Which? finds 150 potentially lethal baby products sold online

Which? wants the government to make online marketplaces legally responsible for third-party products. Photograph: Westend61/Getty View image in fullscreen Which? wants the government to make online marketplaces legally responsible for third-party products. Photograph: Westend61/Getty Which? finds 150 potentially lethal baby products sold online UK consumer group says lives are at risk because platforms fail to prevent dangerous items reaching customers Babies are being put at risk by dozens of potentially lethal infant products sold to UK parents on major online marketplaces, an investigation has found. The consumer champion Which? identified 150 products, including self-feeding prop feeders that pose a choking risk and baby sleep pillows linked to suffocation. The items were listed for sale on Alibaba, AliExpress, Amazon , eBay, Etsy, OnBuy and TikTok Shop. The investigation found that every one of these platforms was allowing multiple items to be sold that could put an infant’s life at risk. Almost a quarter of the products were on Amazon, which Which? said presented itself as an industry leader in detecting unsafe goods. Sue Davies, the head of consumer protection policy at Which?, said: “The lives of babies are at risk because these platforms won’t stop dangerous products from reaching their customers … We’ve shown how easy it is to find these unsafe products, so it’s impossible to take companies as powerful as Amazon or eBay at their word when they claim safety is a top priority.” Which? is urging ministers to use new powers under the Product Regulation and Metrology Act to make online marketplaces legally responsible for third-party products, with tough penalties for those that fail. The research focused on products that had been subject to safety alerts or product safety notices from the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS). The consumer group found 54 self-feeding devices across Alibaba, Amazon, eBay, OnBuy and TikTok Shop, despite an OPSS alert issued in 2022 warning that they create a risk of serious injury or death. The products allow babies to bottle-feed without constant supervision, increasing the risk of choking or aspiration pneumonia if milk enters the lungs. Because choking is often silent, even nearby parents may not realise that a baby is in distress. Of the 150 products, 21 were pillow bottle-holders, designed to fasten around a baby’s neck. Which? also identified 37 sleep pillows marketed for infants under 12 months across AliExpress, Amazon, Etsy, OnBuy and TikTok Shop. Many used terms such as “newborn” or “infant” or showed babies using the products in cots. View image in fullscreen Sleeping bags with a hood or without arm holes pose a suffocation risk and should not be sold, Which? says The OPSS issued a warning in December 2025 that sleep pillows marketed for babies under one year old posed risks of suffocation and overheating, which can lead to serious injury or death and have been associated with sudden infan