Maine Mom Sounds Alarm About Dangers of Water Bead Toys

A mom from Maine warns about the dangers of small kids ingesting water beads after her infant daughter swallowed one and is now fighting for her life. She calls on the bead manufacturer to add additional warnings to its product to prevent this from happening to other children.

Folichia Mitchell told WMTW in an interview that her daughter needed three emergency surgeries after a bead blocked her small intestines and caused both an infection and sepsis. This happened due to the bead growing in her body.

Mitchell said the vessels in her child's body also swelled because of the infection. She added that all the fluid her daughter has been given is leaking into her body which caused pressure to build up. She explained that her daughter's lungs were struggling, as well as her heart and kidneys.

Bead grew inside the body of Mitchell's daughter

Mitchell said her kid had to undergo a third emergency surgery to remove part of the bowel from her body to release pressure. Doctors hope that procedure will help the young girl's heart, kidneys, and lungs.

The problem started when Mitchell's daughter swallowed a bead from the Ultimate Water Beads brand. The bead was made by Chuckle and Roar, a manufacturer whose products are exclusively sold at Target.

She said that she bought the beads as a sensory tool for her eight-year-old son, who is on the Autism spectrum. The said beads vary in size and grow when placed in water. The jumbo beads grow up to half an inch, which is precisely what it did inside the body of Mitchell's daughter.

Doctors told Mitchell that it was just an hour-by-hour, day-by-day situation, and they didn't know what the next hour would bring or if some of the infant's levels would crash or if an organ would start being affected because of the infection in her body.

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Mitchell warns parents not to buy water beads

Both the instructions for the beads and the box contain warnings about a potential choking hazard, but neither one of them warn of the possible consequences if an infant accidentally ingests them. Mitchell reached out to the media outlet to warn about the product so other moms won't have to experience the pain she is feeling now.

Mitchell said parents need to have the chance to make informed choices before buying products. She added that if she had seen the words "toxic if ingested," "seek medical attention," and "can cause blockage," she never would have bought the beads and brought them into her house.

Mitchell said they are not appropriately marked for safety, and she recommends that other parents throw them away and not purchase them for their homes. She added that they are in schools and daycares too, which is super dangerous because parents are not even there to supervise that, ABC 7 Chicago reported.

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