Midwives Issue Warning Over Dangers of Baby Face Masks

From Friday, anyone entering a shop in England must wear a face mask - apart from children under the age of 11. However concerned midwifery groups have issued warnings to parents against making their babies use dummies with a mask attached to cover the lower half of their face.

The Pendle Family ZoneFacebook group, which represents ‘Children and Family Wellbeing Services’ in Lancashire, shared a picture of the worrying trend.

They said: “One of ELHT's [East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust] amazing Community Midwives has brought this to our attention, after seeing this promoted as a cute idea for babies. Please, please, please do not do this! Babies are too little to wear a mask, and this design looks like it would increase the risk of suffocation.”

They also quoted The Lullaby Trust - a charity raising awareness of sudden infant death syndrome, who say: "We are not aware of any advice for babies to wear masks, whether they are infected or not. There is potential risk of suffocation and other hazards with doing this”