Julia Bergman, a Swedish influencer known from the TV programme "Unga mammor," recently had to take her three-year-old son Manne to hospital after he ate needles from a yew tree, according to Expressen. Bergman and her son appeared on TV4's "Nyhetsmorgon" on Monday, where she described the incident. Because the yew carried red berries, she contacted the Swedish Poisons Information Centre (Giftinformationscentralen).
Peter Hultén of the Poisons Information Centre also appeared on the programme and said the needles are more toxic than the berries, Expressen reports.
Why it matters
Yew is a common garden plant in Sweden, and the case highlights how a small amount of plant material can lead to serious medical attention for a young child. Bergman used both the TV interview and her Instagram account to warn other parents to check what grows on their property.
Treatment and transfer to intensive care
At the hospital, Manne was given activated charcoal to bind the toxin, according to Expressen. He then fell asleep, and Bergman said that was the moment she grasped how serious the situation was.
"But God, he could die. There can be cardiac arrest and it was very unpleasant. It was only then that I started to understand that it was super serious," she said on TV4, as reported by Expressen.
In an Instagram post, Bergman wrote that her son was connected to an ECG and telemetry to monitor his pulse, breathing and oxygen levels. The family then travelled by ambulance to another hospital, where Manne was admitted to the intensive care unit.
"I never believed that small needles could cause this, and when he fell asleep for the evening before we went to Lund it struck me how serious it could be, and then I got so incredibly scared," she wrote, according to Expressen.
Recovery and a warning to parents
Manne recovered and the family was able to go home the following day. In her post, Bergman urged other parents to review the plants in their gardens.
"Thankfully nothing happened that affected his little heart this time, BUT what I want to say with this post: if you have a yew on your plot and you have children yourself, SAW IT DOWN!!" she wrote, per Expressen.
On "Nyhetsmorgon," she said she does not know why things ultimately turned out well.
"He had no symptoms. It may have been the charcoal that absorbed the toxin, or that he didn't get enough of it," she said on the programme, according to Expressen.
Bergman first became known through her participation in "Unga mammor" in 2017. She has three children with her husband Dennis and one child from a previous relationship, Expressen reports.
The case now sits alongside the Poisons Information Centre's public guidance on toxic garden plants. Parents who suspect a child has eaten plant material can contact the centre for advice, and Bergman's account is likely to keep the question of yew in family gardens in front of Swedish audiences in the coming days.
