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 Three times as many children died in crib bumper-related deaths
between 2006 and 2012 as in the three previous seven-year time
periods, researchers report in The Journal of Pediatrics.
"I don’t know if it's that people are more aware and they're
reporting more, but it could be an actual increase," said senior
author Dr. Bradley Thach, of Washington University in St. Louis,
Missouri.
Crib bumpers are pillow-like walls installed around the inside of
cribs to protect babies from bumping into hard bars or getting limbs
caught. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says there
is no proof that bumpers work, but they do pose a risk of
suffocation, strangulation or entrapment.
For the new study, Thach and his colleagues analyzed data from the
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on bumper-related
deaths, injuries and accidents.
They identified 48 deaths by suffocation related to crib bumpers
between 1985 and 2012. On average, infants were about five months
old when they died, but ages ranged from one to 22 months.
"They get their face pressed into the bumper and then they don’t get
adequate oxygen," Thach said.
About 67 percent of the deaths were caused by the bumpers. The other
deaths were caused by infants being wedged between bumpers and other
objects, like pillows and other children.
There were an average of eight deaths for each seven year-period
starting in 1985, but that increased to 23 deaths between 2006 and
2012.
The researchers can't say why deaths increased. It could be that
states and doctors are reporting more of the deaths, or more infants
are dying, they write.
It's possible that even more deaths are related to crib bumpers.
When the researchers included crib-bumper data from the National
Center for the Review and Prevention of Child Deaths covering
2008-2011, they counted a total of 77 deaths, instead of their
original 48.
The researchers also found 146 injuries and accidents related to
crib bumpers between 1990 and 2012, including at least 11 that were
life-threatening.
Some babies could swallow the ties of the bumper, Thach said. He
added that older babies can use bumpers to climb out of the crib and
fall, too.
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Thach and his colleagues point out that the AAP has been advising
against crib bumpers since 2008, and doctors, media articles,
publications for parents, and injury lawyers have also recommended
against them. "Despite this nationwide publicity. . . deaths have
not decreased, likely because bumpers remain widely available in the
marketplace, media articles commonly show cribs with bumpers, and
parents often believe bumpers are necessary for comfort and safety,"
they write.
In a statement to Reuters Health, the Juvenile Products
Manufacturers Association (JPMA) said traditional crib bumpers can
help address parents' concerns about crib-related injuries when used
according to instructions.
"In 2013 an independent research firm evaluated all available
information, including incident reports and allegations and found
that at no time has the crib bumper been cited as the sole cause of
an infant’s death," said the statement.
The JPMA also said consumers who want bumpers for the care of their
baby should buy products that comply with the guidelines set by the
standards organization ASTM International.
Thach and colleagues warn that self-regulation and following safe
sleeping practices won't stop children from suffocating if their
faces get covered by crib bumpers.
"We recommend that CPSC ban traditional crib bumpers for sale in
the U.S. quickly," they add.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1Ie9v2u The Journal of Pediatrics, online
November 24, 2015.
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