Mom warns others of the dangers of bathing suits for kids


After her son’s swimming trunks caused a medical emergency, the mother of the 5-year-old boy has issued a warning to other parents.

While trying to get him out of her trunks following time spent in the water, “he let out the most gut-wrenching scream I’ve ever heard – it’s a sound no mother should ever hear,” Laura Collins told The Mirror.

Collins said the netting of the trunks became caught on her child’s private area. Thinking quickly, Collins went down to the front desk of the hotel where she was staying, in order to get some scissors.

However, the front desk informed her that she would have to go see a doctor, so her son, Jack, was taken to the hospital.

As it turned out, the netting was wrapped too tight for a comfortable removal, so doctors needed to give Jack an anesthetic before being able to remove the shorts.

Finally, after several hours, he was sent home after the doctors confirmed that no damage was done.

The Mirror reported that another boy ended up going into the same hospital with the same exact injury.

Collins has warned that parents should try to remove the netting from their children’s swimming trunks in order to avoid this from happening.

Tesco, the company that produced the shorts, has already issued an apology.

“Whilst we will be conducting an investigation with the manufacturer we would like to assure our customers that our swim shorts meet the industry standards required for the mesh lining,” the company wrote in a statement.

According to Trimester Talk, this is “not a hoax.”

“Although the overall percentage of occurrences is relatively low, minor to severe pain and bleeding has been caused by swim trunk mesh in hundreds of cases. There are some indications that boys living in the USA may be more prone to incidents occurring, as the mesh has larger holes,” the website reads.

The website also says that it’s best for parents to cut out the mesh underwear from the swim trunks.

“In some cases attempts to remove the shorts has resulted in injuries that cause substantial bleeding and even a trip to the hospital,” the site says.

Collins said that after the incident, Jack has “been warning all his friends as he doesn’t want the same thing to happen to them. I never imagined something like this could happen but I want all parents to make sure they remove the netting from swimming shorts.”

Some commenters have stated that it’s “common sense” to wear some type of underwear underneath the netting shorts. While other parents said they don’t buy or use them.

“Why do [they put] those nettings in the shorts in the first place? I actually wanna know, it’s really bothering [me],” one person asked.

Another person said, “Or just let them keep their undies on too. The netting helps them stay up. I have a super skinny kid, and he has always worn both undies & the swimsuit with netting. Then I read about this. Even though his little brother is not a skinny thing, he was in a swim diaper until he got potty trained a couple of weeks ago. Undies + swimsuit. Extra protection.”

While a third added, “I always cut it out then stopped buying them and just had my son wear soft cotton shorts as bathing suits…he had gotten such a bad rash from those bathing suits!”

One parent even suggested that parents should just have their children wear basketball shorts or something similar instead of swimming trunks.


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