A Tennessee mother says her little girl suffocated after getting her head stuck inside a Mylar balloon from her birthday celebration.
A 7-year-old Tennessee girl suffocated while playing with a Mylar balloon she received for her birthday, her mother says.
Alexandra Kelly died on Oct. 1, said her mother, Channa Kelly, in a Facebook post on Sunday.
The mom said she and Alexandra had been popping balloons she had bought for her child's birthday celebration on Sept. 24. Kelly said she knew of the choking dangers from latex balloons, but was unaware of any problems with helium-filled Mylar balloons.
The mother went to take a nap, she said, leaving Alexandra with a popped, 34" Mylar balloon in the shape of the numeral 7. When she woke up a short time later, the mother said she found Alexander in the living room, the deflated balloon over her daughter's face.
"I would have never imagined that she would have been able to fit this balloon over her head," the mom wrote.
"On Sunday October 1st my entire world collapsed around me all because I was unaware of the the risk surrounding these types of balloons," Kelly said.
The family is awaiting autopsy results, the mother wrote.
"I quickly removed the balloon, called 911 and began CPR right away," Kelly said. "I asked the 911 operators to remind me of the steps of CPR because it had been so long since my last certification and I didn’t want to mess up.”
It was too late, the mother said.
“I want people to know so they can be aware,” Kelly said. “That’s what took my baby, it was her birthday balloon. It’s hard to comprehend.”
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warns parents to not leave children under age 8 alone with empty latex balloons because they are a choking hazard. Youngsters can choke by accidentally inhaling them while trying to inflate them and by ingesting pieces of popped balloons, the agency warns.
Mylar balloons are considered a safer option, health and consumer advocates have said, because they don't break into pieces as easily as latex. But parents are still warned not to leave young children alone with any type of balloon.
"I hope and pray that this will prevent and save the life of other children. I wouldn’t want anyone else to experience the pain and devastation that the loss of a child brings," wrote Alexandra's mother.
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