A charity warns that parents could put their babies in danger of suffocation or sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) by making one simple mistake.
UK-based organization The Lullaby Trust advises parents to avoid putting sleeping babies in items originally designed to relax them such as bouncers and swings.
It said evidence suggests that allowing their baby to sleep on anything other than a firm, flat sleep surface can increase the risk of SIDS, commonly known as cot death.
While the cause of SIDS remains unknown to date, parents can also increase the risk of SIDS by smoking while pregnant or after the infant is born prematurely or with a low birthweight.
About 89% of SIDS deaths happen when a baby is six months old or less, according to The Lullaby Trust.
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The risk of death from SIDS is rare, but allowing newborns to sleep in an inclined or sitting posture encourages their heads to slump forward on their chests, constricting their airways while they sleep.
The organization suggests that parents put babies their backs with their face clear of anything that could cover it – like soft toys, loose bedding, or soft-sided pods and pillows – on a firm, flat surface.
Safe places for babies to sleep include a cot, Moses basket, or bassinet.
More than two-thirds of 1,000 parents let their baby sleep in items that are not designed for sleep, including 70% in bouncers, 67% in a swing, while an additional 61 percent allowed bean bangs, according to The Lullaby Trust.
Eight percent of parents acknowledged their concerns of placing their baby in these items to sleep overnight.
Jenny Ward, chief executive of The Lullaby Trust, said: “Babies are safest sleeping on their back on a clear, flat, firm sleep surface, like a cot or Moses basket. This not only helps to reduce the risk of SIDS but also helps to keep a baby’s airway open and clear.
“However, we know that babies can and do fall asleep in places not designed for them to sleep in. Many parents find products like baby bouncers and swings useful for when their baby is awake and supervised, but they are not suitable for babies to sleep in.”
SIDS kills around 3,400 newborns in the United States and 200 in the United Kingdom each year, and about 89% of SIDS deaths happen when a baby is six months old or less, according to The Lullaby Trust.
The Lullaby Trust is a UK-based organization that seeks to raise awareness about SIDS.
