Beware, your bargain baby products from TikTok & Amazon may be putting your baby at risk, and here's why...

Who doesn’t love a good TikTok or Amazon bargain, but are you really prepared to put your child’s life at risk for it?

With the rise of online shopping, the reality is a lot of us are oblivious to the dangers of buying from unknown brands or from TikTok/ Amazon/ Instagram sellers selling baby and children’s products. They all claim their products are safe and has this certification or has passed that safety test, but who’s really checking, and are you as a parent/ buyer challenging those claims? If not, you should be and here’s why.

Being a parent turned business owner who designs and manufacturers their own baby & kids products, I can tell you first hand no one is checking these sellers or the companies on the claims they make. Shockingly many of these sellers/ companies just accept or go by whatever their Chinese supplier (if importing from China for instance) tells them and never verify those safety claims or reports.

If there is one thing that I’ve learnt from owning a motorbike to running a startup is that some things may be classed as 'road legal' or 'safe’, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is a good product. This is because unknown to the general consumer there are different levels of product safety testings, and the requirements can vary from country to country, as does how much or how little a company needs to comply with just to get a ‘pass’ certificate for the product/s in question.

For example, as a motorbike owner I am often asked by friends & families, especially those who are new to riding how much they should spend on their bike gear i.e. the helmet, jacket, glove, shoe, trouser etc. Usually, they are looking for something cheap and cheerful that just ‘does the job’.

For instance, here in the UK you can buy a cheap road legal helmet for £35 or you can buy one for £200 like mine in the photo below. Both will come with a ‘passed’ safety/ quality check label on the helmet, but what differentiates the £35 helmet from the £200 besides the brand name would be the quality, the material used, and the level and sophistication of safety testing carried out.

The £35 helmet may pass a very basic safety test requirement to deem it ‘road safe’ scoring a point of 14/100 where 10 is the bare minimum to pass, but it wouldn't pass a more advanced test that the £200 helmet may have undertaken due to the construction of it, the materials used and the level of safety test scoring it obtained i.e. 63/100 points.

So just because a product looks the same and serves the same function it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s quality, longevity or safety test record is the same.

In a similar way the same can be said about a lot of the baby & children’s products you see in the market today especially those sold on Amazon, Tiktok, and/or Temu. Also, a product may be classed as safe in one country but may be deemed as unsafe in another.

Such is the case with the silicone baby articles we manufacture for instance. In the US & Canada such product requires a simple FDA test pass, whereas in the UK it’s a bit stricter and requires additional testings over and above the FDA testing for other elements not covered in the FDA test.

This is just one example of many, and what some companies will do here in the UK and elsewhere is just limit the product testing to an FDA test in the case of silicone baby products just to make the claim that their product is ‘safe’;

1. because that is the cheapest test they can do (that is if they legitimately do the test and not just make a false claim to it), and

2. because they can get away making the claim without providing any evidence as it is unlikely they are being checked by any government body or officials validating their claims unless they happen to be under investigation.

So the general public is just blindly trusting these brand or the companies selling these products whether through their own websites or on Amazon, TikTok, and Temu etc

At ONCE UPON A DUA when it comes to product safety and testing, we don’t compromise, rather we go the extra mile.

Take for instance our silicone baby bibs, they are 100% food grade silicone and free from BPA (Bisphenol A) as well as being free from BPS, PVC, Lead and Phthalates. We are actually one of the few companies in the world that test all our silicone baby products for BPS, Lead and Phthalates whereas most stop at BPA and FDA.

The research on BPS may still be new and developing, but as early reports have indicated that BPS can be just as harmful as BPA, we at ONCE UPON A DUA have ensured all our silicone products get tested and is 100% free from BPS even though there is no current requirement to do so, and this is an additional and expensive cost for us to take on. At ONCE UPON A DUA we don’t compromise when it comes to the safety or quality of our products, and no parent should have to either.

As parents it is imperative you don’t just blindly trust any brand or pick up any baby & kids product you see on Amazon, TikTok or any other 3rd party Marketplace without making sure you are buying from a credible brand or company.

ONCE UPON A DUA is about creating a legacy and a brand name that can be trusted and relied upon. We have invested heavily in our products and processes as we are in it for the long run, and we are here to stay. Our brand stands for gift-worthy, high-end quality, and beautiful aesthetics that are safe for a child and can be appreciated by all family members. As parents and business owners we see it as our duty to maintain trust by being credible – we don't just say it; we do it.

So committed are we to our safety and quality cause that at ONCE UPON A DUA we choose to work in partnership with the UK Government Office of Trading Standards to prove our commitment to regulatory compliance and trading fairly.

Not many brands or companies chose to go down this route because of the additional costs involved, but we do because we care about our brand reputation and this is our way of building trust, credibility and transparency, not just in our brand, but in everything we say and do.

We don’t stop there either. To give our parents even further peace of mind, we also go above and beyond by subjecting our products to independent product testing in addition to our manufacturers own testing to make sure our products are truly safe. We never just take our manufacturers word for it or rely solely on their product safety test certification reports.

We have partnered with 3 of the top leading, internationally accredited testing and certification companies in the world to carry out our independent product testings and certifications.

Should we find one of our manufacturer is using the same testing & certification company, to keep our testing’s truly independent, we use another from the top 3 we work with to make sure all product tests are truly independent and that the findings from the manufacturers safety test reports match with our independent ones.

In doing so we are proud to manufacture our products with the utmost safety and quality, thus giving our parents, customers and their families peace of mind.

At ONCE UPON A DUA we are proud of the fact that we don't compromise, and neither should any parent have to.