05.Blinged-up babies
Shonky for Blinded by bling goes to ...
Blinged-up babies via the Internet
For the baby with everything, there’s a bling dummy encrusted with “genuine Swarovski crystals”.
They’re mostly standard dummies and chains from major brands which have been decorated after-market by small businesses. No doubt many well-meaning friends and relatives bought them for little Taylah or Kaydee, not realising they were veritable minefield of questionable safety - and good taste, but that’s another story.
Concerned that the small decorative crystals might detach and become a choking hazard, the ACCC had some tested against the certain clauses of the dummy standard to see if the decorative crystals could come off under reasonable force (compression, bite and impact tests). They did.
These crystals not only constitute a choking hazard but would also be a hazard if eaten.
The ACCC duly banned them, though they’re still available online.
Most of these suppliers have a warning on their sites that the dummies are only novelty and not for actual use as a pacifier. Some companies don't even acknowledge they're dummies - packages we received from overseas described them as 'hair bows' and 'jewellery' on the customs label. Yeah, baby, they’re shonkadelic!