A Special Message on Safe Sleep from JPMA
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
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Earlier this week the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a safety notice reminding parents about the risk of allowing infants to sleep in products intended only for supervised infant play.
Playtime products are so important to supporting parents as they care for baby during that first year. As any parent remembers, those first months with a new baby are both magical and exhausting. Having playtime products, like rockers, swings, bouncers, loungers and playmats, are incredibly beneficial for keeping baby comfortable, appropriately stimulated, and happy. At the same time, they offer much needed utility to parents during the times they can’t safety hold baby - preparing meals, doing laundry, loading the dishwasher, caring for other children in the household, and the list goes on.
Ensuring these products are used only as intended – for supervised awake time – is paramount to keeping baby safe. JPMA again reminds parents and caregivers about the importance of using baby products only as specified by the manufacturer. This is critical to ensuring baby’s safety, each and every time one of these products is used. A few critical safe sleep reminders:
- Products designed and marketed for supervised activity, nursing, play or lounging should only be used for adult-supervised, awake time, and should never be used for or in conjunction with infant sleep or placed inside a crib, play yard or other product designed for sleep.
- Caregivers should closely monitor babies when using these products, and if baby falls asleep in one of these products, they should immediately be moved to a safe sleep space, such as a crib or other product specifically designed and intended for sleep, to finish their nap.
- Follow pediatrician and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended safe sleep practices, which are in full agreement that infants should only be placed to sleep on their backs (not stomach or side) until baby reaches one year of age.
- The safest place for a baby during unattended sleep or napping is in a crib, bassinet, play yard or bedside sleeper with nothing more than a firm mattress covered in a snug fitted sheet.
- Never place infants to sleep on pillows, sofa cushions, adult beds, waterbeds, beanbags, or any other surface not specifically designed for infant sleep; not even for a short time.
- Whether baby is using a product intended for sleep or playtime, no other products or items should be added or attached, and that includes comfort items such as blankets and pillows.
To help, we’ve created a short video to walk caregivers through a few basics, which can be viewed here.
JPMA also once again encourages and supports healthcare providers in continuing their vital and long-standing efforts to provide safe sleep advice to the communities they serve, and we look forward to continuing to work with them to promote baby safety. JPMA also actively works through the ASTM process to continually improve infant sleep products to meet the caregiving needs of parents in the U.S. and around the world.
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