Toll-free hotline: 1-800-638-2772
Web site: www.cpsc.gov (Go to
Recalls/News)
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