Minn. mother blames teething tablet for son's seizure

MN mom says teething tablets linked to seizures

Allen Costantini, KARE 6:21 p.m. EDT September 2, 2015

Jude and Mara Soto(Photo: KARE)

LECENTER, Minn. - A Minnesota mother keeps a tattered teddy bear as a remembrance of the night, she says, she feared she was losing her infant son. The six-month-old suffered a seizure after ingesting a tablet meant to ease teething pain.

Mara Soto of LeCenter said her husband gave a Hyland's Baby Teething Tablet to little Jude Soto to soothe the boy's discomfort cutting his first teeth. She said the tablets had been recommended to her by a relative who had used the tablets for her children with no problem.

"My sister, who is a nurse, had given them previously to her children and she said that they worked okay," said Soto. "So, I thought, okay, why not? I will give it try."

"I came home from work and he was sleeping on the couch with his dad," said Soto, "and he woke up when I got home. He just was kind of 'off', not really acting himself, sort of out of it. And then he started vomiting. He started turning colors and I said, he is not really breathing and we were trying to talk to him and his eyes were rolling in the back of his head. His pupils were like marbles, just big black eyes," said Soto.

Jude was rushed by ambulance to a hospital.

"They checked him out and he eventually was okay," said Soto. "The ER doctor was familiar with the teething tablets and told me to do some research on it and what he said was Belladonna in Latin was 'beautiful lady' and people took some of that plant to be more attractive because it would dilate their pupils."

Today, Jude is a healthy six-year-old with no apparent affects from the seizure. He begins first grade the day after Labor Day. His mother still wants other mothers to receive a warning about the tablets.

"I just would like to get people aware that potentially it is very dangerous or at least have a warning on the label," said Soto. "Get it taken off the market if it is going to be that dangerous."

Questions about the tablets are nothing new for manufacturer Hyland's Baby Teething Tablets. The company indicated on its website that the tablets were reformulated in 2011. Presently, there is a statement on the website that reads:

"There is no scientific link between homeopathically-prepared belladonna, or Hyland's Baby Teething Tablets, and seizures."

KARE-11's calls to the company's media representative were not answered.

The website also reads: "Consumers that are concerned about the safety of the product may contact Standard Homeopathic Company by calling 1-800-624-9659."

As far as Mara Soto is concerned, she believes she knows what caused her son's seizure. "I would guess the Belladonna. That is what doctors have said. That is what the research I have done said. Being homeopathic, you don't know how much of Belladonna is actually in those tablets and that is the scary part to me."

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Source: Minn. mother blames teething tablet for son's seizure