US News

Baby sling a smother risk

WASHINGTON — The government is preparing a safety warning about baby slings — those popular and fashionable infant-carrier pouches.

The concern is that infants can suffocate — and a few have done so.

Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum says her agency is getting ready to issue a general warning to the public, likely to go out this week, about the slings’ dangers.

Safety advocates have cautioned that some slings, where the baby falls into a curved or “C-like” position, can lead to suffocation.