Safety concerns over baby slings

Some safety advocates have warned that slings that hold your baby in a curved or "C-like" position can lead to suffocation. There’s reportedly two reasons for this: firstly, with your baby's head forward, chin to chest, his breathing is restricted; and secondly, your baby could turn his face into towards your breasts or stomach and be smothered by your clothing.

“We recommend against people buying and using slings. The reason is No. 1, there have been far too many fatalities and injuries from these products and there is no safety standard with these,” said safety expert Don Mays, reports MarketWatch, “We’re not opposed to baby-wearing at all, there’s just safer ways to do it.”

Front baby carriers are a less risky option than slings, MarketWatch notes Don as having said.

Don is the senior director of product safety and technical policy for the American organisation Consumer Reports. In the Consumer Reports safety blog, he has called for the CPSC to recall one specific baby sling, and also encouraged the CPSC “to investigate any similarly designed slings.”