CPSC warning against bed-sharing with babies
“Don't sleep with your baby or put the baby down to sleep in an adult bed”
1999 US Consumer Product Safety Commission campaign telling parents not to sleep with their baby or put the baby to sleep in an adult bed. Critics said the data behind it were weaker than the message implied and that it alarmed parents who bed-share.
- Years
- 1999–now
- Country
- United States
- Topic
- Infant sleep
- Asks people to
- Stop
- Strategy
- Fear appeal
- Channel
- PrintTV
- Audience
- Parents
Evidence
NoneUnknown
No outcome evaluation found. A 2000 critique in Birth argued the CPSC study could not support so absolute a message and that it caused anxiety; breastfeeding and SIDS experts objected.
Sponsor (who paid)
- US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Federal government, lead
Credits (who made it)
Not recorded yet.
Related campaigns
- Back to Sleep 1994–now
Sources
- Less Than Meets the Eye: The Consumer Product Safety Commission's Campaign Against Bed‐Sharing with Babies reference · 2000 · DOI 10.1046/j.1523-536x.2000.00277.x · PMID 11251515
Research notes
Channel list assumes the press conference was covered on TV and in print. The later Milwaukee (2011) bed-sharing ads are a related case worth adding. Found through OpenAlex (October 2026 sleep pass, see docs/sleep-campaigns-openalex.md). Findings paraphrased from abstracts; check the paper before quoting a number.
Record cases/cpsc-bed-sharing-warning.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign