Mum's warning after 'faulty' lamp almost kills little boy
A mum is warning parents about a potentially deadly hazard in their homes after her toddler miraculously survived electrocution.
Claire Karlson, from South Nowra on the NSW south coast, was sitting about a metre away from 14-month-old Oscar on May 4 when she heard a loud bang and him screaming.
While playing behind the lounge, he somehow pulled the power cord from a floor lamp and put those exposed wires in his mouth.
When the cord was removed the power didn’t trip and was still plugged into the powerpoint.
He suffered 240V straight to his mouth, causing horrific burns to his palate, lips and tongue.
“I think at first I was really in shock when calling the ambulance,” Ms Karlson told Yahoo News Australia.
“I was stuttering, I couldn’t even talk. I’m holding him, he’s screaming, blood gushing out his mouth and I just realised he’d been electrocuted.
“It was pretty scary.”
Ms Karlson said even though he was conscious, she didn’t know whether his heart would stop and if he would even survive.
Oscar was intubated as there were concerns the swelling from the burns would block his airways and flown by helicopter to Westmead Hospital in Sydney.
Doctors then checked the burns had not travelled down his throat or affected his heart and luckily they were isolated to his mouth.
Oscar was able to leave hospital two days later but was readmitted after he stopped eating and remained for another four days.
Making a home toddler proof
Ms Karlson told Yahoo News Australia she and her husband Hugh had baby-proofed the entire house but never thought a cord from a lamp could be pulled out so easily and believes it may have been faulty.
“An adult shouldn’t be able to pull it out and he’s a 14-month-old with not much strength,” she said.
The mum is warning all parents to double-check household items and keep an eye on children.
“Make sure it’s safe. We baby-proofed our house but never thought something like that could happen,” she said.
Now four weeks on, Mrs Karlson and her husband have their only son back to normal.
“The doctors were impressed with how well he’s healed,” she said.
“The doctors are saying it’s a miracle he survived.
“He’s a miracle baby twice over now, he wasn’t meant to survive his birth but he’s meant to be on this earth.”
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