A safe sleep environment is essential for babies, as parents know. With many newborns spending their first few weeks or months sleeping in a bassinet before moving on to a larger cot, you'll want one that offers the safest sleeping space available.

Unfortunately, CHOICE testing has found serious safety failures in a range of bassinets currently being advertised to new parents.

Our testers conduct thorough safety tests on all bassinets that pass through our accredited labs

Four out of the ten recently tested models were found to have safety risks such as a lack of breathable zones, or a poorly fitting or insufficiently firm mattress – both issues that could cause suffocation.

Our testers conduct thorough safety tests on all bassinets that pass through our accredited labs, assessing factors such as choking hazards, breathable zones, mattress firmness and depth of the bassinets, stability of construction and any entrapment hazards.

Bassinets with safety issues

Here are the newly tested bassinets with serious safety issues – click each to see the full reviews and risks.

• Kmart Anko Bassinet with Canopy
• Childcare Osmo Bassinet
• Fisher Price Soothing View Bassinet
• Stokke Sleepi Mini V3 and mattress

CHOICE contacted these manufacturers about our test results. Kmart, Stokke and Childcare responded – see their replies below.

Bassinets that passed

The bassinets from our most recent test that passed our key safety requirements are:

• 4Baby Dreamy Bassinet
• 4Baby Sleeptime Bedside Sleeper
• 4Moms MamaRoo Sleep Bassinet
• Boori Neat Rocking Cradle
• Childcare Nocto Bassinet
• Jengo Oakleigh Bassinet

Lack of safety standard puts babies at risk

"Unfortunately, there's currently no mandatory Australian safety standard for bassinets like there is for cots," explains CHOICE baby product expert Kim Gilmour. "This means that year after year we continue to see unsafe bassinets make it onto the shelves." 

"These major safety failures reinforce the need for a new product safety law, which CHOICE continues to campaign for. This new law would help to stop unsafe products from ever hitting the market in the first place."

Year after year we continue to see unsafe bassinets make it onto the shelves

Kim Gilmour, CHOICE expert

If you've bought any of these bassinets, our advice is to take it back to the retailer and ask for a refund. If the retailer doesn't give you a fair refund, you can escalate your complaint to your state or territory fair trading body. 

Safety failures we identified

In the past, CHOICE experts have uncovered a raft of risks with the bassinets we've tested, including head and limb entrapment, suffocation and choking hazards, insufficiently firm mattresses and more.

The mattress on this Fisher Price bassinet doesn’t fit the bassinet properly, which can cause a suffocation risk.

In our latest test, the most concerning findings were around ill-fitting mattresses and non-breathable areas on the side of bassinets that can create an unsafe sleeping environment. 

Although there isn't a safety standard for bassinets in Australia, there is a standard test for cot mattress firmness, which we conducted on the bassinets in our accredited laboratory. 

"Three of the bassinets we failed – from Childcare, Stokke and Fisher Price – had mattresses that were too soft, with coverings that puffed at the sides and ends, posing a suffocation risk if your baby rolls over or moves," says Kim.

The most concerning findings were around ill-fitting mattresses and non-breathable areas on the side of bassinets

"Other failures – for the Kmart Anko cot and a second failure for the Childcare cot – were due to the fact that these bassinets have areas of non-breathable material around the edges of the bassinet, which also present a suffocation risk if an infant happens to roll onto their side.

"When choosing a bassinet, look for things such as adequate breathable zones on all four sides of the bassinet, sturdy construction and a mattress that fits snugly around all sides with no gaps," says Kim.

Manufacturers respond

Kmart

In response to our findings, Kmart says that the bassinet, "is designed, constructed and tested to meet the European Standard, the EN 1130:2019 Children's furniture – Cribs – Safety requirements and test methods... We note your comments on non-breathable material. We have incorporated in our design to have as much breathable zone as possible without impacting the structural strength of the bassinet. We are keen to understand more about testing conducted by CHOICE, as it may assist in informing product assessments along with future product iterations." 

Stokke

In response to the CHOICE findings, Stokke says: "We are surprised to see this result from CHOICE. Both the Sleepi V3 bed and mini mattress were tested in [a] third-party lab for the mattress firmness testing to the Australia standard." Stokke had the mattress urgently retested by an accredited third-party lab, where the result passed. CHOICE stands by its results on the model tested.

Childcare

In response to our findings, the manufacturer provided us with a test report from an accredited lab saying its mattress passed the firmness test. It also said it did not think the criteria we test breathability to was applicable to the product. However, in the absence of an Australian standard, CHOICE stands by our test method and test result.

Fisher Price

We contacted Fisher Price for comment but have had no response.

Past tests have found a suffocation hazard warning on a bassinet that, ironically, was a hazard itself.

Past failures still on the market

These bassinets that failed CHOICE safety tests in previous years are still available to buy new:

• 4baby Serenity
• 4baby Sleep and Stay
• Baby Inc Sonno Bassinet N9859
• Bednest Bassinet
• Chicco next2me 10840
• Pottery Barn Kids Bassinet and Mattress set
• Troll Sun Bassinet
• Valco Rico

You can view discontinued models that have failed safety tests using our bassinets comparison table, in case you're looking to buy a bassinet second-hand or want to find out about a model you already own. 

Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.

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