'Safety pillow' suffocates newborns

US authorities accused infant body fixed pillows of at least 12 deaths from suffocation.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning about fixed head and body pillows. They can be deadly traps because many flipped babies accidentally face their knees - which are stuffed higher than the middle to fix their heads or bodies. The ill-fated children were unable to escape, resulting in death from suffocation.

Safe pillows are extremely dangerous for babies - (photo: FDA).

FDA issued a warning about the safety of these pillows 7 years ago. But this time, a really strong warning when they accused the product directly caused devastating deaths for 12 American babies. After the FDA warning video was published, many companies specializing in the production of newborn care devices like Mothercare or Tesco stopped selling the pillow.

Not only does it stop selling, Mothercare also advises its customers that absolutely no fixed pillows should be used when the child is overturned.

The reason for the birth of this product is that many parents are very afraid when their children sleep in bed or in cradles, have tried to insert pillows and stuffed animals so much to fix them.

However, as recommended by Lullaby Trust, a nonprofit charity dedicated to newborn care, under the National Health Service (NHS), babies should be kept warm when sleeping with clothes, and that's enough. They should be placed on a flat surface - a bed or a crib - enough free space to spread around, no pillows, blankets, stuffed animals or toys.

Infants absolutely do not need to be fixed in bed, and the FDA is not the first agency to warn parents that many children have died unjustly because of too many blankets around them.