Parents warned over baby sleeping bag safety issues – with only three passing safety tests

This is worrying.

Many parents these days are opting to put their baby down for the night is a sleeping bag – or gro bag, as some are calling them.

However, recent tests carried out by consumer watchdog Which? showed that most of these bags actually don’t pass vigorous safety tests.

In fact, the only three baby sleeping bags that made the cut were from Asda, John Lewis and Mamas & Papas, with bags from reputable brands and online retailers such as Aldi, Grobag and Jojo Maman Bébé all failed the safety tests performed by Which?

As to what was found to be wrong with the bags, safety problems uncovered included neck openings that were too wide and could lead to a baby slipping down the bag and suffocating, as well as inaccurate tog ratings that could lead to a baby seriously overheating.

As well as this, many bags didn’t provide basic safety information in the instructions either. For instance, reminding parents not to use a sleeping bag if your baby can climb out of their cot as well as not using it in conjunction with other bedding.

A concerning seven of the failures exposed were serious enough to cause baby harm or be life-threatening, while five of the bags that failed safety tests had the failures caused by the product not meeting the requirements of the BS EN 16781:2018, which is the safety standard for baby sleeping bags.

Recommended baby sleeping bags

These were the three bags which passed all of Which?’s safety tests:

• George at Asda Pale Blue Dinosaur Print 2.5 Tog Sleeping Bag, £12
• John Lewis & Partners Savanna Zebra Stripe Sleep Bag 1 Tog, £26
• Mamas & Papas Welcome To The World Dreampod 0-6 months 1 Tog, £29

Potentially unsafe baby sleeping bags

These were the 12 bags that failed Which?’s safety tests for various reasons:

• • JoJo Maman Bebe Nautical Lightweight Baby Sleeping Bag, £32
  • Baby newborn sleeveless baby sleeping bag, sold by Bloom Baby, £18 – bought through AliExpress
  • Baby sleeping bag/Cocoon stroller, sold by Housebay 01 store, £34 – bought through AliExpress
  • Cotton nursery bedding, sold by Coolcatsetsuna, £7 – bought through eBay
  • Sweet Dreams Little Star Wearable Infant Blanket, sold by TwinkleTwinkleTees £19.99 – bought through Etsy
  • Baby child sleeping bag, sold by Good Things, £19 – bought through Wish
  • Pre-washed cotton baby sleeping bag, sold by San Daohui , £7 – bought through Wish
  • Aldi Cloud Baby Sleep Bag 2.5 Tog, £10
  • Snooze bag 2.5 Tog, sold by Babycurls, £18 – bought through eBay
  • Lictin Baby Sleeping Bag, sold by Lictin £18 – bought through Amazon Marketplace
  • Silvercloud Counting Sheep Sleeping Bag, sold by East Coast Nursery, £13 – bought through Amazon Marketplace
  • The Original Grobag 1.0 Tog, £36

  Speaking after the results were revealed, head of home products and services at Which?, Natalie Hitchins, said:

  “All bags were tested in compliance with the current 2018 baby sleeping bags standard. Some products tested were manufactured to an earlier standard, but to test all of the products in a comparable and fair way, Which? used the most recent standard as our safety measure.”

  She explains:

  “Parents will find it completely unacceptable that our investigation has found such a high number of dangerous products that could pose a potentially life-threatening risk to their baby as it sleeps. The government must now step in to make online marketplaces legally responsible for the safety of the products sold on their sites. We also expect retailers to remove any unsafe products from sale.’

  Following the investigation, Amazon, AliExpress and eBay have now removed all of the baby sleeping bags that failed the tests from their sites. It remains to be seen whether the others will be removed.

  How Which? runs its safety tests

  According to Which?, the safety tests include the following steps and checks:

  • By checking the neck opening is the right size for the age of the child
  • Making sure the fasteners (studs and zips) are all strong enough to stop a baby from escaping
  • Looking for any loose threads and labels that could trap a baby’s fingers or toes
  • Checking to see if there are strangulation hazards – such as a draw cord – built in to the sleeping bag
  • Making sure loose labels aren’t too long and loop labels are in the upper inside back part of the sleeping bag
  • Carrying out a small parts check, where we subject buttons to a force of 70 Newtons to make sure they don’t detach and create a choking hazard
  • Making sure the bags don’t get too hot, which could cause a baby to dangerously overheat