5 viral trends to be wary of

1. Nursery canopies and fairy lights

What’s the trend?

Popular on Instagram, this craze involves placing a mosquito net-like canopy over your baby’s cot/crib, often accompanied by aesthetic elements like fairy lights. This trend has become popular thanks to social media influencers.

Just don’t do it

Cot canopies and fairy lights are a strangulation risk for babies if they fall. A canopy could fall due to insecure fixing or a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, and older babies could be able to reach up and pull it down. As a general rule, you shouldn’t have any excess cloth or decorations on or around the cot.

Instead of an Insta-worthy nursery, opt for a safer one.

Canopies and fairy lights aren’t the only nursery trend you should avoid, though. Here are a few more:

• wall decorations near the cot – risk they can fall on the baby;
• unsecured furniture – crush risk;
• garlands and bunting – strangulation risk;
• pillows and throws – suffocation risk;
• sheepskin – suffocation risk;
• cot bumpers – suffocation risk;
• soft toys in the cot – suffocation risk.

2. Laundry scent boosters

What’s the trend?

This laundry trend involves a new product that’s just appearing on shelves in Aotearoa, adding dissolvable scented beads to your washing machine. This is in addition to detergent and other products, such as fabric softener.

Why it isn’t a good idea

To put it simply, they aren’t necessary so are a waste of money. A container of scent booster costs $15 and only lasts for about seven washes, so it costs between $2.16 and $4.89 per wash, depending on how much you add to the machine. Scent booster beads are also bad for the environment, adding more chemicals to our waterways. And they can cause residue build-up (called scrud) in your machine, which can lead to marks on your laundry.

TIP: If you want nicer-smelling laundry, try soaking your clothes in a bit of laundry detergent before washing. Also, line drying is always a great way to get that ‘fresh’ scent.

3. Trendy storage solutions

What’s the trend?

This social media trend sees people unpacking household items, from food to cleaning supplies, and transferring them to more aesthetic storage, such as glass jars and clear plastic containers.

What you should keep in mind

This sounds like an innocent enough trend, so what could go wrong? A popular part of this trend is transferring your laundry detergents into glass drink dispensers (commonly used for punch), for easier dispensing and a nicer look. This is dangerous as it can make these products much more easily accessible to children. Never repackage cleaning supplies or chemicals! Not to mention you’ll be losing some product during while transferring.

Keeping cleaning products in their original packaging also means life-saving information on the label is easily found in case the product is ingested. This information can include identifying the product’s caustic ingredients, and how to contact the National Poisons Centre.

Another popular aspect of this trend is putting food in clear containers. While this isn’t inherently dangerous, keep in mind that you’ll probably want to hold on to the original packaging for best before/expiry dates and in case of recalls.

4. Laundry stripping

What’s the trend?

Laundry stripping is the popular process of submerging clothes or bedding in a large tub (often the bathtub) and soaking them in harsh cleaners such as borax, bleach and hot water. Laundry stripping can help remove stubborn stains and make old laundry look new.

Why it isn’t a good idea

It isn’t safe for many types of fabric and can end up damaging the bathtub. The ingredients in the cleaners commonly used might strip stains but they can also do irreparable damage to the fibres in the clothing. And stripping colourful items may leave dyes staining the tub you’re stripping in. If your clothing instructions say to wash in cold water, don’t laundry strip it.

Regular washing is your best option for keeping clothes clean. But if you do need to do a deep clean of laundry, try soaking in your washing machine with your normal detergent. If you must use more caustic detergents, make sure to spot-test fabrics and use a bucket or tub, not your bathtub.

5. Water beads

What’s the trend?

Water beads (a common brand is Orbeez) are a popular toy or home decoration item. They are small beads that when submerged in water can expand to hundreds of times their size (brand specific). They are often gifted as a toy to kids for sensory play or added to vases for a new look.

Why you shouldn’t buy them

Water beads are a risky thing to have in your home. At a glance they seem innocent, but the danger comes from the fact that you can’t control when they expand and how much.

If a child gets a hold of dry water beads and ingests them or gets them in their ears or nose, they can do serious damage as they expand and are hard to extract. They could even turn deadly. In New Zealand they are often sold pre-expanded (hydrated), but there is still a risk as once they dry out, they become dangerous again.

And the risk isn’t only to health. In a video that went viral, a person in France blocked their entire neighbourhood’s wastewater system after filling their bathtub full of water beads for a video and then disposing of them by flushing them down the toilet. Do not flush water beads!