For many children, the end of the day means bath time, and the more toys in the tub, the better. However, an Illinois mother is warning other parents that a seemingly harmless bath toy can pose a serious danger after her young son nearly lost his eyesight due to a horrific injury.
Eden Strong was giving her 2-year-old son, Baylor, a bath when she noticed his eye was irritated. Initially thinking it was just water in his eye, she didn’t give it much thought. However, after the bath, Baylor’s eye rapidly worsened.
Her son had developed cellulitis, a potentially severe bacterial skin infection. Within just 12 hours, his eye went from slightly pink to severely infected.
WARNING: The details of Baylor’s injury are graphic. In a now-viral Facebook post, Eden shared her experience, revealing how quickly the situation escalated. “His eye was protruding from his face,” she wrote. “It was very swollen, and he was running a high fever.”
Eden described the terrifying drive to a larger hospital, where doctors warned her that Baylor might lose vision in the affected eye. “The following week was terrifying,” she recalled, explaining that the infection spread down his face and to both eyes. Thankfully, Baylor’s eyes healed in the end.
The culprit behind Baylor’s injury was a squirting bath toy. Eden later learned that these toys can harbor bacteria because water isn’t fully expelled from them, creating an ideal environment for bacterial growth.
In her viral post, which has been shared over 192,000 times, Eden included shocking photos of her son’s injuries to raise awareness among other parents. She received numerous messages from other parents who shared similar experiences with bath toys.
Eden hopes that toy manufacturers will consider this issue when designing future bath toys.