An urgent safety alert has warned parents to throw away a collection of baby products that can cause serious harm or death.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has issued an urgent warning about all baby self-feeding products.

Consumers, local authority trading standards and businesses are all being asked to take action to remove them from the market.

The products are designed to allow babies to bottle feed with no assistance from a caregiver, but create a risk of choking on the feed and aspiration pneumonia for the babies.

 

A spokesman for the OPSS said: “Baby self-feeding products are designed to enable a baby to be attached to a bottle so that it may self-feed with little to no assistance from a caregiver holding the bottle and controlling the feed.

“This is inconsistent with NHS guidance in relation to safe bottle feeding.

“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 act 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.”

The OPSS say consumers should immediately stop using the products and dispose of them safely.

Businesses must immediately remove the products from the market and comply with their obligations under product safety law.

While Local Authority Trading Standards are being told to take appropriate actions against any businesses found to be selling the self-feeding products as they do not comply with safety requirements.