Retailers pull baby sleep positioners as US regulator warns of suffocation risk

 Tesco, Boots, John Lewis and Mothercare are among retailers which have removed baby sleep positioners from sale due to concerns raised about the risk of suffocation.

The move follows reissued advice from US health regulator the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), telling parents not to use the products. It said the positioners – also know as nests or anti-roll products – “can cause suffocation that can lead to death”.

Sleep positioners, which feature raised supports, are intended to keep babies under six months old in a specific position while sleeping.

Despite the warnings retail giant Amazon is continuing to sell the sleep positioners. A spokesman for the firm, which still has a range of sleep positioner products for sale, said it would not be commenting on the issue.

In 2010 the FDA urged parents to stop using sleep positioners following reports of 12 infant deaths in the US over the previous 13 years. Its latest statement said that in most of the cases babies suffocated after rolling from their sides on to their stomachs.

The FDA recommends a bare cot is the safest place for babies to sleep and said they should be put on their backs.

A statement from the Lullaby Trust baby charity said: “There are hundreds of baby sleep products on the market and parents assume that if something is for sale it is safe to use. We do not recommend wedges and sleep positioners as evidence shows that the safest way for a baby to sleep is on a firm, flat mattress, in a clear cot free of pillows, toys, bumpers and sleep positioners.

“Babies are at higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome if they have their heads covered and some items added to a cot may increase the risk of head-covering. We recommend that, while evidence on individual products is not widely available, parents do not take any chances and stick to scientifically proven safer sleep guidelines.”