A mother has a dire warning for parents and caregivers after dirty bath toys nearly left her toddler blind. The toys were supposed to simply bring joy to the little boy during bath time. However, the mother had no idea the toys would almost cost her son his sight.
Eden Strong says after each bath for her son Baylor, she would squeeze out the water, and even cleaned them every few weeks with a bleach-water solution. She would then hold the toys up to the light to check for mold. She says she knew mold could be inside but had no idea bacteria could still grow inside since the toys rarely stayed dry. According to The Sun, Strong’s nanny told her earlier this year that Baylor had squirted water into his eye from one of the bath toys. Strong wasn’t too concerned just yet and simply thought her son’s eye was irritated from the water or the pressure of the water. She admits she didn’t think much of her son’s slightly red eye. She didn’t even see any mold in the toys. But later that evening, Baylor’s eye became redder so Strong’s husband rushed him to the hospital out of fear the toddler had developed pink eye.
At the hospital, the doctor agreed that the boy had pink eye and gave him eye drops. During that night, though, his eye got much worse. Strong noticed it while she was giving him eye drops in the middle of the night. The redness was spreading down his cheek and his eye was twice the size it was when he went down for bed. They went to the ER immediately where Strong told doctors she thought her son had developed cellulitis. Doctors agreed with her once again and gave him oral antibiotics, which the couple filled at 2:30 a.m. that night. By 6 a.m. the next morning, Baylor’s eye was so swollen that he couldn’t close it. Once again, they rushed to the hospital. Strong says her son’s eye was so swollen that “the white part was bulging out from between his eyelid and his iris was being obscured.” Baylor was diagnosed with severe cellulitis and doctors told Strong her toddler could possibly lose vision in the worse eye. The cellulitis had spread to both of his eyes.
Thankfully, Baylor’s eye healed, but now, Strong has a message to parents: throw out the bath toys. She says even though you can’t see the mold, you will not be able to truly clean them.
Source: The Sun