My daughter's squishy toy burst on her legs. We ended up in the emergency room.

This communicative is based connected an question and reply pinch Kimmie Staggs, 34, a stay-at-home mom of 3 from Dunbarton, West Virginia. It has been edited for magnitude and clarity.

June 23, 2026, felt for illustration immoderate different day, pinch maine rushing around, driving my kids from 1 spot to another.

I'm a stay-at-home mom pinch 3 girls: Natalee, 13; Chrislyn, 12; and Sophia, 2.

Life is highly engaged pinch a teen, a tween, and a toddler. This summer, though we've spent immoderate clip at the beach, I've divided my clip betwixt buying groceries, cleaning the house, and ferrying them to playdates.

That day was beautiful overmuch typical. At astir 3 p.m., I put Sophia successful her car seat, Natalee sat adjacent to maine successful the front, and we drove to prime up Chrislyn from a friend's house.

We'd hardly group disconnected earlier Natalee screamed hysterically. She was writhing successful pain, and I had nary thought what was wrong.

My daughter's squishy had exploded complete her legs

Then I looked complete and saw thing that looked for illustration taffy each complete her precocious thighs.

She yelled that it was a squishy she'd taken disconnected the dashboard, the floor, aliases from the broadside pocket. "It popped connected me, and it's burning me," she said.

My first guidance was to scope complete and effort to get it disconnected her. However, the worldly sewage each complete my hands, too. I didn't want to crash.

We were passing my father-in-law and brother-in-law's garage, wherever they worked, and I stopped to get help. They had a h2o hose and hosed down Natalee's legs.

We drove to the ER

It didn't work. The gel, now dripping down her calves and onto her flip flops, wouldn't travel disconnected and had begun to solidify. I was terrified that toxic chemicals were soaking into her skin.

We drove 20 minutes to the nearest ER successful South Williamson, Kentucky, pinch my hazard lights on. The aesculapian squad asked what had happened, and we told them astir the squishy exploding.

By then, Natalee was frightened and anxious. The full family — including her dad, Nathan, 36 — rushed to meet america astatine the hospital.

We comforted Natalee while the medical unit cut disconnected her shorts to dainty her.

They called Poison Control. We didn't cognize the nonstop marque of the squishy, which was shaped for illustration a mushroom, because the girls had swapped it pinch 1 of their friends.

Poison Control reassured them that this peculiar type of squishy wasn't toxic because it didn't incorporate integrative beads. They said it must person heated up successful the car and burst. It was their 5th aliases sixth squishy incident successful a week, they told the doctors.

It took the nurses complete an hr and a half to region the stuff, cautiously easing it disconnected pinch saline.

Natalee was discharged later that evening. Her legs looked red, but the burns were not arsenic bad arsenic we'd feared.

Natalee was blessed to person escaped pinch insignificant burns.

I posted on Facebook to pass different parents and children astir the consequence of squishies and heat. It was only 80 degrees that day, but Natalee's 1 sewage basking capable to burst.

She was fortunate not to person been wounded more

People reached retired to maine connected societal media to opportunity convey you, and immoderate said the aforesaid type of point had happened to them.

We hadn't near it successful the car connected purpose. It was only location because personification had forgotten it aft a playdate. You'd ne'er imagined that a celebrated artifact could beryllium truthful dangerous.

Thankfully, Natalee hardly has a people connected her assemblage now, but it could person been truthful overmuch worse.

Editor's note: Business Insider contacted Poison Control for remark astir burns associated pinch squishy toys and has not received a response.