The increasing practice of using fabric slings to cart along babies has had California class action lawyers very concerned. Since these slings came into the marketplace, they have been linked to a number of reports of suffocation deaths and injuries in from falls. Those concerns were heightened earlier this year when the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a special warning, cautioning parents that their babies might be at risk of suffocation, if placed in the soft fabric baby slings.

The same concerns are being renewed this week as the CPSC, along with a company called Sprout Stuff from Austin, Texas, announced a recall of fabric baby slings. The infant ring slings have been linked to at least one confirmed death involving a 10-day-old baby boy in Texas. That death was recorded in 2007. The CPSC is warning parents to stop using the slings immediately.

Baby slings have become the fashionable accessory trendy parents must have. Wearing slings is believed to strengthen parent-child bonds. Unfortunately, the practice of wearing babies close to the body, increases the risk of the infant being smothered to death. A baby could turn its face towards the mother, and suffocate. A newborn baby, with no control over its head and neck muscles, could suffocate when its head falls on its chest. There've also been reports of injuries involving children who fell out of the slings.

These slings are exceedingly comfortable to wear, and comfy for the baby because they're made of fabric and little else. Unfortunately, the CPSC has no standards in place for baby slings, and this has allowed a number of companies to crop up, marketing trendy, but possibly unsafe, baby slings to young and trendy parents.

The CPSC is working hard to fix that. It announced earlier this year that it would be developing a set of standards for baby slings. These standards must take into consideration the fact that most baby slings are used for newborn babies who are at a special risk of suffocation.