An international team of researchers warns of photos conveyed on diaper packages that do not comply with recommendations for sleeping babies.
- In 45% of these packages showing a sleeping baby, the child was asleep in a prone or side position.
- In 51% of them, the infant slept with soft objects or loose bedding.
- In 10% of packages, he shared his bed with another person.
In France, 250 to 350 children aged one month to one year, “so far in good health”, die suddenly. According to Public health France, in the 1990s, a reduction of more than 75% in the number of unexpected infant deaths was noted after the national “I sleep on my back” campaigns and the publication of advice on sleeping. Among the actions that are not recommended are sleeping on your stomach, sleeping on a soft surface (pillow, stuffed animal, comforter, duvet, unfitted mattress sheet, bed bumper) and sharing the bed with another person ( parent, brother, sister).
However, in several European countries including France, “where the prevalence is highest”, incidence rates of sudden infant death are stagnating or falling very slightly. A high frequency of parental sleeping practices that do not comply with recommendations was also observed.
Diapers for babies weighing less than 5 kg, the most at risk of sudden death
Recently, an international team of researchers, including scientists from Paris Cité University, warned against the clichés on the packaging of baby diapers which are inconsistent with international recommendations for safe sleeping. As part of a study, they had the idea of examining the conformity of the images on diaper packages conveying implicit or explicit health messages, because according to the scientific literature, the latter have been shown to be effective in modify many health practices (alcohol consumption during pregnancy, breastfeeding, etc.).
For the purposes of the work, the authors identified all the packaging of diapers, sold in eleven European countries, for infants weighing less than 5 kg, i.e. those most at risk of sudden death, by carrying out searches on the Internet between July 2022 and February 2023. For each type of packaging, they determined whether there was an image of a baby, whether the child was sleeping, and whether the photo of the sleeping infant complied with three of the seven recommendations for preventing sudden infant death syndrome .
Sleeping of babies: a very high rate of images did not comply with recommendations
According to the results, published in the journal The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers identified 631 types of baby diaper packages, 49% of which featured an image of a sleeping baby. The data shows that 79% of packages depicting a sleeping child, or 39% of all packages, were non-compliant with at least one sudden death prevention recommendation. In detail, in 45% of these packages, the baby was asleep in a prone or side position. In 51% of them, he slept with soft objects or loose bedding. In 10% of packages, the child shared his bed with another person.
“Our results highlight that there is a gap between the messages that are conveyed on these everyday products or institutional sites, to which many parents are heavily exposed, and the recommendations for the prevention of sudden death. These findings suggest the need for action by manufacturers and legislators to prevent this exposure to commercial or official images inconsistent with sudden infant death prevention recommendations in order to prevent unsafe sleeping practices.“, concluded Martin Chalumeau, author of the study, epidemiologist at Inserm, professor at Paris Cité University and pediatrician at AP-HP.
