Is it OK to sleep baby on an incline?

We are often asked can our Co Sleeper incline?

The simple answer is No and it shouldn’t.

The problem is many parents are led to believe by baby product brands that they should reduce the severity of reflux by placing their baby on an angle or incline.

Sleeping a baby on an incline was popular in past generations, but now we know that it is dangerous.

When you incline your baby, you put your baby’s head chin to chest and cause their airways to occlude which will result in a fatal injury, as your baby will not be able to breathe.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is investigating infant inclined products. The ACCC initiated the review following the US Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (US CPSC) reports of over 70 fatalities in the US associated with the use of these products since 2005. On 31 October 2019, the US CPSC cautioned consumers to cease using infant sleep products with inclines of more than 10 degrees for sleep. The US CPSC released the results of agency-commissioned research, led by Erin Mannen Ph.D., which analysed the design and incident reports related to the use of inclined products (the Mannen report).

The New Zealand government banned inclined products designed to be used for infants to sleep in back in December 2019.