On 23 October, Inserm published a press release on the discrepancy between the images conveyed by packs of baby nappies and the recommendations for sleeping babies. The press release is based on the results of research published in The Journal of Pediatrics.
The study, co-authored by Martin Chalumeau, a researcher at CRESS, was carried out by a number of European research organisations. The researchers “studied the images on baby nappy packaging in 11 European countries, including France. They found that a very high rate of images did not comply with the recommendations for infant sleeping, with a large number of images showing sleeping babies lying on their stomachs or sides, on soft bedding or surrounded by accessories that could suffocate them, or sharing the sleeping surface with another person. “
The press release points out that the visuals used to convey health messages, whether implicitly or explicitly, modify practices, in this case infant sleeping practices.
Study author Martin Chalumeau, an epidemiologist at Inserm, professor at Université Paris Cité and paediatrician at AP-HP, explains:
“Our results highlight that there is a discrepancy between the messages conveyed on these everyday products or institutional websites, to which many parents are heavily exposed, and the recommendations for preventing cot death. These results suggest the need for action on the part of manufacturers and legislators to prevent exposure to commercial or official images that do not comply with the recommendations for preventing cot death, in order to prevent dangerous sleeping practices. In this way, manufacturers and legislators would play a full part in providing accurate health information.”
A petition was addressed to Europe and France following the publication of the press release. Click here to consult it: https://chng.it/sX9nPkjTmz
