A 2-day-old Adelaide baby may have died of suffocation in a baby sling, two pathology experts write in a medical journal published over the weekend.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) already issued a warning last year, when over a million baby slings were recalled in the US and Canada over fears of risks to infants. This time, the consumer watchdog is considering setting standards for the baby sling.

In a letter to the latest edition of the Medical Journal of Australia two pathologists said the baby's autopsy did not provide explanation for the Adelaide baby's death, noting the cause of death was recorded as undetermined; but the sling, they said, was "considered a risk factor."

The two-day-old baby boy was being carried in a cloth sling worn under his mother's clothing when the mother noticed he was cold and not breathing. Although not officially confirmed, this is the first baby sling-related death to be recorded in Australia.

"It is well recognised that infants placed in certain positions, such as in car safety seats, may be at risk of significant oxygen desaturation, and even death, due to upper airway compromise," the two experts wrote.

Authors Roger Byard, professor of pathology at the University of Adelaide, and senior specialist forensic pathologist John Gilbert said those who use baby slings should know very well how to use it, as it was "important that parents and carers are made aware of potential safety issues with the use of these devices, particularly in very young infants".

Byard and Gilbert advised those who are carrying babies in slings should constantly monitor the infants to make sure the baby's head is faced outwards and free of any coverings that may hinder proper breathing.

''The ACCC is working with the product safety regulators in the US, Canada and Europe on the development of the safety standard for baby slings as a result of concerns in a variety of countries about the risk that they pose, in particular for very young infants,'' the ACCC's deputy chairman, Peter Kell, said.

Meanwhile, the chief executive of Kidsafe South Australia, Helen Noblet, said Kidsafe is urging manufacturers to display clear and proper instructions on how baby slings should be used.

''I think the most important thing is that parents and carers using baby slings are made aware of the potential risks,'' she says.

Worldwide, sixteen other reported infant deaths have been attributed to baby slings, particularly in the United States and Canada.