Urgent safety alert: Public warned to stop using dangerous baby self-feeding products
- Love Ballymena
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has issued an Urgent Safety Alert warning parents and caregivers to stop using baby self-feeding products immediately and dispose of them safely, citing a serious risk of choking and aspiration pneumonia.
Businesses have also been ordered to remove all such products from sale as they cannot meet safety requirements under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005.
Baby self-feeding products are designed to allow infants to bottle feed with little or no assistance from an adult. However, OPSS has warned that this design is inherently unsafe and poses a risk of serious harm or death.
“OPSS has identified that this category of products will always be dangerous due to their design and intended use and can never be made safe,” the regulator said.
The warning comes after a previous safety alert issued in November 2022 regarding baby self-feeding pillows and prop feeders, which prompted similar action.
The latest alert now extends to new variants of these dangerous items, including those shaped like animal heads.
The products’ design — which props a bottle at an angle for an unattended baby — increases the likelihood of milk entering the lungs, potentially leading to choking or aspiration pneumonia.
The OPSS reiterated that the use of these items is inconsistent with NHS guidance on safe bottle feeding.
The NHS advises that a baby should always be held and supervised during feeding to reduce the risk of choking and to promote healthy bonding. Official NHS guidance can be found at nhs.uk/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/bottle-feeding/advice.
Action Required
Consumers: Stop using all baby self-feeding products immediately and dispose of them safely.
Businesses: Remove these products from sale and ensure compliance with product safety law.
Local Authority Trading Standards and NI Environmental Health: Take appropriate enforcement action against businesses selling these products.
The OPSS emphasised that no design modification or appearance change — including animal-shaped versions — can make baby self-feeding products safe.
This latest warning aims to protect infants across the UK and Northern Ireland from preventable harm.