“Potentially lethal” baby pillows, sleeping bags and self-feeding items are being sold widely on the UK’s online marketplaces, a watchdog has warned.
Which? said it had found 150 potentially lethal baby products being sold to UK consumers, including self-feeding props that risked choking and sleep pillows that risked suffocation.
Which? researchers found the items on Alibaba, AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, OnBuy, TikTok Shop and Wish.
All the marketplaces said they had removed the flagged items from sale, except for Wish, which did not respond.
Which? focused on self-feeding products, baby sleep pillows and baby sleeping bags because the categories had been subject to alerts or product safety notices by the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS).
Self-feeding products are designed to enable babies to bottle feed with little to no assistance from a caregiver.
According to the OPSS safety alert, issued in 2022, this creates a risk of serious harm or death from choking on the feed or aspiration pneumonia – when the feed gets into the baby’s lungs – as babies do not have the dexterity or cognitive ability to control the flow of the feed or to know when to stop.
Which? was able to find 54 baby self-feeders for sale across Alibaba, Amazon, eBay, OnBuy and TikTok Shop. Some 21 of these were pillow bottle holders that fasten around a baby’s neck.
The OPSS issued a product safety alert in December 2025 about baby sleep pillows, stating their concerns about products marketed for babies under 12 months old.
The main harms of sleep pillows are 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 – or showing a child who was obviously under 12 months old using the product.
Product listings – seen on AliExpress, Amazon, Etsy, OnBuy, TikTok Shop and Wish – mentioned using the pillows to improve sleep, or using them in a crib or cot.
A reviewer of a baby pillow on AliExpress said that it was “way too heavy for a newborn or child under one”, but the listing suggested that at least 1,200 had been sold.
Which? researchers found 59 baby sleeping bags for sale on online marketplaces including Alibaba, AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Etsy and Wish that they believed to be unsafe due to serious risk of suffocation.
The sleeping bags included hoods which could cover a baby’s head and face or lacked arm holes, or both, meaning a sleeping infant could slip down inside.
Which? found 38 sleeping bags on Etsy that raised concerns, including one knitted sleeping bag with a hood and no arm holes that was shown covering a baby’s mouth and nose.
Which? researchers found six baby sleeping bags on Amazon that they believed to be 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: “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.”
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: “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 spokesman said: “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 spokeswoman said: “We removed all the flagged policy-violating listings as soon as it was brought to our attention.”
OnBuy said: “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.”
