A Northern Ireland mum has issued a warning about a potentially harmful ingredient in ice pops, after her daughter became very unwell and had to be rushed to hospital.
Danielle McSorley said she gave her child an ice pop when she was feeling unwell with a "viral bug", in order to keep her child hydrated, only for her child to become "unresponsive".
In a widely shared video on social media, the Northern Ireland mum warned that glycerol - an ingredient commonly found in 'slushy' ice drinks that's not recommended for children under five - is also used in ice pops.
Read more: B&M remove Slush Puppies from shelves after tot left '20 minutes from death'
Read more: Mum's plea as 'unconscious' tot hospitalised after slurping iced slushy drink
Earlier this month, the researchers behind a recent study published in the journal 'Archives of Disease in Childhood' urged parents to completely avoid ice drinks containing glycerol. Researchers studied the cases of 21 children aged between two and seven in the UK and Ireland who needed emergency treatment soon after drinking a slushy product. All 21 children looked at by the study required emergency treatment after becoming acutely ill within an hour of having the drinks.
Current Food Standards Agency advice is that ice drinks, commonly known as 'slushy' drinks, that contain glycerol should not be given to children under the age of five.
But Northern Ireland mum Danielle McSorley has warned parents that those drinks are not the only product containing the ingredient - after her child was rushed in an ambulance to hospital after being fed an ice pop.
"On Saturday, our child had a viral bug - vomiting and a temperature - and as recommended by professionals, you give ice pops or slushies to try and hydrate your child."
She said she fed her child "wee bits" from an ice pop she'd bought in a supermarket.
"Then, the child went for a nap because they were sick, and when we went to check, they were unresponsive," she said. "Eyes rolling, no lifting the arms just unresponsive. I don't even want to go into it."
She said she phoned for an ambulance but, since the ambulance wasn't going to be there in time, the child taken in a car. On the way, they happened upon the scene of a "minor" car accident. At the scene, it was determined the collision victim was okay, and the child was taken in the ambulance to hospital instead.
"The paramedics were the nicest people ever," Danielle McSorley said. "He was a lovely man. He calmed me down immediately, took the child and checked the blood. Oxygen and heart rate, and they were perfect. So that was like 'settle, settle, they're OK, they're OK'."
The child's blood sugars were found to be "really, really low" and a glucose solution was given.
She spent an "awful" ten hours in hospital and left once her child , and only made the possible connection with recent news about glycerol in an ice pop once she was back at home.
"I can't be 100% certain," she said. I'm not 100% sure, but I can't say it enough - please don't give your children that. Nobody wants to see their child like that. That's all I'm saying. Look it up for yourself."
She added: "I will not give any of my children, even the older ones now, because that is terrifying until it happens to you."
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