Australia’s national consumer protection regulator has enacted a permanent, nationwide ban on all unsupervised baby bottle self-feeding devices, following ongoing safety warnings that the products pose life-threatening hazards to infants.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the country’s leading consumer watchdog, announced the full ban this week, noting that the devices — which are designed to let babies feed from a bottle without constant adult holding and supervision — put young children at severe risk of choking, aspiration of liquid into the lungs, and suffocation, all of which can lead to permanent injury or death.
Under the new regulatory order, it is now illegal to manufacture, hold for sale, or supply any of these devices anywhere across Australia. Businesses that fail to comply with the ban, including manufacturers, advertisers, and retail sellers, face substantial financial and legal penalties for violating the new rule.
ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe explained that infants lack the physical capability to control the flow of milk from a fixed-position bottle, or remove the bottle from their mouth independently if they experience distress. This developmental limitation means the products present an unacceptable level of risk that cannot be mitigated, she said.
“This permanent ban makes clear that products which undermine safe infant feeding practices will not be tolerated in the Australian market,” Lowe stated in an official announcement. “Suppliers should be aware that it is now illegal to supply these products in Australia, and penalties may apply for businesses that do not comply.”
The regulator has also issued a public warning to Australian caregivers, urging anyone currently using these devices to stop immediately. The ACCC emphasized that active adult supervision is a non-negotiable requirement for safe infant bottle feeding, and no automated product can replace this critical oversight.
The ban covers the full range of products designed for unsupervised self-feeding, including devices that clamp or position a bottle directly in an infant’s mouth, wearable devices that hold a bottle for feeding, and flexible straw-connected bottle systems that allow hands-free feeding. Notably, the ban does not extend to breastfeeding support systems, sippy cups, trainer cups, or straw training cups for older children, which are not classified as unsupervised bottle self-feeding devices.
Consumer safety advocates have welcomed the ban, noting that multiple informal safety warnings about these products had circulated in parenting communities for years before the formal national regulatory action was taken.