Warning to parents as toddler swallows laundry detergent

A toddler almost died after biting into a washing machine capsule and swallowing half the liquid inside it.

BB3907

by Ellie Hooper |
Published on

Jenny Maher ended up fighting for her life after she bit into the capsule, which caused her airway to close up.

Thankfully for Jenny, her mother had done a first aid course on poisonings and got the 17 month old to hospital immediately.

Doctors later said her quick thinking definitely saved her daughter’s life.

Her father Colin, 39, described how doctors said it was the worst case of this they’d ever seen.

Lke many parents, Colin and Sarah kept the laundry detergent under the sink
Lke many parents, Colin and Sarah kept the laundry detergent under the sink

The ordeal began when Jenny found the liquid tablets in the box under the sink at their home, a common place for parents to store them.

She managed to bite through one, swallowing half of the gel, before her 35-year-old mother, Sarah, could stop her.

Jenny vomited almost immediately, but then her breathing became distressed in a ‘matter of seconds.’

As her body reacted to the chemicals in the product, Jenny’s oesophagus swelled, and she was rushed to hospital.

Luckily, thanks to her quick thinking mother, Jenny spent a week in hospital and has now been discharged.

But Colin and Sarah have reached out to other parents, urging them to keep the tablets out of children’s reach, and have urged manufacturers to consider tamper proof packaging.

‘A lot of these tablets look like sweets, they are bright coloured and look encouraging to kids so people need to be aware to keep them out of reach’ said her father.

‘One of the doctors told us we were very lucky to get her to hospital on time.

“They don’t know if there’ll be any long-term damage.’

Here’s wishing Jenny a very speedy recovery!

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