{"id":10382,"date":"2022-11-28T14:11:39","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T19:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pedsdoctalk.com\/?p=10382"},"modified":"2023-04-05T08:34:17","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T12:34:17","slug":"the-truth-about-water-beads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pedsdoctalk.com\/the-truth-about-water-beads\/","title":{"rendered":"The truth about water beads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When it comes to safety, I strongly believe that parents should be educated on risk, best practices, and consider the \u201cwhat if\u201d scenarios to make the best choices for their families. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Water Beads are a very popular sensory toy. They are common in a lot of schools and occupational therapy clinics and for sensory play. I want to preface this by saying: they can be played with, but parents and caregivers need to know the VERY real risk.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Why are water beads harmful?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Water beads are small beads that when placed in water, they can grow up to 200 times their size. A cool-looking science experiment, however, this can be harmful to small children. They can be swallowed, placed up noses, or placed in ears. Water beads are small, some are opaque (clear-ish in color), and they look like candy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We KNOW kids can do this, so these water beads can be of concern if we are not 100% supervising a child. And as we all know, 100% supervision is very hard for children especially if we have multiple children to supervise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If ingested (and they look like candy so the risk is high especially for younger kids), they can continue to grow inside the bowel and expand to a size that causes intestinal or bowel obstruction as discussed in this video<\/a>. It is deeply tragic. Many can also be chemically toxic if swallowed based on their components.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If placed in the ears or nose, sometimes a kid will not tell their parent and they will begin having copious and smelly nasal discharge or ear pain prompting a visit to the doctor. If the beads are in the ear long enough, they may cause damage to the eardrum and need surgical removal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Signs of ingested water beads:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many of these signs are nonspecific to water bead ingestion, but if your child was playing around them, it\u2019s important to look out for these signs (frankly, any of these signs in a child who\u2019s not well-appearing would prompt any parent to get their child seen):<\/p>\n\n\n\n