Many parents consider bumpers as necessary safety precautions for their children; however, experts are calling for its nationwide ban in the U.S. due to an increase in the number of deaths caused by the bedding accessory in recent years.

Most infants died from suffocation as a bumper had covered their noses and mouths, and in some cases, they were trapped between a bumper and a crib mattress.

A new study highlights that crib bumpers alone caused harm in majority of the incidents, as some experts believe that items in the cribs, such as blankets, pillows and stuffed animals, might have caused the infant deaths and injuries. No other objects were found between their faces and the bumpers, researchers said.

The findings come from the review of data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Data show that 48 infant deaths from 1985 to 2012 were specifically linked to crib bumpers, while there were 146 infants that nearly suffocated, choked or strangled.

Researchers found 23 crib-bumper deaths were reported in the seven-year span from 2006 to 2012. The record was three times higher than the average eight deaths in the three previous seven-year time spans, with an average age of deaths of 4.6 months.

But they noted that the data gathered on crib-bumper deaths and injuries over the decades were far from the actual number of incidents, which is more likely to be larger than what is recognised. The study was published on Nov 24 in the journal of Pediatrics.

"Crib bumpers are killing kids," said senior author Bradley Thach, a professor emeritus of pediatrics at the Washington University. "Bumpers are more dangerous than we originally thought. The infant deaths we studied could have been prevented if the cribs were empty."

Some of the deaths from the CPSC data occurred when babies were wedged between a bumper and a pillow, or a bumper and a recliner used to elevate an infant's head.

Aside from the CPSC data, researchers have found more deaths linked to crib bumpers. Data from the National Centre for the Review and Prevention of Child Deaths show 32 bumper-related deaths from 37 U.S. states between 2008 and 2011.

Researchers said that poor bumper design or construction have caused most of the incidents. Lack of bottom ties or not enough ties trapped the infants’ faces in the bumpers that led to near-suffocations.

Some incidents that caused choking and strangulation occurred due to detached bumper ties and decorations, frayed ribbons and loose stuffing. The use of thick pillow-like bumpers and thin bumpers were linked to the deaths and injuries.

The researchers suggest that CPSC should follow the lead of Chicago and Maryland in banning crib bumpers in the market. The states banned the sale of the bumpers in 2011 and 2013, respectively.

"A ban on crib bumpers would reinforce the message that no soft bedding of any kind should be placed inside a baby's crib," Thach said. "There is one sure-fire way to prevent infant deaths from crib bumpers: Don't use them, ever."

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