For the majority of kids, taking a bath at night means more toys, the better.
But after her little son suffered a terrible accident that put him in danger of losing his sight, a mother in Illinois is warning other parents that a toy that seems harmless for youngsters in the bathtub can actually be harmful.
Baylor Strong, a 2-year-old, had an inflamed eye, which his mother Eden Strong noticed while giving him a bath. She attributed it to having water in his eye, but Baylor’s eye got worse after taking a bath.
Cellulitis is a potentially dangerous bacterial skin illness that her son has experienced. His eye changed from pink to infected in about 12 hours.
“His eye was protruding from his face,” she said in a Facebook post, which has since gone viral. “It was very obscured. He was running a raging fever.
“I cried the entire drive to a larger hospital, praying that he wouldn’t lose his eye.
“The next week was pretty scary. He had severe cellulitis that eventually spread down his face and to both eyes. They warned me that he may lose vision in the worse eye, but in the end, thank the Lord his eyes healed.”
The cause of Baylor’s horrific eye injury was a squirting bath toy.
“I came to find out later that because the water is never fully expelled from those types of toys that they can just grow bacteria that you can’t stop,” she said.
Eden posting shocking pictures of her son’s injuries on Facebook to warn other parents, the post has since been shared by 192,000 people. Eden was inundated with other parents’ pictures of their children who had experienced similar issues.
Strong said she hopes manufacturers will take this issue into consideration when producing bath toys.
She has since thrown all Baylor’s squeezable toys away.
She still thinks about that awful incident today.
“I think those toys especially are cute. They’re fun. They’re cheap and they’re easy, but it’s not worth it.”
Strong continues by saying that the toddler’s constant touching of his eyes, which was difficult to stop, certainly made the illness worse and spread to both eyes. But for now, she’s just relieved that everything is behind them and that, ideally, their tale will prevent others from suffering through the same heartbreak.
What a fright this family went through, I’m so glad Baylor has recovered.
Please share to warn other parents.
