Mom’s warning after toddler’s face ‘cut open’ by Kmart sippy cup

Like all toddlers still getting on their feet, 22-month-old Arlo wasn’t yet adept at multitasking—walking alone was a skill he immediately tried to master.

As the boy stumbled around his family’s living room while drinking from his sippy cup, he grimaced after tripping on the carpet.

Normally, such a fall would have been okay if the little boy could pick himself up and start again.

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But the plastic cup shattered into shards when Arlo fell on it – cutting his cheek, nose, forehead and lip and leaving him with a bruised eye. There were also tiny cuts surrounding his left eye.

His mother Emmah Peter was horrified – she quickly tended to her son’s injuries and wrapped him in lots of “mummy cuddles”.

“I’m so glad it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it was still pretty scary,” the New Zealand mother tells 7Life of the accident.

“I don’t know what I would have done if it had gotten in his eye.”

She now warns other parents about the cup’s apparent fragility when under pressure.

And Arlo’s accident prompted retailer Kmart to investigate.

The $5 tumbler, which comes in a pack of six, was left in shards after Arlo tripped while holding it.

“He fell forward and the cup landed between the left side of his face and the floor,” says Emmah of the accident, which occurred in early September.

“It shattered upon impact and shattered into shards.”

Emmah had given Arlo the cup filled with milk as he sat at the table.

The cups are made of polypropylene and are part of it Kmart’s baby food range.

“We bought the cups in a pack of six, but some were already broken because my son threw them,” says Emmah, adding that she was never worried about the product.

Arlo wrapped his hands around the full cup and slowly waddled towards the living room to sit on the couch.

As he took a sip of milk, his feet hit the edge of the carpet and he fell face first onto the floor, the cup shattering on impact.

Emmah ran to Arlo’s side and picked him up.

“I couldn’t see any wounds straight away because he was covered in milk,” says Emmah.

“After I cleaned it up, I noticed he had several scratches on his face and a bruise under his eye.”

The mother returned the cups to her local Kmart and explained what happened.

An employee told the concerned mother that the store would be sending the cups for product testing.

“I have since replaced it with a water bottle that suits us much better,” adds Emmah.

She hopes to warn other parents to prevent another accident.

“My message to others who have these is to throw them away if you’re not comfortable with your little one continuing to use them, depending on what might happen,” she says.

“Or at least make sure your child is sitting while drinking and not walking around with their cup.”

In a statement to 7Life, a Kmart spokesperson said: “The safety of our customers is always our top priority.”

“Although this product meets all required safety standards and is regularly tested, we are now working directly with this customer so that we can conduct a comprehensive investigation and review.”

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