The CBS Evening News (9/29, story 8, 0:25, Couric) reported, “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is a big worry for parents, but today the government warned that a product meant to prevent SIDS is itself a danger. Parents are being told to stop using infant sleep positioners.”

The &&&New York Times (9/30, Harris) reports, “Infant sleep positioners that are used to keep babies on their backs and protect them from sudden infant death syndrome have led 12 children to suffocate in the past 13 years and should no longer be used, federal officials said Wednesday.” The “two main types of infant sleep positioners are flat mats with side bolsters or inclined mats with side bolsters.” Both “types of sleep positioners typically claim to help keep infants on their backs and reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, but the FDA has never approved these products as safe.”

Thus, the &&&AP (9/30, Kerr) reports, the FDA “has reached out to all of the 18 manufacturers and asked them to stop selling their products and provide the agency with any information they might have that the benefits of the positioners outweigh the risks.”

&&&Bloomberg News (9/30, Plungis) reports, “Sufficient evidence shows a potential risk from using positioners, said Rachel Moon, a doctor and chairman of the SIDS Task Force at the American Academy of Pediatrics. Instructions for positioners usually tell parents to stop using the product when babies start to move, she said.” Moon said, “You cannot predict when a child will begin to do something. .. You have to assume your baby will move at any time.”