More infant deaths blamed on crib bumpers: new study

A new U.S. study is calling for a ban on the sale of crib bumpers following new research that shows the number of infant deaths attributed to the padded blankets that cover crib slats are on the rise. (AP Photo/CPSC)

A new U.S. study is calling for a ban on the sale of crib bumpers following new research that shows the number of infant deaths attributed to the padded blankets that cover crib slats are on the rise.

The study out of the Washington University School of Medicine released Tuesday shows 23 crib-bumper related deaths were reported to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) from 2006 to 2012. The number of deaths is three times higher than the average of eight deaths reported in each of the three previous seven-year time spans.

"Crib bumpers are killing kids," senior author Dr. Bradley Thach, a professor emeritus of pediatrics at the Washington University School of Medicine, said in a news release.

Thach also authored a 2007 study that first documented crib-bumper deaths.

"Bumpers are more dangerous than we originally thought," Thach said.

The researchers noted that a lack of data on the topic suggests the number deaths related to crib bumpers is actually a lot higher.

Another U.S. database, the National Center for the Review and Prevention of Child Deaths, recorded 32 crib bumper deaths from 2008 and 2011. However, that database only includes 37 states.

"So we know there's got to be a lot more," the study's lead author, and former manager of CPSC's infant suffocation project N.J. Scheers, told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday.

Health Canada does not recommend the use of crib bumpers.

The national health agency warns that babies can suffocate if their faces become pressed against the fabric of a bumper pad. Health Canada also warns that babies’ heads can get trapped between the pad and the side of the crib, and long ribbons or strings used to secure the pads to the crib is a strangulation hazard.

The Canadian Paediatric Society recommends that all soft materials be kept out of babies' cribs, including bumper pads, quilts, stuffed animals and pillows.

The researchers determined that 32 of the 48 deaths recorded by the CPSC from 1985-2012 that they examined could have been prevented if crib bumpers had not been used in the babies' cribs.

Mesh bumpers marketed as "breathable,” and vertical bumpers that wrap around crib slats were not included in the study.

Crib bumpers were designed to keep infants from hitting their heads on the side of cribs and to prevent limbs from getting caught in between the crib slats.

Sheer said the prominence of crib bumpers on display in baby stores gives new parents the impression that they're perfectly safe to use. She said safety warnings and design changes have not managed to curb the rate of infant deaths attributed to bumpers.

Sheer added that despite the recommendations against crib bumper use from health authorities in Canada and the U.S., the padded blankets remain a common purchase among parents.

"Clearly nothing is happening because we found the death reports were increasing, not decreasing," she said.

The study recommends banning the sale of crib bumpers through the U.S.

The state of Maryland banned their sale in 2013, and the city of Chicago did so in 2011.

"A ban on crib bumpers would reinforce the message that no soft bedding of any kind should be placed inside a baby's crib," Thach said. "There is one sure-fire way to prevent infant deaths from crib bumpers: don’t use them, ever."

Asked about what should go in a baby's crib, Sheer said the answer is simple: "The baby, that's all."

She said the safest way for an infant to sleep is on a fitted crib sheet. In colder environments, parents can place the baby in a wearable blanket, also known as a sleep sack.

The study was published in the Journal of Pediatrics.