It was 13 deaths in 20 YEARS!. If you think about how popular slings are (even assuming this statistic is limited to the U.S.) I'd say that would make slings and carriers quite safe! Not all the deaths were suffocation, some of them were from babies falling out of slings (I have no concept of how this could even occur to be honest) and some aparently because the bubs chins were resting on their chests and restricting their breathing. Most if not all of the babies who died were premmie or had breathing difficulties.