Safety alert issued for baby product that could cause harm

UK households have been urged to stop using some particular baby products “immediately” after a safety alert was issued. The Chartered Trading Standards Institute issued the notice Friday, February 13, from the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) for a product commonly known as a baby self-feeding pillows, also known as prop feeders.

These products are designed to enable babies to be bottle-fed without the assistance or supervision of a parent or caregiver. However, the CTSI explained that these products can put babies at a “risk of serious harm” or even death. Risks posed by baby self-feeding pillows include choking on the feed and aspiration pneumonia. 

CTSI explained: “Baby self-feeding pillow products are designed to enable a baby to be positioned on its back and attached to a bottle so that it may self-feed without the assistance of a caregiver holding the bottle and controlling the feed. This is inconsistent with NHS guidance in relation to safe bottle feeding: https://www.nhs.uk/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/bottle-feeding/advice/ 

“The General Product Safety Regulations 2005 (GPSR) require all products to be safe in their normal or reasonably foreseeable usage. A baby, which is the intended user of the product, does not have the dexterity or cognitive ability to control the flow of bottle feed, or to know when to stop feeding, or to take action if it gags or chokes or to otherwise signal or raise alarm if something is going wrong.

«Crucial to this, gagging is characterised by noise and coughing, whereas choking is characterised by silence because of the blockage to the airway. The most common reason for babies to choke on feed is because the liquid is being dispensed faster than it can swallow.

“The harm in relation to aspiration pneumonia follows a similar sequence of events, but a choking event does not occur. However, the baby does breathe in liquid which goes on to cause an infection resulting in pneumonia.

“The risks from choking and aspiration pneumonia are entirely related to the design and intended use of the product – these risks cannot be mitigated by instructions.”

Consumers who’ve bought the products are being told to stop using them immediately, as well as disposing of them safely. CTSI also provided action advice for businesses and local authority trading standards, too.

For businesses, CTSI advised: “Must immediately remove these products from the market as they cannot comply with the safety requirements under the General Product Safety Regulations, 2005. Must comply with their obligations under product safety law.”

For local authority trading standards, organisations should “identify and take appropriate action against businesses that sell baby self-feeding pillows as they do not comply with the safety requirements set down in the General Product Safety Regulations, 2005”.