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THE COMPETITION AND Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has warned people of the potential safety risks of two products for babies.
The CCPC has issued guidance around the use of baby nests and baby sleep bags and the risks to look out for if using these products.
More than 4,500 baby nests and sleeping bags were recalled in Ireland between 2021 and 2022, the CCPC said.
The commission has put together consumer guidance to highlight potential safety risks linked to these products.
The CCPC said baby sleep bags pose a number of potentially serious risks including suffocation, strangulation and choking.
These are wearable blankets designed to keep babies at a comfortable and safe temperature. They are secured at the shoulders to ensure the baby’s head is left uncovered.
The commission has produced guidance on baby sleep bags for people to consider before buying these products.
Baby nests are not suitable for unsupervised use, the watchdog said.
These are a cocoon-like mattress with a soft base and padded sides that wrap around the outer edge of the product.
They can also be called baby pods or sleeping pods and are intended for supervised use only.
These products also have a number of potentially serious risks such as suffocation, strangulation and choking.
The CCPC also has consumer guidance on baby nests for consideration.
Gráinne Griffin, director of communications with the CCPC, said: “The purpose of our guidance is to empower consumers with the knowledge of how to be product safety aware before they buy and avoid these risks.”
Anyone concerned that they may have an unsafe baby nest or sleeping bag is advised to visit the CCPC’s product recalls page to check if their product has been recalled. The recall notices include further details on further actions.
From 2020-2021, the CCPC took part in a European action to set standardised testing and sampling methods of specific infant products, including baby nests and sleep bags, to help identify and remove dangerous products from the EU market.
As a result of this project, more than 4,500 products in Ireland were found to be dangerous to consumer safety and were recalled.
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We’ve used a sleeping bag for the last 2 years and would be lost without it. A great piece of kit! imo
@Burt Macklin: i agree, i thought the conventional wisdom was that they were less hazardous then normal blankets whats actually safe for em to sleep in if the sleepsuits and blankets are now considered dangerous?
@Fred spins kdb: If you looked at the link you’d see that it’s only to make sure that when using the sleep bags that it’s secure around the baby’s neck and they are unable to slip down into it
There should be a safety warning on the cotton wool they use for wrapping children in
With the role of the traditional family and mother under threat we really forget about children.
@John Moloney: Most mothers are on maternity for the first 6 – 12 months of the baby’s life. This is when these guidelines mostly apply to.
You can rest safe in the knowledge that Ireland’s babies are not being neglected because a mother may wish to have a career for herself.
@Anonymous Education: the traditional mother surrounded by her children was a very happy woman. Forced into careers now to pay for smaller families and sometimes no children. All about getting us all into workplace and tax us but sold as equality.
@John Moloney: As a woman and a mother, I was more than happy to return to the workforce – no forcing! I get a great sense of pride and achievement from my work, much like many men, I would imagine.
I am as much entitled to that kind of fulfillment as any man on this planet.
Please do not feel you can or should speak for women.
@Anonymous Education: fair play to you, one of the lucky family’s where 2 don’t have to work, many family’s both parents are forced to work just to pay bills which should not be the case. The traditional mother is still the real hero for me, a role totally undermined today that I don’t believe many men can fill. I would never speak for all women but it is my opinion that the narrative sold by greedy corporations is a front for greed, big corporations should pay enough so only one parent needs to work and support the traditional family but neither support capitalist greed.
@John Moloney: be quite. No one cares about your sexist opinions.
@John Moloney: “the traditional mother surrounded by her children was a very happy woman” – did you see that in a movie somewhere?
@John Moloney: You misunderstand me. Financially, of course I have to work, but even if I had all the money in the world, I would still chose to work rather than stay at home.
I also feel you sell men short. Plenty of fathers are excellent care-givers and it’s attitudes like yours that prevent fathers from getting equal access to their kids in instances of separation and divorce.
@Anonymous Education: o so I was right you have to work. That’s very wrong.
@John Moloney: I feel you’re being deliberately obtuse – I work to provide my family with certain things. I could stay home, but I CHOOSE not to because I want to give my children the best life I can.
Also, feel free to address my point regarding fathers as care-givers
@Anonymous Education: you said financially you have no choice, I believe this is wrong. Don’t know why this annoys people. My experience is that men are useless with children and women are amazing but that’s just my experience.
@John Moloney: you’re a decent troll in fairness to you
@Realist: I’m giving my honest opinions and cannot see why people get so angry with me. I said nothing sexist whatsoever. I believe in the traditional family and only one parent working, we are a generation duped into believing big multinational policy is about something other than money.
@John Moloney: It makes people angry John because as you know not so long ago in this country women were barred from work when they married. They had no independent means so if the husband turned out to be a drunk or abusive they were stuck. That’s not to mention the other ways women were treated horrendously in this country not so long ago. You idolising this time period rightly irritates, but you know all this and like the earlier comment said you’re deliberately being obtuse.
@John Moloney: How do you know that the “traditional mother surrounded by her children was a very happy woman” There is always the option to have “fathers surrounded by his children” Girls are equally entitled to a career, childcare can be done my men and women.
@John Moloney: children have two parents
Pets are safely snuggling into similar nests. Is the real issue not the draw cords used in the design?
“As of 2020, we haven’t been able to find any evidence of reported cases across the world of babies’ deaths specifically involving a sleeping pod or nest used outside of a parent’s bed.”
https://www.madeformums.com/baby/are-baby-sleeping-pods-and-nests-safe/
This advice seems extremely overly cautious for the baby nest anyway. Not sure of the research on the sleeping bags as I never used one.
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