These photos are enough to make you get up and unplug your phone charger right now.
Courtney Davis’s 19-month-old daughter stuck a charger in her mouth late last month. The result was a shocking-looking burn.
“We went to the doctor who confirmed that it was an electrical burn,” the mum from Kentucky explains. “There was nothing they could put on it, due to her being able to lick it.
“Any other day my charger wouldn’t have been plugged up in her reach, but because of a bunch of stuff going on that day, I didn’t have time to move it. It took all of a few seconds for her to get burned. She had never tried to put it in her mouth and she had never messed with it.”
Davis took photos of the burn on her daughter’s face, day by day. After a few days, she put them on Facebook.
“I wasn't going to post about this until I posted in a mum group and found out many parents don't think twice about the danger of a phone charger around children,” she wrote.
The photos have been shared around 300,000 times.
Davis tells Mamamia that other parents have contacted her to say something similar has happened to their child.
“I have had quite a few people share their story with me, saying that they bit an extension cord or TV cord or laptop charger, but no one has said they’ve done it on a phone charger,” she explains. “I have had parents message me saying their child plays with their charger every chance they get and now they will not be leaving it plugged in where their child can reach it.”
As for Davis’s daughter, the burn doesn’t seem to be bothering her.
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“My daughter’s mouth is healing, although it’s leaving a scar,” Davis adds. “You can tell she has some disfigurement to that side of her mouth.”
Jason Chambers from Kidsafe Victoria says this isn’t an injury he’s seen a lot of, but it can happen.
“Burn injuries can occur if a child bite on cords or cord sockets,” he tells Mamamia.
He says electric shocks are a possibility as well.
Chambers says Davis’s phone charger’s cord may have been damaged, with exposed wiring.
“One of the tips we have is always looking at cords to make sure there’s no damage,” he adds. “But you don’t know in that instance. There might have been nothing wrong with it.”
He recommends that people be aware of the risks.
“I think, where possible, with things like phone chargers, if they can be up on a bench or a table that’s out of children’s reach, that’s a really good idea.”
Davis has the same message: “Parents, grandparents, babysitters, etc, please put your chargers up out of reach. My daughter was lucky. The next kid may not be as lucky as her.”