Seven-month-old Owen was found dead in his crib, under the weighted blanket his daycare providers hoped would help soothe him. Owen fought sleep at daycare, and he had just learned to roll from his back to his belly. His daycare provider put a weighted blanket over his buttocks and legs, hoping the flax-seed-filled blanket would help him sleep more soundly. Although she noticed he had rolled onto his belly, she didn’t flip him back over. She also used a white-noise machine intended to improve infant sleep. A few hours later Owen was found dead, lying on his stomach, with the weighted blanket bunched up over his waist and bottom and his feet sticking out. The medical examiner reported the cause of death to be Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS.
Owen’s grieving mother and grandmother emailed me, asking me to get the word out about how Owen died, hoping to protect other infants from such tragedy. When babies won’t sleep, well- meaning people will try almost anything. Weighted blankets are not the answer. Good news– there are lots of safe tricks to help babies sleep well. My colleague Dr. Katie Bucklen has a whole list in her article, “Solving Baby’s Sleep Problems.”
Owen’s daycare center did not ask his parents’ permission to use this weighted blanket. Does your childcare provider use unsafe sleep aids?
Weighted blankets are used for older children with sensory processing disorders, especially toddlers that have trouble settling down at naptime. These quilts are filled with flax seeds or other dense material and seem to help some older children fall asleep. But they are not meant for infants, who are at risk for SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). We know SIDS is more common in infants who are lying on their abdomen, and risk for SIDS goes up during the weeks after an infant has learned to roll from their back to their belly. During this high-risk period parents are encouraged to re-position babies on their backs. Putting a weighted blanket on a baby does the opposite– it keeps the baby on his or her belly.
My colleague Dr. James Kemp has devoted his career to studying pediatric sleep and SIDS. He called weighted blankets on small infants “a dreadful idea.”
“No one would recommend them for a 7- or 8-month-old,” he said. “To put on anything that impedes their freedom to move when they’re in the prone position is a problem.”
Yet weighted blankets marketed for infants are still on the market. And there are people who think they help soothe babies who don’t sleep well. And there are lots of sleep-deprived parents who will try anything to help their baby sleep. Owen’s story tragically shows why pediatricians and sleep experts do not recommend weighted blankets for infants.
There was a time when we thought we could prevent SIDS by using sleep positioners, wedges, and other devices that prevent infant movement. Sadly, we know now that sleep positioners are associated with infant suffocation.
Keep infant sleep safe and simple. Nothing goes into the crib except the baby and a 
fitting crib sheet. It is okay to swaddle a young infant until about four to six months of age, or until they can get out of their swaddle, whichever comes first.
What about babies who spit up while sleeping? And how can you realistically breastfeed in the middle of the night? Our mom-pediatricians at St. Louis Children’s Hospital can answer these and all your questions about infant sleep so you can both get a good rest.
I endeavor to promote safe sleep practices in my own work with families, yet I have never heard of the recommendation to reposition babies onto their backs when they have rolled onto their tummies on their own. I had understood that one should always place them on their backs initially, but once they roll over themselves we should not be concerned. This assumes of course that the child is not swaddled and that there are no suffocation risks present in the crib. And of course, no weighted blanket. So I’m curious where that recommendation to reposition comes from. A parent tasked with rolling their baby back onto their back once they have rolled onto their tummy on their own may find themselves doing so throughout the night, much to the frustration of both parent and baby.
That is just tragic. I was an RN for seventeen years and I made sure that my children never slept with any type of blanket – even as light as it can be – because of the weight and how it could get tangled or caught up around their throat. My best advice was just to layer them with onsies for warmth. So sorry to hear.
I known moms to put infant cereal in their babies bottle so they get full and sleep through the night which I do not recommend one do
The problem with weighted blankets for infants is that they would be too heavy. Babies grow at such a rate that it is tempting to buy a bigger size of clothes so that they can grow into them. This doesn’t work with weighted blankets. For children with sensory issues, the general rule is for the weight to be 10% of their body weight, sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less. An occupational therapist would have access to different weights. A daycare is more likely to have something that was passed on to them by a parent or something a teacher brought in after her child outgrew it. At home, weighted pads can be used for infants, but you would need to have the correct weight and be supervising the infant when you are using it. Filling a glove with rice and placing it on the baby’s back works for some babies (but not in daycare because they should be put to sleep on their backs in daycare) but you can’t just leave them like that in the crib. I’ve done it when I needed a break from holding my baby for all his naps, but I was still right there. I didn’t leave him alone.
I rocked my baby to sleep for the first 3 months. I followed “How to teach a baby to fall asleep alone” ebook. It has got a nice swaddle babies instructions and the book is in 2 parts ( 0-3 months and 3 months onwards). So when my daughter turned 3 months I decided to start the HWL method described in this guide. A few days of the HWL and IT WORKED! I love this guide, the author says exactly what to do and how to do it – first when your baby is 0-3 and then how to make your LO to fall asleep on her/his own
So anybody who is interested I got the guide here: http://www.parental-love.com Really worth to try because the method is easy and without CIO