Jemima Strain was doing a load of washing when her toddler got hold of a squishy laundry detergent pod – and what came next was terrifying.
In an instant, it popped, covering his face and eyes in the liquid. He was in immense pain.
She immediately washed his eyes out with water and took him to the hospital, where he spent nearly two hours with a team of nurses who held him down, forced his eyes open, and tried to neutralise the liquid with saline fluid.
The mum from England posted a photo of her son on her Facebook page as a warning to other parents to make sure their laundry pods are out of reach of their children at all times. In the image you can see the boy's eyes are red raw and bruised from the terrifying ordeal.
"Please make sure that your children NEVER TOUCH these!" she wrote.
"The warnings on the boxes are minuscule and the boxes themselves aren't childproof.
"I had no idea how awful the contents are."
Jemima claimed how when they took her son to the eye specialist clinic, consultants said they had written to manufacturers "begging them to stop making them as they caused 40 per cent of all eye injuries last year".
"If we had not washed his eyes out my son would have suffered from further burns to his eyes and children have had corneas burned off," she said.
"Please let everyone you know hear this. And share it as a warning."
She said the squishy detergent pods were an "awful advertising gimmick" that were very appealing to young children. And she also pleaded for manufacturers to make the boxes more childproof.
The mother said her son's ordeal should be proof enough of how dangerous the pods were.
"Please don't let your children help with the washing," she said.
"These tablets are as bad as bleach and can be life threatening if swallowed.
"We were fortunate … we acted fast and he was only blind for 3 days and with drops started to open his eyes and now has full site back.
"PLEASE KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN."
Her post has been shared nearly 2000 times and while most of the comments are supportive, some people have blamed the parents for not putting the detergent in a safe place, away from their son.
"Can't see how this is the company's fault?" wrote one Facebook user.
"If a child gets hold of a knife and cuts them selfs [sic], shall we ban knives? So much blame culture! Not enough taking responsibility!"
But Jemima says people who think like that have missed the point she was making.
"My argument is, if it is this dangerous, which it is, then the packaging needs changing," said Jemima.
"The pouches are a gimmick and are highly dangerous. And the boxes are easy to open.
"They should be kept in a bleach-like container if it's this dangerous."