Toddler burned with hot coffee, mom offers warning

By Emma Dunn via SWNS

A mom has warned parents after her toddler suffered burns when her hot cup of coffee fell on her face.

Alaya Janjua, one, managed to knock hot coffee off the side and onto her face leaving her bandaged up like a “teletubby."

Her mom, Simona Belcheva, 22, had made herself her morning coffee and put it on the side while she turned the TV off and set up her daughter Alaya’s highchair.

After hearing Alaya’s scream, she saw what had happened and immediately put her tot under a cold shower.

Simona and her partner, Danyal Janjua, 22, a full-time biomedical student, rushed Alaya to Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, Luton, UK, on August 16, the day after her first birthday.

They were then sent to the burns unit at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, Essex, where doctors shaved Alaya’s hair to treat her seven percent mixed-depth scald burns.

Alaya was wrapped up in bandages which made her look like a “Teletubby” and stayed in the hospital for a week until she was able to head home on August 23, 2023.

Alaya is now doing well, and Simona wants to prevent it from happening to other families.

Simona, an operational manager, from Luton, Bedfordshire, said: “I left her food and my coffee on the kitchen counter and went to turn off the TV and set up the highchair.

“I heard a loud bang and her screaming.

“I was only 10 steps away.

“She had managed to somehow knock over the coffee, and it went on her face.

“At the hospital, she was put in a dressing, so all of her burns were covered.

“We were just celebrating her birthday and then she was looking like a Teletubby.

“It was shocking to see her like that."

Simona hadn’t realized the seriousness of the burn until the hospital sent photos to the burns unit in Chelmsford, Essex, and the couple were told to go there.

She said: “They shaved her hair so they could tackle all her burns.

“It was quite scary.”

Alaya was put in a bandage and had to stay in the hospital for treatment – she had suffered deeper burns on her shoulders and superficial burns on her face and head.

Her bandages were redressed every three days and doctors had to wash her face and body each time.

Simona said: “She’d be screaming when they did that."

“It was the worst feeling – I couldn’t help her.

“It got so swollen at one point she couldn’t open her eyes.

“All of her face was red and scabby.

“It looked like she was in a fire.”

Alaya was given antibiotics when she spiked a fever on her second bandage change but was then able to go home on August 23, 2023 – without her bandages.

Her parents have to wash her each morning and before bed to get rid of her scabs and keep her well moisturized throughout the day.

Alaya should grow a new layer of skin within the next few months on the left side of her face, but the skin pigmentation could take a couple of years to come through.

Simona said Alaya was “always smiling” despite it all but the mom has struggled with strangers calling her a “bad mom” and claiming she “burnt her."

She said: “People have said I am a bad mom – I don’t allow it to affect me.”

Simona now wants to help educate people to avoid scald burns – and says parents should be careful with hot drinks around their children.

She is raising money for the ward which helped Alaya to be able to buy more toys for the children here.