Crib ads often show babies sleeping unsafely

"The impact of these advertisements is one factor thatcontinues to result in the use of bumper pads and stuffedanimals in children's cribs," said senior study author Dr.Bradley Troxler of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has become much lesscommon in recent decades as doctors have urged parents to putinfants to sleep on their backs without pillows or other softbedding and toys that could pose a suffocation risk. But itstill remains a leading cause of infant mortality.

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Despite the dramatic decline in death from SIDS since 1992,when the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announced thatbabies should be placed on their backs to sleep, many parentsstill fail to consistently follow safe sleep practices.

For the current study, researchers analyzed 1,758 magazineads from 1992, 2010 and 2015.

There have been some improvements.

The most common safety problem in the ads was showing cribbumpers, which appeared in 70 per cent of unsafe sleepenvironments depicted, the study found.

Not all products on sale are safe

Still, the findings suggest that either child safetyadvocates are not effectively educating advertisers andmanufacturers, or advertisers and manufacturers are prioritizingmoney over the safety of infants, Dr. Jeffrey Colvin, apediatrician at Children's Mercy Kansas City who wasn't involvedin the study, said by email.

"Unfortunately, this is not true," Ball, who wasn't involvedin the study, said by email.

"This study reconfirms that health care providers need tocontinue to educate families consistently about infant sleepsafety," Goodstein said by email. "It is the one area in whichwe can truly reduce the risk of SIDS and other sleep-relateddeaths."