Baby sling danger warning after child's death

A coroner has issued a warning about the dangers of baby slings after a six-week-old boy died during "hands-free" breastfeeding.

James Alderman, known as Jimmy, was being breastfed within a baby carrier worn by his mother as she moved around their London home.

An inquest into his death heard that Jimmy was in an unsafe position too far down the sling and, after five minutes, he collapsed. Resuscitation was started straight away but he died three days later on 11 October 2023.

Writing in a Prevention of Future Deaths Report, senior coroner for west London Lydia Brown said "very little" safety information about baby slings was available to parents despite a "significant increase" in their use.

The coroner said there appeared to be "no advice that breastfeeding hands-free a young baby is unsafe due to the risk of suffocation".

Ms Brown called for industry standards promoting the safe use of slings.

"There appeared to be no helpful visual images of 'safe' versus 'unsafe' sling/carrier postures," she said, adding that "the NHS available literature provides no guidance or advice".

"In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths," she said.

Copies of the coroner's report, published on Saturday, were sent to a baby carrier manufacturer and a baby sling manufacturer, as well as the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care.

A spokesperson for The Lullaby Trust, a charity providing advice on safer sleep for babies, said: "The safest baby carrier to use will keep the infant firmly in an upright position where a parent can always see their baby's face, and ensure their airways are free."