A mum has told of her horror after a wheat bag she uses to heat up her toddler's bed allegedly caught fire.
Belle Goldie, 39, said she heated the bag and intended to put it under her one-year-old daughter's pillow like she does every night.
The mum, from Sydney, Australia, said she took the bag out of the microwave and placed it on a kitchen bench, and less than a minute later noticed it was "starting to smoke".
Ms Goldie said she opened the bag and saw that the grains inside "were all on fire" - so she tossed it into the sink and then rushed into her three-year-old son's room to check on a wheat bag she had already placed under his pillow.
The bag's cover resembles a stuffed toy.
Ms Goldie said she does the same routine every night - heating wheat bags for her son and daughter, placing the bags back inside their covers and then putting them under her children's pillows.
But on Sunday night she placed her daughter's bag on the bench instead of taking it straight into the girl's bedroom.
She told 7News: “I noticed that the toy was actually starting to smoke... but I couldn’t see that there was anything going on inside.
“So I opened it up, took the wheat bag out and the wheat bag was actually on fire and the grains inside were all on fire. I was just horrified.”
She added: “I wouldn’t even like to think about what would have happened if I had placed it into her bed... and then placed her there as well.”
She has now issued a warning to other parents and vowed to stop using wheat bags.
Ms Goldie posted photos of the damaged bag on Facebook along with a description of what happened.
She wrote: "Very scary tonight. Pho likes to sleep with this wheat bag as it’s nice and warm.
"I always heat it up before her sleeps and tonight I took the bag out of the microwave and placed it on the bench (normally I’d place straight into her bed).
"I walked back to the loungeroom and Andy asked what was burning (I was also cooking cakes) so thought it was them.
"I noticed the animal smoking and opened it up to see the wheat bag on fire!!!
"And it had started a fire inside the animal.
"What if that had of been in pho’s bed!!!!! Scary!
"Beware of these types of wheat bags."
Fellow Facebook users told her that wheat bags should be heated in a microwave next to a cup of water.
Ms Goldie claims the instructions and the manufacturer's website do not state a cup of water is needed.
