Slush drinks: Tot left 'floppy and unconscious' with suspected glycerol poisoning

Kim Moore faced every parent's worst nightmare when her daughter Marnie, then four, suddenly went pale and unresponsive at a children's party. The 35-year-old had bought her and her older sister Orla, six, a refillable slushy but 10 minutes later Marnie fell unconscious.

Desperate Kim failed to shake her daughter awake so she rushed to Burnley General Teaching Hospital in Burnley, Lancashire, where doctors discovered her blood sugar levels were dangerously low. The terrified mum-of-two feared the worst and rushed her to Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital in Blackburn, Lancashire, where she remained for the next three days.

Kim was horrified when doctors told her her daughter's medical episode was caused by the slush-ice drink she'd consumed minutes before. The call centre team leader now suspects her little girl suffered from glycerol toxicity.

A new study has warned children younger than eight shouldn't be given slush-ice drinks containing the sweetener glycerol after researchers tracked the cases of 21 kids who fell in after drinking them. But in light of this research, Kim believes the recommended age for slushies should be 12 after her own daughter fell seriously ill five years ago, after consuming what she labels a poison drink.

Kim, from Burnley, Lancashire, said: “We ended up buying two one-litre refillable cups and they were going off playing, eating, getting drinks and coming back but Marnie didn't drink the full cup, probably only half. Then about 10 minutes later, she started getting really aggravated then she started falling asleep so I just thought she was over-tired. It was only five minutes later when I tried to wake her up that I realised she wasn't waking up and was unconscious. She'd gone really pale. I was shaking her trying to wake her up and there was nothing.”

Terrified about her daughter's sudden decline, Kim rushed Marnie to A&E where doctors confirmed the tot was in hypoglycemic shock - a medical emergency caused by dangerously low blood sugar.

Kim said: “I had no clue what had caused it. She was unconscious for around 25 minutes while they brought her blood sugars up. In hospital, she screamed out in agony saying her head hurt and threw up everywhere. Looking back, she had every single symptom of glycerol toxicity. We got transferred to another hospital and they had no idea what had caused it.

“We started looking into the slushy because that was the only thing differently she'd had that day. I went into investigative mum mode trying to work out why this had happened to my child.”

Marnie was discharged after three days in hospital - but Kim banned her daughter from ever ordering a slush drink again. Kim said: “I was in absolute fear. If I hadn't taken her to hospital, it may have had a different outcome.

“So many places promote free slushies when you play there but you're promoting poison. I don't think these slushies should be allowed at all. I personally wouldn't allow my child to drink one at all. It's not a risk I'm willing to take. I don't think they should be sold to kids 12 and under in all honesty. I wouldn't wish what we went through on our worst enemy. It was awful.”