CPSC Staff Seeks Minimal Incline Angle in Updated Infant Sleep NPR

An updated CPSC Section 104 proposal would change the acceptable seat back angle for infant sleep products to 10º from 30º, a move that would effectively ban inclined sleepers. Commissioners were slated to vote on publishing a supplementary NPR at the PSL deadline. It would update the 2017 NPR (PSL, 4/10/17) on adopting ASTM F3118 although the new proposal involves a subsequent edition of the standard (17a). F3118 targets inclined sleep products, but as noted below, the rule would broaden its coverage.

Agency staffers are urging (bit.ly/32uQ1rK) that CPSC:

• Require infant sleep products to meet the bassinets and cradles mandates at 16 CFR 1218.
• Remove performance requirement not in 16 CFR 1218.
• Set a maximum seat back angle of no more than 10º for all sleep positions.
• Remove test methods besides maximum seat back angle.
• Clarify that provisions cover all infant sleep products not covered by other sleep product standards.
• Remove "inclined" from the definitions of accessory, compact, and sleep products for infant and newborns.

The draft notice calls for a 75-day comment period. The effective date would be 12 months from finalization.

The move upended related ASTM activity with participants of an October 18 teleconference discussing the need to reorganize during in-person meetings starting October 21. At that session, CPSC staff addressed the question of companies still selling inclined product while emphasizing that they are not for sleep. Those products would fall under other standards such as for rockers, floor seats, or bouncers, participants heard.

A contractor report attached to the briefing package faulted inclined sleep safety, including that it causes infant to experience extra fatigue. It focused on the differences in infants' muscle activity when on inclined surfaces. It also suggested a possibility that inclines make babies more likely to roll into risky positions and that the fatigue from increased muscle activity then makes it hard for them to roll back to safer positions. It deemed 10º to be safe but noted that there was not a review of angles between 10º and 20º. That should occur, it suggested.