Experts are warning parents against unlicensed childcare centres after children were found tied to furniture in an unregulated daycare in Melbourne, and a 15-week-old died in another off-the-books operation.

Details of the disturbing cases, obtained by The Age through freedom of information and searches of court records, have prompted the warnings as the childcare industry struggles to restore trust after the paedophilia allegations that rocked the sector this year.

Unregulated services, operating out of residential homes and offering care at a fraction of the price of legitimate childcare centres, were “not unusual”, according to one expert, and were a temptation for families struggling with the soaring cost of living, or concerned about centre-based care.

But a case in the Sunshin

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