Popular baby sleep positioners dropped by UK retailers after suffocation warning

Babies should sleep on their backs in a clear cot

Various UK retailers have stopped selling popular baby sleep positioners due to concerns about their safety.

According to the US health regulator Food and Drug Administration (FDA), parents should not put babies in the products due to the risk of suffocation.

It said the positioners - also know as nests or anti-roll products - “can cause suffocation that can lead to death”.

Mothercare, John Lewis, Tesco and eBay have stopped selling the products as a result.

The positioners have raised supports and are intended to help keep babies under six months old in a fixed position while sleeping.

However the FDA has warned that it’s “dangerous” to use one to keep a baby on their side or back.

A spokesman for Tesco said: “We have removed these products from our website as a precautionary measure.”

This isn’t the first warning parents have received about the positioners though - in 2010, the FDA urged people to stop using sleep positioners following reports of 12 infant deaths in the US over the previous 13 years.

In their latest guidance, the FDA advises parents “never use infant sleep positioners,” explaining that in most of the dozen cases babies suffocated after rolling from their sides onto their stomachs.

This is most likely to happen when a baby is old enough to move around by itself.

Instead of a positioner, the FDA recommends placing babies in a bare cot as the safest place to sleep. Babies should always be put on their backs.

According to The Lullaby Trust, a charity which advises the NHS, “the safest cot is a clear cot.”