San Diego Personal Injury Attorney Blog

The Associated Press reported this week that the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is preparing to issue a general warning to the public about the dangers of baby slings. Bag-style baby slings have gained popularity among parents after experts have said holding a baby in a sling fosters close physical contact and a strong bond between parent and child. One pediatrician and parenting expert even said that holding a baby in a sling "make[s] babies smarter, calmer, more attentive, less colicky and more likely to develop healthy sleep habits than their counterparts in strollers."

But the head of the CPSC said the time has come to warn the public about the possibly fatal dangers of bag-style slings because the agency knows of too many deaths caused by the slings. The soft fabric baby slings pose dangers of both possible suffocation and falling out of the sling. In 2008 Consumer Reports reported the slings had caused at least two dozen serious injuries and at least seven deaths. Because infants have little head or neck control, their head can become smothered against the mother's chest or belly, posing a possible suffocation risk, or the baby's head can flop forward, pressing the chin against the chest, which can block the baby's own airway.

None of the infant slings have yet been recalled for any suffocation risk, but some manufacturers and retailers are now advising parents not to use them. About a dozen different slings have been recalled in the past decade for concerns about infants falling out of the slings because of defects or issues with fasteners, stitching or shoulder straps. Several product liability lawsuits have already been filed by parents whose infants died or were injured due suffocation in bag-type carriers. Two infants died in 2009 in the Infantino SlingRider carriers. One wrongful death lawsuit was filed against a baby sling manufacturer by the parents of a baby who died on a shopping trip to an Oregon Costco in 2009. The parents thought the baby had been sleeping peacefully, only to find the baby had suffocated to death in the sling.