Sleep nests officially deemed unsafe - The End of The Sleepyhead? [Edited by MNHQ]

[FATEdestiny]

Overnight the FDA in USA released a statement deeming sleep positioners (sometimes called "nests") a SIDS risk.

www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm227575.htm

The Lullaby Trust in the UK have long since hinted similar, but kept away from outright stating the products are unsafe. Instead reitterating best practice of a firm, flat, mattress clear of anything.

According to the BBC, retailers have already started reacting by removing products from sale:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41516239

They mention Tesco, Mothercare and EBay, but I can find baby nests on all but the Tesco website as if 10am this morning. It's either incorrect reporting, a responce in US retailers rather than UK branches of these retailers, or still Work In Progress to remove products.

No brand names are used throughout the initial report or media reports. The question is - is the Sleepyhead a baby positioner or nest? I know it has a massive fan base on Mumsnet. Will the Lullaby Trust follow suit?

Interesting. I would like to know specifically which products caused deaths.

According to the Sleepyhead company, they are fully breathable:
www.sleepyheadofsweden.com/safety/

We recently stopped using ours because DS outgrew it.

I've always thought this
The 'safety' Mark that is quoted re breathability is a 50yr old materials test for duvets/comforters so not exactly suitable for the way it is used (think cladding at grenfield)

Helspopje
"BS4578 is the result of an objective to produce a British Standard specification for a pillow which can confidently be used in cots, perambulators."

The sleep positioners as described in the FDA announcement don’t sound like a Sleepyhead to me - the description mentions wedges/bolsters and raising baby’s head. I think what they are describing is similar to the picture attached.
The Sleepyhead is flat and is intended to be used with baby flat on their back. We used a Sleepyhead with DS1 and are likely to use it for DS2 (due in about a month) assuming he likes it.

I've been reading about this this morning. I'm following closely as I use the Purflo nest but won't be for much longer as DS is rapidly out growing it.

I wonder which nests/positioners caused the deaths.

As far as a fabric being breathable, that just means air can pass through it. It's no indication that enough air can pass through for human breathing. I assume in the context the sleepyhead it implies the baby won't overheat in it rather than that they could breathe through it.

I think that's the case anyway.

RatRolyPoly
"The test is designed to replicate a baby placing its mouth on/against an item, and measures how easily it can breathe through the item. It measures the pressure (in mmH2O) required to allow 12 litres of air per minute through the item (which is how much a baby typically breaths)."
From dockatot.com/blogs/news/dockatot-breathability-questions-answered

It does include Sleepyheads, it means positioners and nests.

A sleepyhead is no different to a Moses basket with a skirt though is it?

The deaths were caused by the positioners not nests, but in the US both are of very poor quality. Nothing at all like stuff made in Europe and the UK. The Sleepy Head especially.

So the Sleepyhead is marketed as the "Dockatot" in the US. This is an interesting article about it:
www.babybargains.com/dockatot-review-not-recommended/

Yes Sleepyheads are very popular in US actually, but branded as dock a tot.

Did I read correctly that the FDA attributes 12 deaths over a 13 year period (1997-2010) to sleep positioners? If so, is it not a bit of an overreaction? Of course every single baby death is awful but how many babies used them safely over that period?

I don't have any particular love of nests (DS hated the sleepyhead and refused to sleep in it) but I do find the level of anxiety that safe sleep campaigns generates is sometimes out of proportion with the actual risk.

Oh wow, it does mean literally breathe through it! Every day's a school day. Suffocation surely not a risk then?

I'm watching this thread with interest. We used a sleepyhead with dd until she was around 8 months old. I actually contacted sleepyhead before I bought it to ask about sids and they sent me a reassuring email, but I wonder how much of that was clever marketing and weasel words. We're currently ttc #2 and had planned to use the sleepyhead again, so I'm keen to find out about its safety.

Thank you for posting this op. Dp and I have bought a cosydream for our baby but not used it yet.

Just bought a sleepyhead for DS2 (definitely coming a month today, wahoo!). Couldn't afford one first time round. But then I ended up doing lots of not recommended stuff with him, co sleeping etc. So much conflicting advice!

If you Google safe co-sleeping there is clear advice on how to do it. Co-sleeping is only dangerous if you don't follow that advice.

@Stealthbanana makes really good points and its all risk analysis. As she said FDA attributes 12 deaths over a 13 year period (1997-2010) to sleep positioners. Relative to the number of people that use them, that is a tiny percentage. Also, from those deaths, how many of the positioners used were made from breathable material? EU law on the manufacture and sale of them is also much more strict than that in the US.

I used a Purflo nest until my daughter started rolling. They also say the material is breathable as per the standards quoted by a pp. If I had to make the same decision tomorrow, I would use is again as the options at night were using the Purflo, putting her to sleep on her stomach or unintentionally falling asleep sitting with her in my arms because I was so exhausted and she wouldn't sleep any other way. I definitely think of Purflo as the safest from them. Once she was rolling, we stopped using it.

@riddles26 - we were the same. Stopped using Sleepyhead when DS started to roll/turn.

What I don't understand is around double the amount of babies have sadly passed away due to cot bumpers in a seven year span and over 140 have been injured but nothing has been done about that? None of these articles are saying how many babies have passed due to each item, there isn't one story about the sleepyhead causing injuries or death so I'm unsure how they can use information from america that was collected between 2006-2012 are the items even still made the same as 2012 it's been 5 years. Unless the article I'm reading is wrong. Surly there should be some UK evidence and research to go by instead of old us research.

Oh also John Lewis when I just checked have put the cocoon baby nests/positioners out of stock but not the sleepyhead so I wonder if they aren't including it in their problem

Annie
I expect it's a coincidence and the Cocoonababy is actually out of stock. I can't see them withdrawing one and not the other, unless they know more than we do i.e. information about the specific products that have caused death or injury.

It just seemed they have put the ones shown in the news out of stock but left the others 🙈 I don't understand why they can't release more detailed information so parents can make their own judgement using the facts instead they just put up a scary article up with very little information.