Mum's slushy warning after sons fell ill slurping iced drink

A mum who claims forcing her sons to drink fizzy pop saved them from being hospitalised is urging kids to steer clear of slushies - when they fell ill minutes after gulping on them.

Roxy Wallis took her three sons Austin, 10, Ted, eight, and Ralph, four, to a restaurant in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, as a half-term treat. After ordering them a slushy each, the 36-year-old says Austin and Ted became lethargic and looked pale - with Ted even vomiting.

Roxy feared her kids had contracted food poisoning from the restaurant but after Googling their symptoms she believes the glycerol put in the iced drink caused their collective illness. Shocking photos from February 2024 show pale-faced Austin and Ted, then nine and seven years old, slumped in the back seats of her car with their eyes closed as she drove them home.

The photographer feared she'd have to rush both her sons to hospital, but thankfully they began to perk up after she gave them fizzy drinks, which she claims boosted their sugar levels. According to the NHS excessive glycerol consumption in slush ice drinks can cause young children to feel sick, dizzy and can lower their blood sugar levels.

She is now sharing her sons' scary experience to warn other parents about how dangerous glycerol in slushies can be for young children. Roxy, from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, said: “We took them to a restaurant as a half-term treat and when they saw the slushy machine they asked if they could have one. I said they could as they are aimed and marketing at kids so I would never have thought they would have been dangerous.

“My two oldest children drank most of their drink at the table and as it was quite strong my youngest wasn't very keen on it, thankfully I had a good bit of his. We were walking back to the car and we were planning on stopping to look at the shops but they weren't well enough. I knew how poorly they were as they didn't even want to look in the sweet shop.

“My middle child felt sick, dizzy and incredibly pale. By the time we reached the ticket machine he had vomited everywhere. At this point my oldest son looked pale and felt sick but wasn't as bad as he was a bit bigger than his middle brother. I thought it was really bizarre at first that they both felt ill and I thought it might have been food poisoning at first but this didn't add up as you're usually ill hours after.

“They always tell you not to Google things but luckily I did and I came across a forum about a mum saying her child had got ill after drinking a slushy. I found out glycerol can dramatically drop their blood sugar levels so I stopped off at a shop on the way home and bought them both a fizzy drink. Within 10 or 15 minutes [of having the fizzy drink], they had their colour back.

“The scariest thing was, had I not thought I dread to think how low their blood sugar would have got if I hadn't had acted. I think we could have ended up in A&E with the middle one if we didn't. The photo of them in the back of the car was taken just before we stopped off and got them a drink.

“This was at their worst moment and at this point it was the case of getting them home and if they hadn't improved straight away I would have packed a bag and taken them straight to hospital. I was quite worried at this point just with how rapid it was because it was really unusual and it happened to both of them. They are usually very bubbly but were both very lethargic.”

Roxy says the restaurant had only just opened for the day and so the slushies weren't completely frozen, and believes because of this more glycerol ended up in the drinks. The mum-of-three says it was lucky her youngest son, who was three at the time, barely touched his drink as she claims he could have suffered more due to his size and age.

Roxy said: “The restaurant had not long opened so the slushy wasn't particularly well frozen in the machine and I think this exaggerated it. When they added the syrup into the slushy, a large majority of it sank down to the bottom and made it more concentrated.”

Now, Roxy is sharing what happened as a warning, claiming her kids have now been banned from slurping slushies until they are 10 years old. Roxy said: “It makes me feel that there should be a definite age limit on them. It's quite scary and concerning really. When you go to every single attraction, they are everywhere. They are quite a cheap treat and really easily accessible.

“I've said to my boys that they aren't allowed one again until they are 10 or over. Following what happened, I think it has made them [my boys] both a bit worried to have one again. They don't make as much of a fuss when we see slushies out and about. They remember how sick they were. It's definitely stuck in their heads."