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Watch out for these potentially unsafe baby products in 2020
We tested a range of baby and child products over the past year, some of which did so poorly in our tests that we scored them 0% and made them Don't Buys.
In all cases, this was because our testing discovered issues with the sample we tested that we felt made it potential safety risk for your baby or child.
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Car seats
During testing of the Babystyle Oyster Carapace car seat in April 2019, we discovered a serious safety issue with the Isofix base used with our car seat sample.
Babystyle Duofix i-Size base
When the Babystyle Oyster Carapace car seat was fitted using the Babystyle Duofix i-Size base, the car seat detached from the base and flew forward into the front passenger area during the tougher W? car seat crash tests. These car seat tests go beyond the legal car seat regulations.
If this occurred in a real accident there's a risk a child could be seriously injured, as could anyone hit by the loose child car seat.
If the seat was installed using the car's adult seat belt it passed all our tests.
Following our testing, Babystyle issued a voluntary recall of the Oyster Duofix i-Size base for any models bought between December 2018 and April 2019. We cannot comment on the safety of the Duofix base if it was produced outside these dates.
Read the review of the Babystyle Oyster Carapace car seat with Duofix i-Size base.
Stair gates
When we tested stair and safety gates in May 2019, we found safety issues with eight of the 11 we looked at. Some of those gates have since been recalled by manufacturers (including models from Argos Cuggl and Mothercare), but if you see any of them we'd advise you to think twice before buying one.
All the below stair gates failed the fatigue test. This involves a mechanical arm being clamped to the top of the gate and it being pulled back and forth 10,000 times.
This is to mimic the actions of a toddler or child shaking and rattling the gate over time.
Any gate that moves more than 25mm from the starting point, including coming out of the testing set up, is a fail.
We made them 0% Don't Buys because there's a risk that a child could walk through the gate and put themselves in danger.
Babydan Premier True pressure
The gate failed after 6,600 cycles of the fatigue test.
Babydan Perfect Close
The gate failed after 2,134 cycles of the fatigue test.
Read our Babydan Perfect Close review and Babydan Premier True Pressure review for the full safety alerts and manufacturer responses.
Dreambaby Chelsea
The Dreambaby Chelsea gate failed after 1,456 cycles.
Dreambaby Liberty
The Dreambaby Liberty gate failed after 2,727 cycles.
Read our Dreambaby Chelsea review and Dreambaby Liberty review for the full safety alerts and manufacturer responses.
Lindam Sure Shut Orto
The Lindam Sure Shut Orto gate failed after 417 cycles.
Read our Lindam Sure Shut Orto review for the full safety alert and manufacturer response.
Cot mattresses
In May of 2019, our cot mattress testing uncovered a serious issue with the Baby Dunlopillo Safer Sleep Cot bed mattress.
NHS guidelines strongly recommend parents opt for a cot mattress that's both flat and firm to give adequate support to growing bones and ensure your baby sleeps safely.
Our tests of the sample indicated that the mattress posed a potential suffocation risk if a young baby turns onto his or her front and is not able to turn back the other way.
The cover also shrunk after washing it twice. This makes it difficult to put the cover back on the mattress and could lead to a gap between the mattress and the cot that can pose a serious injury risk for a limb if one got trapped.
Read the Baby Dunlopillo review for further details on the testing and the full safety alert.
Which baby and child product safety testing
Which? has a long history of testing baby and child products and uncovering problems that could be potentially dangerous.
We first started testing child car seats in 1967, and since then we've investigated everything from pushchairs and high chairs to toy slime and connected toys.
