Screenshot from here.

This is highly misleading.

The study they are referring to is the one we just discussed above.

The conclusion of the study was not that weighted blankets are safe for newborns in general.

As stated earlier, this study did not assess risk in the general population at all.

Accordingly, the authors of this paper explicitly state that further studies are needed to “evaluate the feasibility and safety of weighted blanket use in non-NICU settings where infants are not continuously monitored.”

As previously mentioned, studying SIDS risk factors requires large numbers of observations.

The design of this study, with its 16 participants, is completely inadequate for the purpose of assessing risk in the general population.

Dreamland Baby is using this research to claim that their product is “backed by science according to this clinical study”. But, again, the authors of the study never made any claims regarding the safety of weighted blankets outside of the NICU.

As noted earlier, there is some research suggesting that weighted garments are safe over short time periods during continuous professional monitoring.

However, the people interested in this product are not purchasing sleep sacks for the NICU.

As such, they should be aware that the study mentioned by Dreamland Baby has no bearing whatsoever on the potential risks of having their baby sleep in a weighted sleep sack every night.

Simply put, Dreamland Baby is using this study to mislead their customers.

As you saw above, we put the products on a scale. The small sack weighs 1lb 7oz. Dreamland says this is for a baby that weighs 8 pounds.

This amounts to 18% of bodyweight, not 10%.

At first glance, it appears that Dreamland Baby did their math wrong.

But when you look closer at the statement quoted above, you’ll notice that they’re referring to the weight of the filling inside the product.

According to Dreamland Baby, the small “contains 0.8 lbs of beads” and the medium “contains 1.5 lbs of beads”. This is how they get to 10%.

This raises the question, is it the beads inside the sleep sack or the total weight of the sleep sack that determines its safety?

As it turns out, there are no standards and no evidence regarding either.

Though, you might not have that impression after reading their marketing:

“The product follows the recommended weighted blanket safety guidelines of never having a weight more than 10% of your baby’s body weight.”

Screenshot from here.

The link to their “safety guidelines” takes you to a blog post recommending weighted blankets to purchase.

The blog post claims that 10% is a reasonable safety threshold for adults and adolescents, but says nothing about infants.

In fact, their chart containing safe weight recommendations starts at a bodyweight of 100 lbs.

Is this age distinction simply a matter of semantics?

No.

Adults and adolescents are not at risk of SIDS. What’s safe for an adult or adolescent is not necessarily safe for an infant.

In summary, Dreamland Baby sleep sacks are not  “10% or less body weight”—and there is no reason to believe that a 10% threshold is actually relevant to SIDS risk.

Onto the next claim…

If you’ve heard of the “Back to Sleep” campaign, you probably know that babies should sleep on their backs to markedly reduce the risk of SIDS.

There is one notable caveat, though.

When babies roll over in the crib after being put down on their backs, parents can leave them to sleep on their bellies.

The presumption is that once babies are developmentally capable of rolling, they are able to reposition themselves if they’re having trouble breathing.

But what happens when a baby is wearing a weighted sleep sack?

Screenshot from here.

Dreamland’s position is that their product does not inhibit movement.

They offer this claim without evidence—and it’s kind of hard to believe.

Pediatrician Dr. Gina Posner is skeptical:

“If a baby manages to flip over and then, because of the weight, they are unable to flip back, I worry about them suffocating,” she says.

You’ll also recall that stomach sleeping in a weighted garment was the primary concern of SIDS researcher Dr. Kemp.

It’s worth repeating his explanation shared earlier:

“A weighted blanket that reaches up to the shoulders or back of the head would keep a baby from lifting and turning to get access to fresh air.”

In summary, while we don’t have definitive studies regarding weighted sleep sacks, medical professionals have serious concerns about what we might find once those studies emerge.

It’s unclear who exactly they are referring to. But even if we had specific quotes from medical professionals, it would not change the current state of the research on weighted garments for infants.

There simply have been no high-quality studies that would allow us to draw any conclusions regarding the link between SIDS risks and any weighted sleep garments.

There is, however, an ever-improving understanding of the physical mechanisms that result in SIDS; and as explained earlier, there are multiple connections between the potential causal mechanisms of SIDS and weighted sleep garments.

Given these possible connections, the principled concerns of researchers and medical professionals should not be disregarded without substantially more evidence than we have available today.

At first glance, this looks like they’ve gone above and beyond to make sure that their product is safe.

Unfortunately, none of the 3 studies they linked to were designed or intended to assess whether or not weighted sleep garments have any impact on SIDS risk.

In addition to the 3 published studies, other safety features such as organic threads are hyped up.

If you thought the sack was made out of garbage and were worried about your baby getting a rash, this may put your mind at ease.

But if you’re worried about SIDS, none of this matters.

Note the recurring theme where Dreamland Baby claims to have evidence or expert testimony supporting the safety of their products, but this evidence falls apart upon closer inspection.

Considering this pattern, we ask again: who is this pediatric pulmonologist and what exactly did they say?

To the best of my ability, I cannot find any information on their website substantiating this claim.

Currently, there are no CPSC guidelines that directly discuss sleep sacks and swaddles.

The CPSC standards they’re referring to are for flammability, lead content, colorfastness, sharp edges, and other textile-related matters.

(None of this has anything to do with SIDS risk.)

The guideline they’re referring to is the recommendation to use a sleep sack instead of a loose blanket.

At no point in the guidelines does the AAP directly discuss weighted sleep sacks.

This is true.

But it is also true that neither the AAP nor the CDC has ever told consumers not to let babies sleep with chainsaws in their cribs.

The list of things that the AAP and CDC have not said is very long.

The AAP and CDC are unlikely to call out any product by name.

Further, the AAP has not yet released a statement on weighted sleep sacks. It’s coming this winter.

Now let’s examine one final claim…

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Their social media and reviews page show many dozens of images, one after another, of infants sleeping in dangerous conditions, many of which are known to be highly correlated with SIDS.

Here are a few examples of unsafe sleep pictured on Dreamland Baby’s website and instagram:

• Babies sleeping with bumpers in the crib (these are not only unnecessary but dangerous)
• Babies sleeping in padded loungers (Dockatot, Boppy, and Snuggle Me are NOT safe sleep spaces)
• Babies sleeping in swings and Mamaroos (these are NOT safe sleep spaces either)
• Babies sleeping on anti-flat head pillows (these are unnecessary and are suffocation hazards)
• Babies sleeping with loveys in the crib (these are suffocation hazards)
• Babies sleeping with loose blankets and loose waterproof pads (this is a well-studied suffocation risk)
• Babies sleeping with pacifier clips (only pacifiers are safe in the sleep space)
• Babies sleeping in an adult bed (even “firm” adult mattresses are not as firm as safe infant mattresses)

Does Dreamland Baby know these things are unsafe?

You’d think all the pediatricians, NICU nurses, and certified sleep consultants they partnered with might have pointed it out.

Oh wait. Maybe they did.

Here’s a blog post on Dreamland Baby’s website. It says, in part,

“…many moms think it is perfectly safe to have their baby sleep in a large cushion, pillow, co-sleeper, or positioner. Unfortunately, all of these break two of the most important safe-sleep rules:  1) place baby to sleep on a firm surface 2) put nothing in baby’s sleep space.”

It bears stating the obvious:

Dreamland Baby is a company that makes money selling a product.