Parents’ warning: Popular Target toy is recalled after baby was hospitalized and forced to undergo multiple surgeries
A PARENT has warned about the dangers of a popular Target toy that was recalled after her baby was rushed to hospital and another toddler was reported dead.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday that Buffalo Games has issued a recall of a toy sold exclusively at Target between March 2022 and November 2022.
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Chuckle & Roar’s Ultimate Water Beads Activity Kits have been recalled due to a choking hazard.
The product was recalled after a 10-month-old child in Wisconsin died in July 2023 after swallowing a bead of water from the product.
Additionally, the recall mentions a 9-month-old baby who was “severely injured” by swallowing the water beads in Maine due to an intestinal obstruction.
The child ultimately had to have her pearls surgically removed, and that child’s mother, Folichia Mitchell, warns about the dangers of the products, which were made in China and imported by the Target Corporation of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The danger, explained in the Recall notificationIt states: “If a bead of water is swallowed, it expands and can cause choking, suffocation and intestinal obstruction in a child’s body, resulting in severe discomfort, vomiting, dehydration and the risk of death to the child.”
“Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled water pearls and take them away from children,” the recall warns.
“Contact Buffalo Games for a full refund and instructions on how to return the product in a prepaid shipping package provided by the company or to return the product to any Target store.”
Packaged in a purple container, the Chuckle & Roar Ultimate Water Beads Activity Kit contains two ounces of “jumbo” water beads and 6 ounces of “regular” water beads.
The package, which has the UPC number 079346627035 printed on the back, includes a clear container, lid, small toy fish, scissor spoon, spoon with handle, tweezers, activity cards and instructions.
Mitchell, the mother of 9-month-old Kennedy, who has suffered organ infections and various surgeries due to an intestinal obstruction, opened up PEOPLE earlier this year about her frightening experience.
She told the news outlet: “It has made what should be a normal life feel frightening. It was really scary because we never gave her the water beads and we didn’t expect it. It was so shocking to learn that she only had one pearl of water in her body, and here’s everything that happened.
“Then two days would go by and it would be like, ‘She also has this disease.’ Her heart had stopped working after the second or third surgery, so they had to put an emergency artery catheter in her right arm because, I think, there were some chemicals in the bead.”
“Her blood didn’t clot, but then a clot formed. When they did, they had to call 911. For two days her hand was gray and she thought, ‘Her body is swelling and building up pressure.’ “She could lose that arm too if this medicine doesn’t help.”
The mother, who claims her “anger” pushed her to campaign for the toy to be removed from shelves, continued: “Then she had to have surgery but she has no platelets. So she has a clot that we want to get rid of.” But her body can’t clot to allow surgery.
“So we have to give her platelets, and then she doesn’t have any red blood cells, so we have to give her an infusion of red blood cells.”
“So many things happen out of nowhere that we didn’t expect, and it just scares you.”
She further explained that what really upset her was that she couldn’t “make an informed decision” when purchasing the product.
“I didn’t find out. And if I had seen, ‘If they are taken, you should see a doctor, otherwise it could cause organ damage or block the lungs, because I specifically know of a child who got it.’ If it had gotten stuck in his lungs, then maybe I could have made a different choice,” she concluded.
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