'Check your cupboards': Mum's warning after cake-decorating dust leaves Queensland boy in coma
Updated . First published
A Gold Coast baker has sent a warning to parents after her toddler ingested cake decorating dust and ended up in an induced coma.
Professional baker Katie Robinson was making a Bluey cake for a first birthday on Friday when her son Dusty Wildman found a canister of cake decorating gold.
"Dusty was just pottering around like he normally does," Robinson told 9News.
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Katie Robinson and Chris Wildman's son Dusty is in an induced coma. 9News
"He just found this little canister of metallic lustre dust."
The 14-month-old managed to get the lid off and ingest the powder.
He became unwell almost immediately.
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The 14-month-old was rushed to hospital and underwent surgery. 9News
"He was coughing and getting really distressed," Robinson said.
"His eyes were rolling in his head and he couldn't breathe properly."
The little boy was rushed to hospital where Robinson learnt the dust contained copper, which would not dissolve in blood and gathered in Dusty's lungs.
Dusty's father Chris Wildman said the couple tried to keep him awake.
"I just felt so helpless," he said.
The 14-month-old underwent surgery and remains in a coma as the doctors wait to check his liver and kidneys.
The label on the cake dust said the product is "for use on removal parts" and that it is non-toxic.
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The supplier has pulled the product from its shelves and contacted all stockists. 9News
There is no ingredients list which meant doctors had to send the container to a lab to discover it contained copper and zinc.
Wildman said the product looked like glitter to the untrained eye.
"I thought it was glitter, like an edible glitter, like she always uses," Wildman said.
The supplier has pulled the product from shelves and contacted all stockists.
"These products are being sold next to edible products as well," Robinson said.
"I want everyone to just go and check their cupboards if they have any kind of cake decorating products that could potentially be anything similar to this, just throw it out."
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