A mortician has shared five toys she will never let her children play with due to the dangers she has seen in her job.
In a series of TikTok videos, which have amassed millions of views between them, Lauren put together a list of toys she has banned from her household . Under the username @lovee.miss.lauren, she captioned the video: “Toys my kids aren’t allowed to have because I’m a scarred mortician.”
Lauren said: "When you become a parent you find yourself being extra protective of your children because you know what can happen in the blink of an eye."
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The first toy on Lauren’s list were water beads. Lauren said: “Water beads are not allowed in my house. The risk is not worth the reward for me when it comes to water beads.
“In fact, they were not originally manufactured to be marketed to children. They were actually made for plants to help water your plants in the soil.
“They have since become a popular sensory toy object. The truth is if your child ingests just one of these they can end up in [A&E] because they can cause blockages in your intensities and bowels.
"Toddlers put everything in their mouth even if you tell them not to and accidents happen, and they happen to good parents. It has absolutely nothing to do with their lack of parenting or what you think is parenting."
Next up in the video were balloons. Lauren said: “Did you know balloons are one of the leading causes of choking deaths in children? And most of them involve children under the age of six years old.
“Children don’t have as much experience blowing up balloons and they suck up right back into their throats - and when that happens they get stuck in there.
“CPR might not help because the balloon might be inflating and deflating while you’re trying to do the CPR. Or if one of them pop, you know how they break into tiny little pieces? Kids put things in their mouth it’s inevitable.
“If that happens one of those pieces can easily get sucked up right into your trachea and cause choking and it’s almost impossible to get them out.
Any toys that contain button batteries are also off limits for Lauren's children. She said: "We do not keep or use any toys that contain button batteries. If your child swallows one you really only have a couple of hours to get them to [A&E] for medical attention before permanent damage or death can happen.
"These batteries can and will get stuck in your oesophagus or your stomach lining but your oesophagus is where the most damage can occur. A lot of this damage can occur within 15 minutes of ingestion."
Next up in the video were amber teething necklaces which are marketed on the claim that they heat up when worn by a baby, which enables the necklace to release oil that's absorbed into a baby's bloodstream to help them with teething. There's no scientific evidence that this works and Lauren said the necklaces are also a strangulation and choking hazard.
The last toy that Lauren said she won't allow her children to play with was a skipping rope. She said: "If they are used properly and supervised by an adult then sure they are fine to have around in your home. For the most part when children are left unsupervised by an adult that is when these accidental deaths are happening.
"Where kids are going to getting in trouble with [skipping ropes] is they’re not using them how they’re supposed to be using them. Instead, they’re getting creative and hanging them around the play set.
"They get tangled up in them and I think you can see where this is going. I also hate toys with strings for the same reason."
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