Canadian mother's warning after grandmother fed toddler hand sanitiser thinking it was puree

A Canadian toddler was mistakenly fed hand sanitiser by his grandmother who was confused by the colourful packaging of the snack.

Nikki Teixeira's 18-month-old son was taken to hospital as a precaution after he "took a sip" of a pouch of hand sanitiser from Wal-Mart.

The parent from Manitoba, Canada, told Good Morning America how she mistakenly brought the Trolls hand sanitiser as food for her seven-year-old step-daughter.

She said: "The way it was packaged and displayed with hand sanitizers, I didn't even think of it looking like a food."

It was Ms Teixeira's son who first drank from one of the pouches when he was being looked after by his grandmother.

The grandmother called the emergency services when she noticed that the 18-month-old boy became a "bit dozy and out of it".

Ms Teixeira warned parents about the incident on August 25 in a Facebook post.

"Please DO NOT buy these cute hand sanitizer pouches from Wal-Mart that can easily be mistaken for a food pouch," she said.

"Last week, my 18 month old son took a sip of this pouch which led to an ambulance ride to the hospital. Thankfully he is ok, but it could have been much worse.

"My son’s Grandma took the pouch out of his diaper bag while babysitting as that is where I usually store his snacks. She mistakenly assumed it was a food purée without reading the bottom label. If it can happen to my family, it could happen to yours too."

The mother added: "All of the medical professionals were appalled to see how much this pouch resembled food packaging.

"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. It is my hope to warn others of this misleading packaging. Ultimately, I would like to see them off the shelves completely."

According to ABC News, Smart Care, the producer of the Trolls hand sanitiser, has since removed the item from shops.

A spokesperson told the news channel: "As safety is our No 1 priority, we have switched out this packaging for our bottled hand sanitizer to eliminate any misconception or concern."

The Food and Drug Administration warned in March that during the coronavirus pandemic it had received a 79 per cent increase in the number of calls related to hand sanitiser to the National Poison Data System compared to March 2019.

It said the majority of the calls were for unintentional exposure to hand sanitiser in children aged under-five.

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn told ABC News: "It is important that hand sanitizers are manufactured in a way that makes them unpalatable to people, especially young children, and that they are appropriately labelled to discourage accidental or intentional ingestion.

"Additionally, hand sanitizers are not proven to treat Covid-19, and like other products meant for external use, are not for ingestion, inhalation, or intravenous use.

Read more

More than 800 Dettol hand-sanitiser units installed across Tube

Raab warns of second lockdown by Christmas as cases pass 400,000- LIVE