A mum claims her baby nearly ‘suffocated to death’ when a Primark bowl from Stacey Solomon’s kids range ‘suctioned’ onto her face like a plunger.
Cheryl Drummond filled the bowl - from Stacey Solomon’s Little Pickle range - with chocolate and gave it to 17-month Kaleah Drummond to keep her occupied on May 16.
However, as the 28-year-old was putting away shopping in the kitchen, she heard a loud thud and bolted back into the living room to find her daughter on her back struggling to pull the orange dish off her face.
With Kaleah getting more desperate and frantic, Cheryl struggled to separate the bowl from her daughter’s face - claiming it acted like a ‘plunger’ thanks to being silicone and became tighter with each breath she took.
The mum says it was only thanks to her fake nails that she was finally able to break the seal and get the item off her daughter’s face.
Once she managed to remove it, Cheryl says the bowl had left her daughter in tears with a red mark on her face, and claims that her tot has since been ‘petrified’ of the dish.
The mum-of-three is now calling upon Primark to launch an investigation into the product and to alter its size, as she believes its oval shape was too tight around Kaleah’s face.
Full-time mum Cheryl took the issue to Primark but was left angry when she saw that the retailer was still selling the bowl in Stacey Solomon’s latest line.
Primark said that the product range was tested independently and met ‘EN standards for children’s feeding items’ however confirmed that they were investigating the incident.
Cheryl, from Glasgow, said: “I’d just got back from a big shop. I gave Kaleah the bowl with some chocolates in whilst I was putting the shopping away. She was in the living room, I was in the kitchen. They are essentially the same room.
“I heard the bang and saw that she’d fallen back. She’d been trying to lick the bottom of the bowl like all kids do.
“She was sitting on the laminate floor. That’s one of the reasons I heard - she hit her head when she fell backwards trying to pull the bowl off her face, and then she was banging her feet off the floor.
“Her mouth and nose were in that bowl, there was no room for her to breathe. I couldn’t see her face, and she was panicking. She was trying to cry but her breaths were getting tighter every second that it was suctioned to her face.
“The bowl is made of silicone so it’s like a plunger. Every breath she was creating, the bowl was getting tighter.
“Thankfully I managed to get my nails under the bowl and pull it off her face. It was attached so strongly, it left a big red mark around her face.
“The bowl was on her face for between 45 seconds and a minute. It doesn’t sound like a very long time but in the moment it feels like it.
“I had the bowl for two months before this. There’d never been any issues with it before.
“The worst case scenario in my mind was that she could have suffocated to death.
“Usually I would put my Alexa on to play music whilst I put my shopping away. But thankfully on that day, I didn’t so I could hear the noise. Somebody was looking down on us that day.
“It took me until the next day before I could write a post about it on Facebook. I had to gather my thoughts.
“We all know life is short, but my life could have been completely different.”
Cheryl headed back to Primark on Argyle Street, Glasgow, to raise the issue with them.
Cheryl said: “I went to Primark the next day and I spoke to somebody. They seemed very helpful at the time and gave me the email for the head office.
“I emailed and they said there’d be an investigation. But then I saw the new Stacey Solomon range had come out and they were still selling the bowl.
“I made another complaint in the shop and the employee wasn’t very helpful at first. She was quite snappy, insisting it was a new range. It was the same bowl, but in a different colour.
“She took my details and sent them over to head office. They weren’t helpful or apologetic though, they just reached out asking for my version of events and a photo of my bowl.
“I explained that I didn’t know how to send pictures over email on my new phone. I’ve not heard back since.”
Cheryl wants the bowl to be redesigned to avoid any potential issues in the future.
Cheryl said: “The bowl is still the exact same size which is my problem. It’s an oval shape so it’s the perfect size for her small face to get into.
“I also think the fact that it was a silicone material meant it was harder to get off her face.
“Thankfully I had false nails on that day and they helped me get the bowl off. I don’t think I would have been able to get it off otherwise.
“Primark should recall the bowl and launch an investigation, they need to change the size of the bowl. If it was smaller or bigger, it wouldn’t be an issue.
“I wouldn’t want anybody to go through this and experience a different outcome to what we did.
“I won’t be buying anything for children from Primark again, especially if it’s a choking hazard.
“Clearly if anybody was concerned, they would have listened. But the bowls are still on the shelf.”
A Primark spokesperson said: “We were very concerned to hear of this customers’ experience.
“Every Primark product range is tested independently to ensure the relevant safety standards are met including this which meets the EN standards for children’s feeding items.
“However, we take safety complaints very seriously, following up on every one and are in contact with the customer to fully investigate.”
Stacey Solomon was contacted for comment.
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