Can baby slings ever be safe?

The death of three babies from suffocation in the US has prompted the international recall of a popular brand of baby sling, writes KATE HOLMQUIST

MOTHERS HAVE safely carried their babies in slings for millennia, and the practise of “kangaroo” parenting has enjoyed a resurgence in the past 20 years. Holding baby close is so beneficial that in neonatal intensive care units mothers are encouraged to hold even the sickest and tiniest of infants firmly against their chests, between their breasts, for short periods of time.

There’s even a Babywearing Ireland association that holds an annual conference extolling the virtues of “attachment parenting”. Hundreds of different baby slings are available and they have nearly become a fashion item, but one particular type – Infantino’s SlingBaby – was withdrawn from the international market this week due to the deaths of three babies in the US in 2009, giving parents reason to question their choice of wearing their babies.

On March 12th, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission warned parents about the safety of baby slings in general.

On March 24th, it reported that three babies died from suffocation last year in the Infantino bag-style sling. In the past 20 years, 14 babies in the US have died while in baby slings of various types – a very small risk, but a tragedy in each case.

The SlingBaby and a similar Infantino product, Wendy Bellissimo are thickly padded bags worn low on the mother’s body and they can completely close over the baby’s head. A young baby has no head control and may curl in on itself, bending forward and closing off its airway, while the thick padding can close over the baby’s head, restricting oxygen and also overheating the baby. Any sling that puts a baby in this position is dangerous, the CSPC warned this week.

In Salem, Oregon last year, Lisa Cochran put her 7-day-old son Derrik in a SlingRider after she had eaten a meal out and in the time it took her to walk from the shopping mall to her car, the baby suffocated and died.

Dr Kate Byrne, a psychologist and advisor to Babywearing Ireland, has met Irish parents using the Infantino SlingBaby and similar style bag-slings that they have purchased in Ireland.

“They are dreadful, absolutely dreadful. I always advise parents away from them. We’ve had them offered to the library and have refused them,” says Byrne, a mother of seven. Babywearing Ireland has a “library” of 200 slings donated by manufacturers that it lends to new parents to try for two-week periods.

Slings are convenient because they let parents walk around with their hands free to do various tasks. Since its foundation in 1992, when it began to gather statistics on sudden infant death, the National SIDS (sudden infant death) register at Childrens’ University Hospital, Temple Street, has not had a case of sudden infant death in a baby sling.

However, Karina Hamilton, researcher with the register, warns parents that slings “go against the advice to never put the baby to sleep on their tummy”, because a sling can press the baby’s stomach and face against the parent’s body.

The National SIDS register’s advice to always put a baby to sleep on its back, never on its side or stomach, has greatly reduced the incidence of SIDS in Ireland, says Adrienne Foran, consultant paediatrician at the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin.

Foran urges parents to think carefully about using a sling with a baby under the age of four months (see panel). She would also like to see a mandatory safety code introduced that matches a sling to a baby’s weight, as with car seats. When using a sling, Hamilton advises, the baby should be held firmly upright and high on the parent’s chest, so that the parent “can kiss the baby’s head”.

Babuywearing: Do's and Don'ts

DOHold the baby in the sling solidly in your arms

DOUse only for short periods of time

DON'TFall asleep. The parent must be awake and alert

DOBe continually aware of the baby's breathing

DOMake sure that the sling is a suitable size for the baby

DOUse with caution with babies aged under four months

DOEnsure the baby can breathe – its airway must be unobstructed

Source:Rotunda Hospital Dublin