**Sudden unexpected infant deaths often occur in the space where a baby
sleeps.** Infant pillows are banned in the United States for that reason —
with one exemption.
**In 2008 the Consumer Product Safety Commission exempted pillows used to
support infants during feeding — nursing pillows — from the ban on infant
pillows.**
They are exempt because they are not meant for sleep. The exemption assumes
they will not be in the cot.
What the data shows
Analysis of Child Death Review data found that among **1,685 sudden
unexpected infant deaths in Georgia during 2013–2022**:
A nursing pillow was in the infant's sleep space in 84 cases — 5%.
Eighty per cent of those deaths were in the youngest infants, the age
group already at highest risk.
Why this happens
The mechanism is entirely ordinary, which is what makes it hard to prevent by
regulation. A nursing pillow is used for feeding. Feeding happens at night, in
bed, by an exhausted parent. The baby falls asleep on it, and the pillow that
was legitimately in use thirty seconds ago is now a sleep surface.
No rule was broken and nothing unusual happened.
What the report asks for
Nursing pillows are not intended for use in sleep spaces for infants.
Warnings on new product labels, and **continued education and outreach
about safe infant sleep**, could help reduce SUIDs.
A label is a modest remedy, and it is aimed at the right moment: the parent
buying the pillow, before the 3 a.m. feed when nobody is reading anything.
*Source: Hamilton BK, Miller T, Dawson R. Nursing Pillows in the Sleep
Environment and Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths — Georgia, January
2013–December 2022. MMWR, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.*
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