Warning as ‘potentially lethal’ baby products found listed on sites such as Amazon, eBay and TikTok shop
“Potentially lethal” baby products including pillows, sleeping bags and self-feeding products are widely sold on online marketplaces in the UK, a consumer watchdog has warned.
Which? It revealed it had discovered 150 dangerous items available to British consumers, including self-feeding accessories that pose a suffocation risk and sleeping pads that pose a suffocation risk.
From Which Researchers? It has identified these products on major platforms such as Alibaba, AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, OnBuy, TikTok Shop and Wish. While most marketplaces confirmed they had removed flagged products from sale, Wish notably failed to respond to the watchdog’s findings.
Which? It specifically targeted self-feeding products, baby sleeping pads and infant sleeping bags due to advance warnings and product safety notices issued by the Office of Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) regarding these categories.
Self-feeding products are designed to enable babies to bottle-feed with little or no assistance from a caregiver.
Because babies do not have the ability or cognitive ability to control the flow of feeding or know when to stop, this poses a risk of serious harm or death from asphyxiation or aspiration pneumonia (when feed enters the baby’s lungs) during feeding, according to an OPSS safety alert issued in 2022.
Which? She managed to find 54 baby self-feeding machines for sale on Alibaba, Amazon, eBay, OnBuy, and TikTok Shop. 21 of these were pillow bottle holders worn around the baby’s neck.
OPSS issued a product safety alert about baby sleeping pillows in December 2025, expressing concerns about products marketed for babies under 12 months.
The main harms of sleeping pillows are suffocation and overheating.
Which? found 37 pillows marketed as products for babies under 12 months; Many of these include the words “newborn” or “baby” in the name or description, or show a child, obviously 12 months old, using the product.
Product listings seen on AliExpress, Amazon, Etsy, OnBuy, TikTok Shop and Wish mention using pillows to improve sleep or using them in a crib or bed frame.
A baby pillow reviewer on AliExpress said it was “too heavy for a newborn or a child under one year old,” but the listing suggested at least 1,200 units had been sold.
Which? Researchers found 59 baby sleeping bags for sale on online marketplaces such as Alibaba, AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Etsy and Wish, which they believed were unsafe due to the serious risk of suffocation.
Sleeping bags contained hoods that could cover the baby’s head and face, or had no armholes, or both; This meant a sleeping baby could slide in.
Which? 38 sleeping bags were found on Etsy that raised concerns; These include a knit sleeping bag with a hood and no armholes that covers a baby’s mouth and nose.
Which? researchers found six baby sleeping bags on Amazon that they believe are dangerous; some of which were orders fulfilled by Amazon itself, as opposed to third-party sellers.
Sue Davies, Which? Head of Consumer Protection Policy, said: “Babies’ lives are at risk because these platforms do not stop dangerous products from reaching their customers, even though they are well aware that these products can be fatal.
“Which? has shown how easy it is to find these unsafe products with simple tools, so it’s impossible for us to take powerful companies like Amazon or eBay at their word when they claim that security is a top priority. Lives will be at risk until online marketplaces are finally forced to clean up their act.”
“Upon notification of third-party listings, we quickly removed non-compliant products from our platform. We will continue to educate sellers and take action against those who violate our terms of use,” Alibaba.com said.
AliExpress said: “Products flagged by Which have been removed from the UK market and we will make the necessary improvements to our existing control measures to further reduce the risk of non-compliant product listings re-emerging on our UK platform.”
An Amazon spokesperson said: “During our investigation, we removed products highlighted with Which?. If customers have concerns about any product they 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 Whichever had already been removed before contacting us. We have now removed the remaining four items and carried out a wider check to find and remove similar listings.”
An Etsy spokesperson said: “We removed all flagged listings that violated the policy as soon as they were brought to our attention.”
OnBuy said: “We can confirm that all of these products have been removed without any further sales.”
TikTok Shop said: “Products flagged by Which? have been removed from TikTok Shop and notifications have been sent to customers.”
