The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is currently holding a public comment period for proposed safety standards addressing hazards associated with nursing pillows until November 27th, 2023.
You can click on this link to submit a comment. Safety advocates say there's not a definite timeline for when a final safety rule would be implemented.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, at least 154 infants died when being put to sleep on nursing pillows from the years 2010 to 2022.
"Most people think that if it makes it to the market and it's sold, then it's tested against anything you could imagine and that it's safe. And that is not the case whatsoever," said mom and safety advocate Michelle Barry withSafe Infant Sleep.
Barry shared the below image showing how her infant easily changed positions on a nursing pillow.
The safety proposal would require nursing pillows to be "sufficiently firm," for the curve of the pillows to be wide enough, the warnings on the pillows be more visible and it would prohibit the products from having straps which many on the market currently do as evidence in this photo.
"The ones with the most incidence of deaths because babies are sleeping on them are what we would call the "C" or the "U" shape, kind of look like a puffy horseshoe that goes around the mom while she's breastfeeding, but unfortunately also is a perfect place to prop a baby and hold them up," said Nancy Cowles, executive director of child safety advocacy group Kids in Danger.
