Water beads love water. These superabsorbent toys grow many times their original size when placed in water, to the delight of many children. Before water beads get wet, they look like colorful hard candies or necklace beads. Small children, who can pick up and place small things in their mouths, are at serious risk of harm if they swallow even one tiny bead. There have been reports of children experiencing serious harm or even death due to water beads.

As a toy, water beads are relatively new. They can be sold in packages containing thousands of beads, making them hard for parents and caregivers to keep track of. Take note, though, once inside a child’s body, just one tiny dehydrated water bead can cause a heap of harm since water beads continue to grow in size, sometimes as large as a golf ball.

A Case Best Described as a Nightmare

Most parents and caregivers don’t know how harmful water beads can be. Take the case of an 8-month-old boy whose play area was scattered with the beads. Though the baby’s dad had fished a few beads out of his son’s mouth, two days later the toddler woke up vomiting. He became dehydrated and his parents took him to their local emergency department. There, an X-ray revealed two water beads were in the baby’s stomach and intestines. But four water beads were removed during surgery. A second surgery was performed to remove a fifth water bead along with 6 inches of his intestine that had become infected. Thankfully he was able to go home after a week, but still suffers from digestive issues.

How Can Water Beads Cause Harm? Multiple Ways

IPC experts classify water beads as a foreign body, meaning there is no specific toxin associated with them. Instead, they are an object that is not meant to be consumed and could cause a blockage of the gastrointestinal tract due to their size.

• In the throat: The first place a foreign body can cause a blockage is in the throat, which results in choking. It’s a serious life-threatening scenario as the blockage can restrict airflow into the lungs. It only takes a few minutes before someone may become unconscious and possibly stop breathing.
• In the stomach: If the foreign body passes the throat without issue, it’ll end up in the stomach. But there’s no guarantee stomach acid will be able to dissolve it. There is still a risk of blockage, usually at the pyloric sphincter, or the valve located where the stomach ends and the small intestine begins.
• Between the stomach and small intestine: Water beads are an atypical foreign body because they can change their size over time. An unexpanded water bead may still be small enough to pass through the pyloric sphincter but then grow while inside the intestines, eventually causing an obstruction.

Symptoms of an intestinal blockage include vomiting, abdominal pain, fever, constipation and lack of bowel movements. Prolonged blockage of the intestines can lead to tissue death, causing a hole to form in the intestines, and lead to an infection. This scenario requires surgery to remove the object from the intestines.

What Parents and Caregivers Can Do

• Call 911 if you suspect a child who is choking swallowed a water bead. Otherwise contact your local regional poison center at 1-800-222-1222.
• When calling the poison center, our experts will ask you several questions, including when it happened, which may be tricky. Many times, a parent or caregiver first learns of the exposure hours or even days after the ingestion.
• It’s also incredibly helpful to know which specific water bead toy was consumed. Not all water bead toys are created equal as some brands are designed to expand only a few millimeters while other more dangerous ones can grow to nearly the size of a golf ball!
• Our experts will also want to know if the child is having any symptoms. A symptomatic child may require evaluation from a healthcare professional to rule out a gastrointestinal obstruction.
• Most importantly, don’t panic! The vast majority of children ingesting water bead toys do fine. Just because a water bead is consumed does not mean it will cause a blockage. But we still want to be cautious and closely monitor the child for any symptoms consistent with a blockage. 

IPC is here to help. Our 1-800-222-1222 helpline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Calls are free and confidential. To learn more about poison prevention, click here for a free Complimentary Safety Packet (available in English and Spanish) that contains a sticker and magnet with IPC’s helpline number, as well as poison prevention tips for the entire year. You can also get poison prevention information from our Caregivers Guide (available in English and Spanish).