Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To warn you about baby self-feeding pillows/prop feeders? URGENT SAFETY ALERT

78 replies

UrgentSafetyAlert · 02/12/2022 14:31

News story:
Urgent Safety Alert issued for baby self-feeding pillows/prop feeders.
'Self-feeding pillows/prop feeders present a risk of serious harm or death from choking or aspiration pneumonia.'

www.gov.uk/government/news/urgent-safety-alert-issued-for-baby-self-feeding-pillows

They can seriously harm or even kill babies due to choking or aspiration pneumonia. They must not be used or sold.

Please read the attached urgent safety alert and help to spread the word.

Thank you Flowers

To warn you about baby self-feeding pillows/prop feeders? URGENT SAFETY ALERT
OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
Craver · 02/12/2022 15:23

Surely anyone with half a brain would not sell, buy or gift this!

DivineHypertension · 02/12/2022 15:29

This has been well known for some time

Its a bit of a no shit Sherlock post

fairgame84 · 02/12/2022 15:32

I can't believe anybody would use them. Can people really not be arsed to feed their own baby?

ShakespearesSisters · 02/12/2022 15:51

They posted this on our school news letter today too.

Kindofcrunchy · 02/12/2022 16:01

fairgame84 · 02/12/2022 15:32

I can't believe anybody would use them. Can people really not be arsed to feed their own baby?

Back before I stopped using the platform, there was some -dickhead- guy on Reddit live streaming his gaming session with his twin babies on the floor, propped up with their bottles in a device like this. Everyone in the comments clapping him on the back like he was some sort of modern hero parent. I reported the post but clearly not enough of a concern for Reddit admins to remove as he streamed this content regularly. Fucking toxic platform.

CmonYouKnow · 02/12/2022 16:03

Honestly why bother having a child if you can’t even be arsed to feed it

riotlady · 02/12/2022 16:07

I feel like anyone just looking at the picture can see it’s a bad idea?!

Rowthe · 02/12/2022 16:08

That picture is shocking

RambamThankyouMam · 02/12/2022 16:10

Only an absolute moron would think this was safe. Not fit to be a parent if you buy one.

MrsTerryPratchett · 02/12/2022 16:10

Feeding is an essential bonding time. Biologically that would have been BFing, now it's BFing or HOLDING your baby while they feed.

Anyone doing this is an idiot. I mean would you like to have an unremovable bottle shoved in your gob? It's like baby-waterboarding.

ShirleyPhallus · 02/12/2022 16:10

CmonYouKnow · 02/12/2022 16:03

Honestly why bother having a child if you can’t even be arsed to feed it

Well disagree with this, a lot of inventions are made to make parents lives easier and it’s not unreasonable to have inventions which are genuinely helpful

That said, this is bananas and can’t believe anyone would think this is safe in any way!

Katy123g · 02/12/2022 16:12

It was well known that these were a no no when my 8 year old DS was a baby. Not sure how long before this it was known as I wasn't paying attention!

Frankly, anyone using one of these is clearly a brain dead idiot and so probably wouldn't listen to warnings anyway.

Oysterbabe · 02/12/2022 16:16

What kind of person would use this shit? Feeding a baby is lovely.

CmonYouKnow · 02/12/2022 16:16

ShirleyPhallus · 02/12/2022 16:10

Well disagree with this, a lot of inventions are made to make parents lives easier and it’s not unreasonable to have inventions which are genuinely helpful

That said, this is bananas and can’t believe anyone would think this is safe in any way!

But like you have just said, this is not helpful, it’s dangerous. So what’s your point?

Just because something exists to make your life easier doesn’t make it a good idea.

qpmz · 02/12/2022 16:20

I want to pick that baby up and cuddle her!

miltonj · 02/12/2022 16:22

That's such a horrible thing to do to a child. Why even have a kid if you cba.

ShirleyPhallus · 02/12/2022 16:22

CmonYouKnow · 02/12/2022 16:16

But like you have just said, this is not helpful, it’s dangerous. So what’s your point?

Just because something exists to make your life easier doesn’t make it a good idea.

Because your original quote was “why have a baby if you can’t be arsed to feed it” and I’m pointing out that lots of things exist because parents “can’t be arsed” to do things a longer way!

ForTheLoveOfSleep · 02/12/2022 16:24

How fucking lazy has modern parenting become?

Namechangeforthis88 · 02/12/2022 16:25

Glad to have seen this warning, it has just come out through my work. You would think everyone already knows, but you could say the same about those baby walkers, but people still use them. I knew when my now teenage son was born that they are not only a recipe for an accident but bad for babies' development.

CmonYouKnow · 02/12/2022 16:27

ShirleyPhallus · 02/12/2022 16:22

Because your original quote was “why have a baby if you can’t be arsed to feed it” and I’m pointing out that lots of things exist because parents “can’t be arsed” to do things a longer way!

Oh, that makes it ok then 🙃

Lorrymum · 02/12/2022 16:28

The world has gone mad.
Read a post on here yesterday about the safety issues of using a 35 year old cot. Yet this piece of nonsense has been allowed to be manufactured and sold!

MrsTerryPratchett · 02/12/2022 16:28

ForTheLoveOfSleep · 02/12/2022 16:24

How fucking lazy has modern parenting become?

I don't actually think it's that. I actually think it's the opposite. My BFing was essentially me lying on the sofa with DD, watching crap TV and eating cake. I might have a cup of tea as well.

This kind of thing is used by women with more than one child, thinking housework has to get done, not sleeping when baby sleeps. I bet there's more women using this to do things than women using this for time off.

Still utterly foolish.

PipinwasAuntieMabelsdog · 02/12/2022 16:29

Lorrymum · 02/12/2022 16:28

The world has gone mad.
Read a post on here yesterday about the safety issues of using a 35 year old cot. Yet this piece of nonsense has been allowed to be manufactured and sold!

This.

SarahAndQuack · 02/12/2022 16:29

I've known parents of multiples who've propped a bottle for one baby (while watching it like a hawk!) so they can feed the other. But otherwise, yes, it's worrying some people don't realise these are dangerous.

Bit depressing the thread's already in 'modern parenting is lazy' territory. Hmm

BertieBotts · 02/12/2022 16:38

It's "allowed" to be manufactured and sold because there is no pre-vetting of everything that is manufactured and sold - that would be impossible, wouldn't it?

However people do have an erroneous belief that if something is for sale, especially if it is marketed/designed for babies, that it must have been through some kind of safety panel and deemed to be safe.

Unfortunately the warning is necessary because some people won't see the issue.

Interestingly I also remember warnings about this kind of thing going back years to when my teenager was a baby, so it must be one of those things that pops up every now and again, somebody thinks "That would be a great idea, I wonder why nobody else has done it!" and creates a shoddy product, starts marketing it all over the place and it's only when it actually starts to cause harm that anybody official gets involved and puts out a warning about it.

The problem is worse now, I think, because cheap shipping methods from overseas combined with selling platforms like amazon have made it totally easy for dubious products to come over from abroad where there might be less care for safety than is taken for granted in countries like the UK.

If you were going to launch a new product on the UK market as a business you'd probably seek legal advice first to make sure it was all OK and unlikely to end up in you being sued - whoever has made and designed this obviously hasn't done that, and that's probably because it's easier than ever to get a product out into the world via online sales.