2 kids needed major surgery after swallowing ‘water bead’ toys, Fort Worth hospital says
Doctors at a Fort Worth hospital warned parents to monitor children as they play with “water beads” or don’t allow them to be around the toys.
Recently, two children had to have major surgery at Cook Children’s Medical Center to remove the beads from their intestines after they swallowed them.
Hospital officials did not release any other details such as the ages of the children or when the surgery occurred.
“When they’re first swallowed, they aren’t dangerous,” said Dr. Carey Cribbs, an emergency physician at Cook Children’s, in a news release. “But as they sit in the intestine, they grow and can cause a blockage.”
The water beads have caused problems for years.
In 2012 and 2013, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission iissued a voluntary recall of several types of water-absorbing balls, beads and toys shaped like fruit and animals because they had caused injuries to children.
In February 2016, the CPSC was notified that a 5-year-old and 7-year-old placed beads in their ears, according to healthychildren.org. Their doctors could not see the clear beads and believed the kids had ear infections, giving them antibiotics and eardrops to help them. Finally, the doctors discovered the problem as the beads had expanded, and the kids had to have them surgically removed. Both children suffered ear drum damage, and one has permanent hearing loss.
Hospital officials noted that the beads are popular in floral arrangements and spas, but they also are sold in packages as a sensory toy for children ages 4 and older. Cost of the packages of water beads range from $6 to $20.
Dr. Cribbs explained that the beads start out small and squishy, but when you put them in water, they expand up to 100 times their size.
“They’re very colorful and attractive, and the texture is something you might want to put in your mouth,” the doctor said. “It reminds me a lot of Boba.”
The emergency physician said the beads are not toxic or poisonous, and some beads could pass through a child’s system.
But she explained that the smaller the child, the larger the bead, and the more likely the bead is going to get stuck in the child.
“With all small toys, there’s a choking risk and parents need to be vigilant,” she said. “Unfortunately, probably half of all ingestions of foreign objects are not witnessed by anyone, and you don’t know that it’s happened until your child is choking, gagging, vomiting, or having other symptoms.”
