Alphabetic Guide to Child Care - Water beds

Water Beds

Because of the softness and the motion of a waterbed, infants up to at least twelve months of age should never be left unattended on a water-bed. Infants left even briefly on a waterbed have suffocated. The risks are that the infant will become trapped between the mattress and the frame or wall, or become wedged between a sleeping adult and the mattress, or sink face first into the mattress and be unable to push himself up. Several infant deaths originally attributed to SIDS are now considered suffocation due to a waterbed. At least 24 infants have died while left to nap on the parents’ waterbed in the last decade.