Grandma puts toddler in hospital after hand sanitiser mix-up
An 18-month-old boy has been taken to hospital after his grandmother accidentally gave him a pouch of hand sanitiser instead of food.
The mother of the urged parents to not buy sachets of hand sanitiser because they look so similar to baby food pouches.
“Please DO NOT buy these cute hand sanitiser pouches from Wal-Mart that can easily be mistaken for a food pouch,” Nikki Teixeira posted on Facebook in August.
According to the mum, the grandmother opened the son’s baby bag and took the pouch out.
She thought the hand sanitiser was puree and gave it to the 18-month-old, who ingested it before being rushed to hospital.
“He took a sip and immediately turned red and started coughing, so she grabbed it from him and then immediately saw it was hand sanitiser," Ms Teixeira told Good Morning America.
"She [the grandmother] called her neighbour and called 911 because he started to get a little bit dozy and out of it, and then five minutes later he was falling asleep.”
The child did not suffer any further symptoms, but his mother said he lost his appetite for a day along with being irritable.
The child’s mum said she purchased the Trollz-branded hand sanitiser for her step-daughter who was going back to school.
“The way it was packaged and displayed with hand sanitisers, I didn't even think of it looking like a food,” she said.
She said the medical professionals who saw the pouch of hand sanitiser were “appalled” by how similar it looked to food.
“The ER doctor even took it upon herself to send a picture to her colleague who works with poison control in attempt to raise awareness,” the mum explained.
Smart Care, the brand that sold the hand sanitiser, has since pulled the product from the shelves, Good Morning America reported.