Which?, a service which promotes informed consumer choice, has found examples of 150 baby products that it understands does not meet safety standards and has issued a warning over the potentially lethal products
Parents have been issued a warning over potentially lethal baby products that are being sold on popular online selling platforms.
Which? has found examples of 150 items that it believes does not meet safety standards and could cause suffocating, choking and overheating in babies. The items include self-feeding products, baby sleep pillows and baby sleeping bags, and were found on websites including Alibaba, AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, OnBuy, TikTok Shop and Wish.
A safety alert on self-feeding products, issued in 2022 by the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), said these items create a serious risk of choking or aspiration pneumonia. But despite the fact that the OPSS says that these products should be removed, Which? said it was able to find 54 baby self-feeders for sale.
Baby sleep pillows have been linked to child fatalities in the UK and overseas and there was a separate warning about these being unsafe for infants under 12 months old was issued by the OPSS in 2025.
The concerns centre around risks of suffocation and overheating. Which? found 37 pillows marketed as products for infants under 12 months, many including the words “newborn” or “infant” in the name or description.
Which? researchers also found 59 baby sleeping bags for sale that they believe to be unsafe due to serious risk of suffocation. The sleeping bags include hoods which could cover a baby’s head and face or lack arm holes, or both, meaning a sleeping infant could slip down inside.
Sue Davies, Which? Head of Consumer Protection Policy, said: “The lives of babies are at risk because these platforms won’t stop dangerous products from reaching their customers – even though they are well aware that these products can be deadly.
“Which? has shown how easy it is to find these unsafe products with simple tools, so it’s impossible for us to take companies as powerful as Amazon or eBay at their word when they claim safety is a top priority. Lives will be at risk until online marketplaces are finally forced to clean up their act.
“The government must urgently use the new powers it has under the Product Regulation and Metrology Act to update product safety legislation and impose a clear legal duty on online marketplaces for ensuring the safety of products sold through their third-party sellers, with tough enforcement for those that fall short.”
Alibaba.com said: “Upon notification of the third-party listings, we swiftly removed the non-compliant products on our platform. We will continue to educate sellers, and take action against those who violate our terms of use.”
AliExpress said: “AliExpress takes customer safety and product compliance extremely seriously. All third-party sellers on our platform are required to comply with applicable laws as well as AliExpress’s policies and standards. The products flagged by Which? have been removed from the UK market, and we will be making necessary enhancements to our existing control measures to further reduce the risk of non-compliant product listings reappearing on our UK platform.”
An Amazon spokesperson said: “We continuously monitor our store and we take swift action when we’re alerted of potential issues. We’ve removed the products highlighted by Which? while we investigate. If customers have concerns about any item they’ve purchased, we encourage them to contact our Customer Service directly so we can investigate and help resolve their issue.”
eBay said: “Two of the items identified by Which? had already been removed before they contacted us. We have now removed the remaining four items and carried out a wider check to find and remove any similar listings.”
An Etsy spokesperson said: “Our Trust & Safety team works constantly to remove items that violate our policies, using a combination of automated controls, human review, and community flags. We removed all the flagged policy-violating listings as soon as it was brought to our attention.”
OnBuy said: “Our Risk Team works closely with the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) to ensure that our monitors and controls effectively remove unsafe and non-compliant products from our marketplace as quickly as possible. We can confirm that all of these products were removed before any sales were taken.”
TikTok Shop said: “The products flagged by Which? have been removed from TikTok Shop and notices issued to customers. TikTok has policies and processes in place to protect customers, including policies on what can and can’t be sold.”
Wish did not respond to Which? when it requested comment.
