Fears for baby health over ‘mould’ spotted in hi-tech milk maker
a BaBYCare gadget which prepares milk for newborns is under investigation after claims a design flaw is making infants sick with ‘mould’.
The Perfect Prep machine promises to take the hassle out of feeding infants formula milk by mixing and heating a preparation in only two minutes.
But after one parent prised open the back of their £120 machine and found the internal pipes lined with what appears to be a dark mould, others have come forward with the same complaint.
Now parents have flooded the machine’s maker Tommee Tippee with concerns that the flaw could be to blame for coughs, sicknesses and breathing problems among their children.
Daniella McNeil, 23, decided to check her own device on Monday after seeing other parents post about their findings online. after dismantling the machine, the mother of three from Glenrothes, Fife, was stunned to find the tubes inside lined with a black substance, despite regular cleans and filter changes advised by Tommee Tippee.
She said: ‘Casey was a healthy baby until she was around seven weeks old. She started getting upset stomachs that resulted in trips to hospitals and doctors on numerous occasions because she was in so much pain and was screaming for hours.
‘We put it down to colic and had her on everything you can imagine – powders, Gaviscon, gripe water, Infacol – changed her bottles and even tried reflexology with her and baby massages to try to help. Since seeing the mould in the tubes, I think that this has played a massive part in why she is so poorly a lot.
‘I felt like crying to know that I had been feeding her from mouldy tubes when I put my trust in such a well-known top name brand. I hope they get to the bottom of this and stop making these machines or fix the problem.’
Gillian Clelland of Uddingston, Lanarkshire, also fears the machine may have caused harm to her son hayden. She said: ‘I saw a post on Facebook about mouldy tubes in the back of Perfect Prep machines so I thought on the off-chance I’d double-check hayden’s to see if his was oK. It turns out it isn’t and is full of mould. hayden’s been having bottles from this machine multiple times a day since he’s been born.
‘The worrying thing is I don’t know how long the mould has been there and if it has affected hayden in any way.’
Lindsay Platt-Mchenry, whose ten-month-old son has struggled with illness since he was born, also fears the machine could be to blame. The 34-year-old, from Stockport, Cheshire, said: ‘he’s been admitted to hospital twice and been really wheezy and had sickness and diarrhoea.
‘When I saw other parents talking about it, I checked mine and just burst into tears. It explained to me this might be what’s causing the problem with his tummy.’
a Tommee Tippee spokesman promised an investigation but said there were indications the substance may be ‘harmless’ carbon and complaining parents may not have used the correct filters.
he added: ‘We’d like any parents who’ve found similar build-up in their Perfect Preps to contact us.’
‘We had put it down to colic’