Choice issues warning about portable baby cots in Australia

An urgent warning has been issued to parents about a popular baby essential after a broad range of products on the market were deemed unsafe amid fears they could cause potential death.

Consumer advocacy group Choice tested dozens of portable baby cots and found that almost 70 per cent didn’t meet Australian safety standards.

Of the 26 portable cots reviewed, 18 of them failed mainly due to soft or poorly fitting mattresses, which increases the risk of sudden infant death.

Cots were also tested for sturdiness, entrapment hazards, strangulation hazards and strength.

The list of unsafe costs are priced from as little as $49 up to $500 and are sold at leading retailers, including Target, Kmart and Baby Bunting.

Kmart and Target since hit back at the Choice claims, insisting their portacots were tested by an independent accredited laboratory and fully comply with standards.

The $399 Aeromoov Instant Travel Cot (pictured)  was among 18 portable baby cots that failed the Choice safety test

‘Our latest batch of reviews shows that almost 70 per cent of these products fail key safety requirements, which is a really disappointing result,’ Choice testing expert Kim Gilmour said.

Unfortunately, this is something we are used to seeing with this particular baby product.’

‘We assess all models in our labs against the most current Australian safety standard for portable cots. But there are still many models failing to even meet the minimum mandatory requirements, such as mattress firmness.’

Choice warned many safety issues in the tested cots could result in tragic circumstances.

‘Most of the safety failures we see relate to the portacot mattress either being not firm enough or not fitting snugly inside the portacot base,’ Ms Gilmour added.

Soft or poorly fitting mattresses can increase the risk of sudden unexpected infant death. We also see problematic cot designs that have ‘puffy’ covers that can also cause a risk.’ 

‘Consumers have to wait until tragedy strikes for governments to take action and for businesses to take responsibility.’

 Baby Bunting insists its portable cots were tested by an accredited lab. Pictured the Baby Bunting 4baby Liteway Travel Cot which failed the Choice test

Choice recommends parents only use portable cots which have passed key safety tests and have a expert rating of 70 per cent or more 

It has urged the federal government to improve product safety laws and welcomed Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s recent proposal to strengthen mandatory standards for portacot requirements.

Baby Bunting, Kmart and Target all said their cots had been tested by an accredited lab and were confident they complied.

‘We disagree with Choice’s claims concerning mattress firmness on the Kmart and Target Portacot’s particularly as both brands have tested this product to these same standards in an independent accredited laboratory and the results showed full compliance,’ a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

‘We disputed Choice’s findings over a month ago and questioned testing methods because Choice do not use an accredited laboratory to test portacots.

‘Our Kmart and Target Portacot’s have been tested by an independent accredited laboratory and fully complied to the same mandatory and voluntary standards that Choice is referencing.’

Star Kidz also insisted its cots passed all safety standards at an accredited lab.

Kmart Anko Travel Portacot priced at $49 (pictured) also failed the Choice safety test