Mothers love a bargain and second hand baby goods are no exception. There are a number of online international, national and local second hand sites one can visit to find just the right things for your new baby. In addition you can find in most parts of local second hand baby markets that one can grab a great bargain, offering the opportunity for acquiring many things you will need for baby extremely cheaply. Of course, there is also those lucky expectant parents who have already received free baby hand-me-downs from their friends or family members. What many people don’t realise when buying or receiving baby goods second hand, is that there is many pitfalls associated with this trend and often it’s not until it is too late that they realise these. Hence a lot of thought must go into your potential second hand buy to ensure it is safe and will only have positive outcomes when using them with your baby. What can go wrong? The spread of infectious disease Second-hand or hand-me-down products can easily spread disease. Whether it’s a toy, pram, cot mattress or car seat, an infection can be lying dormant ready to strike. Some of the more common diseases that can potentially be spread through second hand and hand-me down products are cold sores, hand foot and mouth disease, warts, molluscum contagiosum, golden staph and viruses such as those causing colds, whooping cough, chicken pox and measles just for examples. Some of these have a higher risk than others of transfer, however the risk is still there. Serious injury Damaged Hand-me-downs or second hand goods may pose danger to yourself or your child if they have been damaged in a way that prevents them from working properly. A good example would be a car seat that has been in a car accident. Stress fractures to its internal structure may have occurred which make the seat unsafe but present like new. If you were to have an accident using this seat your child would be at high risk of injury or death. Haphazard Repairs The same can be said for second hand and hand me down products having already undergone haphazard repairs. Here an example may be a cot. If it has had a drop side fixed incorrectly, the cot will look and function as new but may pose a risk to your child if the poorly repaired side drops unexpectedly landing on your baby or putting them at risk of falling out of the cot if it occurs whilst you and your baby are sleeping. No Instructions Importantly, if your new second hand product does not come with instructions, you may well construct/install or use it in a way that causes potential danger or injury to your child. Yet again the car seat examples come to mind. Often there can be vital safety recommendations for products in these instruction manuals and hence they are important to be read before product use. Lack of Parts Another example of potential serious injury to your baby is where the second hand or hand-me-down goods lack parts that are vital for safe use. Using car seats as an example again, what if a naïve new parent buys a car seat that is missing it’s tether strap. The parent wouldn’t know and hence the seat would be installed without a vital safety component putting the baby at high risk of injury or death in an accident. Banned or Failed Standards Potentially another injury hazard is if a second hand or hand-me-down product is old and fails to meet current product safety mandatory standards or subsequent new styles have been banned. Talking about standards and safety requirements, what if your second hand purchase has a safety recall on it or it has been banned from sale and this is the reason it is being sold second hand? Safety requirements and standards are created for a reason and this is to keep your child safe. Self Repair Danger Many consumers may think a broken second-hand product is a bargain because it can be repaired or modified so that it will work. This is all well and good, however it is always wise to assign the original manufacturer or a specialist in the field to repair or modify a product. Repaired and modified second-hand products can also cause serious injury or death. Abundant Information Relevant new articles relating to second hand products and their risks are abundant. As examples, this ABC news article discusses how second hand car restraints put kids in danger. Choice has a great article on what not to buy second hand. The Courier Mail has an article relating to the fatal consequences for one young baby of using a second hand car seat. Of course people selling or giving away second-hand products may have only used the product for a very short time. If so, the products may be ‘as new’ and in quite a good condition. But at the end of the day – how do you really know? No warranty An important point to make about buying second hand or receiving hand me down baby items is that they are likely not to have any warranty. That means that if your new product were to break or malfunction once in your possession, you would have no recourse with the manufacturer even if your product was brand new. How to avoid serious consequences Product Safety Australia has compiled a comprehensive and easy to understand safety and buying tips for most of the products you will be looking for and you can look at the safety standards for each type of product. Here is a summary of their pointers for your major baby purchases! Baby Cots Australian mums are known for buying second hand cots. For safety reasons, look for a cot that meets the Australian safety standard AS2172. This often rules out anything made before 1998. Prams Make sure your pram complies with the construction, performance and marking requirements of the … Continue reading Buying Second Hand for a Baby