McKinley Kid and Far North Babywearing’s joint statement on the safety of baby slings.

On March 12, the Consumer Product Safety Commission released a warning regarding positioning in baby slings. The warning was in response to 3 deaths that took place in bag style slings in 2009. Or hearts go out to the families of these babies. Sixteen babywearing manufacturers (including CatBird Baby, Sakura Bloom, Scootababy, Together Be, and Moby Wrap) issued a joint statement yesterday regarding sling safety.

We have been educating consumers for the last 4 years on how to safely carry their babies and of the dangers to babies when they are positioned chin to chest in any infant product, including swings and car seats.  Parents and caregivers must educate themselves recognize the difference between the unsafe positioning being warned about and the safe positions included in manufacturer instructions and taught by our shop and the Anchorage babywearing group.

All slings are not created equal. There are some slings that are just not safe, though positional asphyxia is an issue for babies in any type of carrier. To learn more about the dangers of bag-style slings please visit the BabySlingSafety blog, maintained by a registered nurse who has tested babies’ oxygen levels in the SlingRider and similar bag-style baby carriers. Other excellent resources include the Babywearing Safety Facebook group and The Babywearer, an international community of babywearing parents and caregivers with forums and articles to help make informed choices and learn to wear babies safely and easily.

Carrying safely is easy and teachable. We offer many avenues for Alaskan parents to learn to wear their babies, including quarterly meetings, private consults, telephone help and online resources including a blog, Facebook group, and Yahoo message board. We also train health care professionals and those working with new parents on how to use babywearing as an appropriate public health tool.

For more information, please contact

larissa@mckinleykidz.com
907-748-4930
www.mckinleykid.com
http://farnorthbabywearing.wordpress.com/

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