A May 2025 report published in the US’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report warns new parents that nursing pillows and sudden unexplained infant death (SUID) might be linked.
Sleeping Safe?
Researchers have sounded the alarm that nursing pillows should never be placed in sleep spaces with infants. Citing confusion caused by poor labelling and advertising practices by manufacturers, the epidemiologists fear that parents may be inadvertently putting their children at risk. Of 1,685 SUID cases reported between 2013 and 2022, the researchers highlight 84 cases where a nursing pillow was found in the baby’s sleep space.
The study, compiled by researchers at the US National Center for Fatality Review and Prevention, drew on mortality data collected from the Pediatric National Fatality Review Case Reporting System. Reports are submitted by an interdisciplinary team of medical and legal investigators who perform Child Death Reviews on a subset of cases. This system was put in place to help us to understand why a child’s death occurred and what circumstances led to the event. Not all deaths are investigated by the system.
Unexpected and Unexplained
Sudden unexplained infant deaths are cases where a child under 12 months old dies unexpectedly with no obvious cause prior to investigation. Sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, is a subcategory of SUID. While SIDS is usually used to describe an unexplained and unexpected death, SUID also encompasses cases where a child is later found to be due to accidental asphyxiation or strangulation in their sleep space.
Epidemiology points to sleep environment as a major contributor to SIDS and SUIDs. When parents started to ensure their infants slept on their backs and kept blankets, toys and pillows out of the crib, SIDS cases dropped dramatically.
What are Nursing Pillows and what have they to do with infant death?
Nursing pillows are round or crescent-shaped tubular foam pillows intended to provide both ergonomic assistance to the parent and support to the baby’s head during feeding. Until 2008, manufacturers were not allowed to market pillows as safe for babies, but manufacturers argued that these cushions are not intended for sleeping and should have an exception from the ban.
Between 2004 and 2015, the Pediatric National Fatality Review Case Reporting System identified 141 infant deaths suspected to be caused by asphyxiation where a nursing pillow was present. This has led pediatricians to question whether nursing pillows are as safe as manufacturers would like to think.
A Close Reading
While at first look “presence of a nursing pillow” does not sound very descriptive, the authors of the report were careful in their wording. The Georgia, USA, based researchers took care to exclude cases where a pillow was present in the infant’s sleeping space, but could not have been involved in the death. This included two cases of suspected homicide, a case where a child was born extremely prematurely, a case that was implied to be a result of a respiratory infection and two cases where a child was buckled into a carseat or swing inside their crib.
The 84 cases identified between 2013 and 2022 only included cases where the pillow was found on or in close enough proximity to the child to reasonably suspect that it could have been a factor. In fact, in 69% of cases the pillow was found under the child, 16.7% next to the child, 2.4% on top of the infant and 1.2% wrapped around the child. In 10% of cases, the exact position was not reported. Importantly, in 99% of SUIDs that involved a nursing pillow, the baby was sleeping in a shared bed.
What You Need to Know About Nursing Pillows
While this study is not exhaustive, the researchers did account for variables such as sleep space, age, underlying health conditions, some demographic information and whether the child was breast-fed or formula-fed. Their findings highlight that having loose, soft items in an infant’s sleep space is a risk factor for SUID. Doctors don’t recommend co-sleeping, but it seems that adding in a nursing pillow elevates the danger to infants who are too young to move themselves should they find themselves struggling to breathe.
Hamilton BK. Nursing Pillows in the Sleep Environment and Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths — Georgia, January 2013–December 2022. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2025;74. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7419a2
A May 2025 report published in the US’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report warns new parents that nursing pillows and sudden unexplained infant death (SUID) might be linked.
Sleeping Safe?
Researchers have sounded the alarm that nursing pillows should never be placed in sleep spaces with infants. Citing confusion caused by poor labelling and advertising practices by manufacturers, the epidemiologists fear that parents may be inadvertently putting their children at risk. Of 1,685 SUID cases reported between 2013 and 2022, the researchers highlight 84 cases where a nursing pillow was found in the baby’s sleep space.
The study, compiled by researchers at the US National Center for Fatality Review and Prevention, drew on mortality data collected from the Pediatric National Fatality Review Case Reporting System. Reports are submitted by an interdisciplinary team of medical and legal investigators who perform Child Death Reviews on a subset of cases. This system was put in place to help us to understand why a child’s death occurred and what circumstances led to the event. Not all deaths are investigated by the system.
Unexpected and Unexplained
Sudden unexplained infant deaths are cases where a child under 12 months old dies unexpectedly with no obvious cause prior to investigation. Sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, is a subcategory of SUID. While SIDS is usually used to describe an unexplained and unexpected death, SUID also encompasses cases where a child is later found to be due to accidental asphyxiation or strangulation in their sleep space.
Epidemiology points to sleep environment as a major contributor to SIDS and SUIDs. When parents started to ensure their infants slept on their backs and kept blankets, toys and pillows out of the crib, SIDS cases dropped dramatically.
What are Nursing Pillows and what have they to do with infant death?
Nursing pillows are round or crescent-shaped tubular foam pillows intended to provide both ergonomic assistance to the parent and support to the baby’s head during feeding. Until 2008, manufacturers were not allowed to market pillows as safe for babies, but manufacturers argued that these cushions are not intended for sleeping and should have an exception from the ban.
Between 2004 and 2015, the Pediatric National Fatality Review Case Reporting System identified 141 infant deaths suspected to be caused by asphyxiation where a nursing pillow was present. This has led pediatricians to question whether nursing pillows are as safe as manufacturers would like to think.
A Close Reading
While at first look “presence of a nursing pillow” does not sound very descriptive, the authors of the report were careful in their wording. The Georgia, USA, based researchers took care to exclude cases where a pillow was present in the infant’s sleeping space, but could not have been involved in the death. This included two cases of suspected homicide, a case where a child was born extremely prematurely, a case that was implied to be a result of a respiratory infection and two cases where a child was buckled into a carseat or swing inside their crib.
The 84 cases identified between 2013 and 2022 only included cases where the pillow was found on or in close enough proximity to the child to reasonably suspect that it could have been a factor. In fact, in 69% of cases the pillow was found under the child, 16.7% next to the child, 2.4% on top of the infant and 1.2% wrapped around the child. In 10% of cases, the exact position was not reported. Importantly, in 99% of SUIDs that involved a nursing pillow, the baby was sleeping in a shared bed.
What You Need to Know About Nursing Pillows
While this study is not exhaustive, the researchers did account for variables such as sleep space, age, underlying health conditions, some demographic information and whether the child was breast-fed or formula-fed. Their findings highlight that having loose, soft items in an infant’s sleep space is a risk factor for SUID. Doctors don’t recommend co-sleeping, but it seems that adding in a nursing pillow elevates the danger to infants who are too young to move themselves should they find themselves struggling to breathe.
Hamilton BK. Nursing Pillows in the Sleep Environment and Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths — Georgia, January 2013–December 2022. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2025;74. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7419a2
