Rogue designers chasing a "quick buck" are creating and selling face masks with in-built dummies for young children, sparking choking and suffocation concerns.
The "hazardous" masks are being sold online on Facebook marketplace amid the state's wild spread of coronavirus and Melbourne's dreaded plunge into strict stage four lockdown.
Melbourne mother-of-three and Mamma and the Doc co-author Maria Ligerakis also discovered the homemade masks with an attached dummy and masks made from socks with "loose strings and elastic", news.com.au reported.
She conducted further research and found 60 per cent of 37 parents surveyed had used face masks on their children between the age of two and 12 despite the chief health officer saying they weren't recommended for young children.
"Parents are doing everything they can to prioritise and protect the health and wellbeing of their children against a backdrop of so much uncertainty, angst and concern in the world at the moment," Ligerakis said.