The country’s largest association of pediatricians is warning that a product designed to help infants sleep more soundly could be deadly.
The makers of weighted swaddles and sleep sacks liken them to a parent’s hand resting gently on an infant’s chest or to the sensation of “being held and hugged.”
But the American Academy of Pediatrics says placing weight on babies while they’re sleeping poses an alarming and potentially fatal risk — and the group is calling for a closer examination of the potential danger.
Weighted sleep sacks and swaddles could hypothetically increase the risk of sudden infant death syndrome by making it harder for babies to arouse themselves in response to hazards, such as lack of oxygen, the AAP said in a letter Thursday to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and ASTM International, a technical standards development organization.
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