A MACHINE which claims to take the hassle out of making babies’ formula milk is being investigated amid claims it has made infants sick.
Parents have flooded the Tommee Tippee Facebook page with photos of their £120 machines which allegedly show components black with mould.
Many have raised concerns that the product may be causing their children to get ill with coughs, sickness and breathing problems.
The hi-tech device is popular amongst parents who use formula milk and can make a bottle, heated to the correct temperature, in under two minutes.
One of the parents to share a photo of their machine with dirty tubes was Lindsay Platt-McHenry, who wrote: “After seeing a few posts today about Tommee tippee perfect prep machines having mould in them I thought I would take a look at mine.
“I’m so upset and shocked at what I found! It’s disgusting and my poor baby has been poorly from only a few weeks old.
“He is now 10 months old and has been in and out of hospital many times with sickness, diarrhoea and an upset tummy. I will never ever use this again and will be going back to the old method of boiling a kettle.”
Julie Hughes was another disgusted parent who posted a picture of her cloudy looking device and wrote: “After all the raised concern recently about the perfect prep machine, I decided to dismantle mine after my 8 month baby has been so poorly for weeks with a terrible sore cough.
“I am disgusted in what I just discovered. I have changed the filter etc and cleaned as advised.
“I trusted your company and machine. I trusted your machine to deliver what was promised especially considering the price you charge.
“My baby boy has been up every night for weeks now with respiratory problems and we have visited the doctors several times over the last month.”
Another of the many angered parents was Natalie Carter who added: “I’ve recently seen people’s pictures about the prep machine so i thought i’d check mine and found this.
“I clean it, descale it and replace the filter when needed to. The Tommee Tippee ones not the cheap ones. I wondered why my son alway has a cough, cold and wheezy and now i know why. I paid a lot of money for this machine and not had it long.”
One of the mothers affected by the Tommee Tippee perfect prep device is Lindsay Platt-McHenry, whose 10-month-old son has struggled with illness since he was born.
After discovering the issue with her perfect prep device, Lindsay worries that her son’s breathing problems and sickness may be caused by the product.
The 34-year-old from Stockport, Cheshire, said: “I got the machine when he was born and he’s never been right.
“He’s been admitted to hospital twice and been really wheezy and had sickness and diarrhea.
“When I saw other parents talking about it, I checked mine and just burst into tears. It explained to me that this might be what’s causing the problem with his tummy.
“I totally disgusted with it all. I had to get a screwdriver to open mine up and check it which you obviously would never expect to have to do.
“It cost me over £100 when I bought it but i’ve had no reply from the company since I posted to them.
“Jack doesn’t sleep right with his tummy and it’s horrible when you see him pull his knees up to his chest in pain.”
A spokesman for Tommee Tippee said: “We were very concerned by these findings and started an immediate investigation.
“To help us, we’d like any parents who have found similar build-up in their Perfect Preps to contact us as soon as possible, so we can arrange to have their machine and filter returned to us via Freepost for examination by an independent laboratory.
“Until they’ve been examined, it’s impossible to determine the exact cause. However, our preliminary investigation has found two things.
“Firstly, the build-up we’ve seen so far we suspect is carbon residue and not mould. Carbon is a harmless, inert bi-product of the filtration process.
“Secondly, some parents have told us they’ve used ordinary water jug filters instead of the Tommee Tippee filters. Standard filters do not contain the ultra-filtration membrane needed to remove bacteria, plus are more likely to release carbon into the system.
“Although we can’t be certain until we’ve received back and examined more machines, it is possible these factors are linked to what people are seeing. However, the investigation will continue until we’ve found answers.
“Anyone with any questions or concerns about Perfect Prep can contact us via our Careline on 0500 97 98 99 or our Facebook page.”
