Mother reveals 10 month old was hospitalised with life-threatening injuries after swallowing water bead

A mother has issued an urgent warning to other parents after her 10-month-old daughter was hospitalised with life-threatening intestinal damage after swallowing a water bead.

Folichia Mitchell, a mother of four from Maine, says she purchased the Chuckle & Roar Ultimate Water Beads Kit from Target in October for her oldest son Joshua, who is on the autism spectrum. She told Good Morning America that she’d purchased the water beads because they were advertised as being “good for sensory.”

Mitchell said Joshua liked the water beads and recalled how she’d allowed her son to play with them at the kitchen table. She’d hoped it would be out of reach from her younger children.

Despite the precaution, Mitchell learned a few days after purchasing the water beads that her 10-month-old daughter Kennedy had accidentally ingested one of the beads.

Mitchell said she realised that something was wrong with her daughter when Kennedy began vomiting and became lethargic. She brought Kennedy to the hospital on 1 November, where the 10 month old has remained since an ultrasound showed that her bowel was blocked by one of the water beads.

“It was a shock. I couldn’t imagine how Kennedy, who was barely crawling, had managed to swallow one of the beads. You put them in water so they inflate. I’d put them in a designated storage bin so Joshua could play with them on the kitchen table,” Mitchell recalled in an essay published by Insider. “I was confused because Kennedy never sat at the table or played in the kitchen. But the doctors said the blockage was more than likely a water bead because they could see it was filled with fluid.”

Water beads, which are often made of synthetic superabsorbent polymers, can expand 100 times their original size when exposed to water, according to the National Poison Control Center.

The agency notes that water beads were “initially used as agricultural products intended to maintain soil moisture,” but have become commonly used as fluid absorbers in baby diapers, incontinence garments, and menstrual pads.

“They are also marketed as children’s toys or therapies for children with sensory processing or autism spectrum disorders,” the agency states, while adding that the water beads marketed as toys are often brightly coloured and resemble candy, which makes them “appealing to young children, who may swallow them or put them in their ear, nose, or other body openings”.

While the materials used to make the water beads are typically non-toxic, the poison control agency warns that swallowing the beads can be dangerous because it can lead to life-threatening intestinal damage.

Over the past month, 10-month-old Kennedy has had to undergo five operations, with Mitchell revealing that her daughter was given a 50-50 chance of surviving the third operation. Mitchell told Good Morning America the first surgery was to remove the water bead, while subsequent surgeries were due to infections caused by the intestinal damage as Kennedy had gone into septic shock.

“The third surgery allowed her intestines to get rid of the extra fluid and relieve the pressure on the rest of her organs. I felt like I was dying. I was holding on from minute to minute. Each half-hour that passed, I asked myself: ‘Is she still alive?’ The world stopped,” Mitchell wrote in the essay published by Insider.

Mitchell has shared regular updates about Kennedy’s progress on TikTok, where she goes by the username @fo_bby4. In those updates, she revealed that the 10 month old has also had platelet transfusions and is on medications to prevent blood clots.

She says Kennedy, who is still in the hospital as of 29 November, is also being fed through a Neogastric tube that goes through her nose into her stomach.

As Kennedy continues to recover in the hospital from her fifth surgery on 10 November, Mitchell has urged parents to be careful of the water beads, which she claims were not “labelled properly”.

While the front of the Chuckle & Roar Ultimate Water Beads Kit includes a choking hazard warning, Mitchell told GMA she would have thought twice about purchasing the water beads if the package had included a label that warned the beads could cause death if ingested.

“I do think if they had been labeled properly, and said: ‘If ingested, could cause death,could cause blockage, seek medical attention,’ any of those warnings, then I may not have even bought them for my eight-year-old,” she said. “Bringing something into your home and purchasing it from the store, you have the right to know what to expect or what the dangers or cautions are of anything, and I didn’t get that opportunity.”

The Chuckle & Roar Ultimate Water Beads Kit, which were sold exclusively at Target, have since been removed from the retailer’s shelves and website.

In a statement to GMA, a spokesperson for Target said: “We’re aware of this tragic situation and send our heartfelt sympathy to this child and her family. Target requires our vendors to comply with all product safety standards, and all state, federal and local laws. We have removed the product from stores and Target.com while we review the situation with the vendor.”

In a separate statement, Buffalo Games, the owner of Chuckle & Roar, told GMA that the product “does meet all current ASTM and CPSIA standards for toy safety in the United States, and has all required warnings and information on package, including a Choking Hazard and that the product is specified for Ages four plus”.

However, the toy company said it is “evaluating the situation” and will determine if “any action is needed”.

On TikTok, where Mitchell has highlighted the dangers of water beads while updating her followers about Kennedy’s progress, many have applauded the mother of four for raising awareness.

“Thanks so much for trying to save all the children! I’m so so sorry this happened to your precious baby girl,” one person commented under a recent video, while another said: “I would have never known they were this dangerous if it wasn’t for you. They need to be banned immediately!”

The Independent has contacted Mitchell, Target, and Buffalo Games for comment.