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A mother in Pennsylvania is sounding the alarm after her youngest child was recently hospitalized from the health crisis she suffered after she swallowed several water beads.
"I truly can't emphasize enough how dangerous these water beads are to kids, babies, even pets," Whitney Reese, an ICU nurse and mother of three, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
These objects, she went on, "should not be in a house or in any facility where children can be exposed. They are so dangerous and not worth the risk, even the slightest bit."
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Harper Reese, 1, was hospitalized on Jan. 3, 2023, her first birthday, after her parents noticed she was exhibiting strange symptoms.
"About five days prior to her hospitalization, Harper was breaking out in a very mysterious rash all over her body," Reese said.
Young Harper Reese is shown recovering in the hospital after her first surgery attempted to discover the water beads she swallowed, her mother said. (Whitney Reese)
Even her pediatrician was stumped at the time, said Reese.
"Looking back, we believe it was a reaction from the water beads, making [the rash] her very first symptom," said the mom.
Water beads were initially used as "agricultural products intended to maintain soil moisture," according to Poison.org, a website that tracks hazardous products.
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Florists also use them to keep floral arrangements hydrated. In addition, the beads are used as fluid absorbers in products such as diapers.
Water beads are also "marketed as children’s toys or therapies for children with sensory processing or autism spectrum disorders," the website notes.
After Harper began vomiting uncontrollably, her parents took her to the emergency room. There, her symptoms progressed. Her abdomen became distended and she became even more lethargic.
Harper's abdomen became very distended as doctors struggled to find out what was causing her illness, her mother Whitney Reese told Fox News Digital. (Whitney Reese)
"There were days in the hospital before the water bead was discovered that she slept about 98% of the day," Reese also said. "She had zero energy."
Doctors initially could not determine what was wrong. Yet Reese had a "gut feeling" for days that her daughter accidentally ingested a water bead, she noted.
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Reese had purchased the water beads from Amazon as a sensory toy for her older children. She allowed them to play with the beads only under her supervision during the baby's naps.
Fox News Digital reached out to Amazon for comment.
About a month before Harper got sick, Reese said she actually disposed of all the water beads in her home after she read social media posts about the objects' potential dangers.
"I didn't even think they were still in our house," she said. "But some must have gotten loose, and [Harper] somehow must've found some."
Water beads expand when wet and shrink down to a nearly invisible size when dry, mom Whitney Reese of Pennsylvania said. (iStock)
Baby Harper managed to swallow two of the beads; her mother still has no idea where the child found them, she said.
At the hospital, the baby's intestinal blockage was not showing up on X-rays. Doctors initially suspected she had some form of a cyst, said Reese.
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"The doctors did not believe it was a water bead because 'we would be able to see something on X-ray, or we would've seen it in her exploratory laparotomy,'" Reese recounted. "They believed it was just a virus."
"It took over three weeks" after the baby was discharged for her "vomiting to subside."
After more than five days of Harper's illness, Reese said doctors were still thinking the baby's problems were due to a virus.
Harper's mother had a "gut feeling" her baby girl had somehow swallowed a water bead, even though the mom had thrown the beads away a month earlier. (Whitney Reese)
Reese was skeptical. She said she told doctors, "There is no way this is still a virus when we are more than five days out from the first symptoms."
Harper then passed the first water bead she had swallowed.
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"[The] doctors couldn't believe it because they didn't see it on abdominal X-rays, so they truly did not believe she had an intestinal blockage," Reese explained.
One of the water beads that baby Harper swallowed is shown here. (Whitney Reese)
It was determined that Harper had at least one additional water bead remaining in her system.
The bead expanded, said the mom — and doctors then performed surgery to remove this bead.
"It is taking time for her develop that trust in other people."
Young Harper is now home from the hospital — and her recovery is progressing slowly, said Reese.
"After having a bowel resection and … all the inflammation and edema the water beads caused, her bowels were still very irritated," she said.
"It took over three weeks after she was discharged for [her] vomiting to subside."
Baby Harper is now home from the hospital and is slowly recovering, her mother Whitney Reese said. The little girl is shown her eat left, with a child holding water beads shown on right. (Whitney Reese / iStock)
Additionally, Harper developed "very severe reflux" that was tricky to control.
She has also developed a fear of strangers and medical personnel, said Reese.
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"It is taking time for her develop that trust in other people," said the mom.
The other members of her family are still recovering from the ordeal as well.
"I wanted to burn the house down or sell, but my husband told me, ‘No.'"
"It was a very difficult time for the whole family including our other two children, who had to handle Mom and Dad switching back and forth and never being home together," she said.
"We are healing, and it has been a journey, but we are getting there."
Little Harper Reese with her brothers, Lance (holding Harper) and Hudson. (Whitney Reese)
Before Harper came home from the hospital, Reese deep-cleaned her home.
She said she made sure that there were no additional water beads left in the house.
"I wanted to burn the house down or sell, but my husband told me, ‘No,’" she joked.
She said she threw away as many things as she could that she knew had come into contact with water beads — the older kids' sensory table, cups, buckets and shovels — just in case any beads had shrunken down and were hidden from sight.
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Reese said she remembered that her son would often drive toy cars and trucks through the water beads.
She did not see any visible water beads — but just in case, decided to soak the toys overnight in the bathtub.
The small size of dry water beads makes them hard to spot, said mom Whitney Reese. Pictured on left, a dry water bead (on Reese's fingertip) and above on right, the 12 water beads that Reese found hidden in her kids' toys. (Whitney Reese)
That way, any residual water beads would expand and be easier to find, she explained.
The next morning, she thoroughly washed each toy car individually.
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A dozen more beads were hidden in the toys — completely unbeknownst to anyone in the family.
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