A NSW Central Coast mother has shared her terrifying ordeal, after her young son suffered an adverse reaction to a popular teething gel.

Skye Elliott, from Toukley, had been giving one-year-old Zander Howe the over-the-counter gel for pain relief for about six months at the recommended dose, when he suddenly fell ill.

"I noticed Zander's lips were starting to turn blue and I couldn't get a response out of him," she told 9News.  

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Suffering seizures and hypoglycaemia, Zander was taken to Wyong Hospital before being airlifted to The Children's Hospital at Westmead.

He was diagnosed with chronic salicylate poisoning, a rare but dangerous side-effect.

"I felt so guilty, I felt horrible because I was the one who had given it to him," Ms Elliott said.

Choline salicylate is the active ingredient in some best-selling teething gels. An overdose can cause nausea, vomiting, dizziness and ringing in the ears.

"Severe salicylate poisoning affects the pH of the body and that can cause a number of significant complications including seizures, coma, kidney damage and even death," Genevieve Adamo from the NSW Poisons Information Centre said.

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"In 2020, there was about 280 calls regarding teething products and of those, 240 calls were relating to choline salicylate products."

She says parents need to consider the risk and benefits before administering the medication.

"Teething gels are not recommended because there is little evidence to show they are significant in reducing pain, and there are risks associated with them."

The Database of Adverse Event Notifications includes 15 adverse event reports for products which contain choline salicylate. There was one report which was received in 2020.

A spokesperson for the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) says teething gels which contain choline salicylate are required to display a warning on the product label.

 Zander spent two months in hospital but now he is home with his family.

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Ms Elliott wants other parents to know that they shouldn't believe a product is safe, just because it's widely available in supermarkets and pharmacies.  

"Just make sure you do your research because it's so scary," she said. Bonjela Australia issued a statement.

"The health and safety of all Australians is our top priority. For over 40 years, Bonjela has been trusted by Australian families to manage their baby's teething pain," a spokesperson for Bonjela Australia said.  

"Bonjela meets Australian guidelines and standards, including registration with the Therapeutic Goods Administration."

He terrorised dozens of women across Sydney's Northern Beaches for close to two years, but today Lindsay Moody, 42, sobbed in the dock as he was sentenced to 2.5 years jail.

The labourer from Frenchs Forest stalked 28 women, including a 16-year-old schoolgirl, on secluded running tracks and suburban streets in Narrabeen, Belrose, Davidson, Dee Why, North Curl Curl, Allambie Heights, Fairlight, and Northbridge.

Police pounced after CCTV captured Moody harassing a woman in Cammeray, detectives tracing his blacked-out car, and linking it to a string of attacks over a period of 21 months.

The court heard in each instance, the women had been followed, and in some cases flashed, before the 42-year-old would make vulgar comments about their physical appearance.

After his arrest in September, Moody pleaded guilty to 28 charges of stalking and intimidation with intent to cause fear and physical harm.

Upon sentencing, Magistrate Bruce Williams said although Moody acted on impulse, there had been some degree of planning.

"There is no doubt there has been a significant effect on all of the victims," Magistrate Williams said.

"It must have been very confronting. You can almost feel the hairs stand-up on the back of your neck."

In a letter to the court, Moody wrote: "I would like to express my sincere apologies. I'm fully aware I've impacted people's lives, and I feel disgusted in myself."

The tradesman cried as his sentence was handed down, while outside Manly Local Court, his brave victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, spoke out.

One admitted to a diagnosis of symptoms of PTSD, while others experienced victim blaming.

"I thought it was my own fault, I had a bit of my bikini showing."

"The people who were targeted were all women going about their daily life," said another victim.

"Women doing ordinary, boring things; exercising, walking around their local neighborhoods.

"Women of the Northern Beaches need to know we deserve to be free to do ordinary things, in daily life safe and that we are protected as citizens."

Collectively they thanked the lead investigators who brought an end to Moody's reign of terror.

"I'm sending a message to women that if something like this happens, come forward, people do believe you."

Moody's pregnant wife did not support him in court. With time served he could be released from behind bars as early as April 2021.

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A husband and wife are on trial for allegedly using a Tamil woman as their unpaid domestic servant, who also cared for their three children in Melbourne.

Known only by their pseudonyms "KK and KK", prosecutors allege the married couple hid a slave inside their home in Melbourne's south-east for eight years.

In July 2007 the complainant travelled from India to Australia to stay with KK + KK at their family property in Mount Waverley.

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But the woman's tourist visa expired the next month, making her an illegal non-citizen.

She was unable to speak English, which allowed the couple – who she knew from their native country – to allegedly hold her captive.

Prosecutor Richard Maidment told the jury, "the accused deprived the complainant of her rights and freedoms", including her capacity to move away from their home, and ability to communicate with others.

She also had great difficulty getting medical and dental services.

The alleged slave claims they only ever paid her with the odd $5 or $ 10 on her birthday.

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The woman was discovered by authorities in 2015 when she had to be taken to hospital.

By that time she was emaciated, weighing just 40 kilograms.

She had hypothermia and diabetes, and ended up being put in intensive care because she was also suffering from sepsis.

KK and KK spent today writing notes in the dock.

Their trial will last for at least six weeks.

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At this time of year it wouldn't be unusual for Australians to be sweltering from the oppressive summer heat.

But instead, conditions in most places on the continent are considerably mild.

It's not the sudden onset of global cooling that's keeping Australia out of heatwave conditions.

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Instead, it's unusual weather in a part of Australia where barely anybody lives.

https://twitter.com/BOM_au/status/1359334645561704453

Cloud and rain over the Pilbara has prevented heatwave conditions from developing across the rest of the country, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

"The Pilbara in WA is Australia's heat engine, but plenty of cloud and rain have prevented heat from building this past week," the bureau said in a statement.

In the next few days, the only parts of Australia recording heatwave conditions are parts of South Australia, southern Northern Territory and far southwestern Queensland.

Even those conditions are listed by the bureau as a "low-intensity heatwave".

A tropical low over northeastern Western Australia is dumping heavy falls over the outback.

In the Northern Territory's remote Nathan River cattle station, 310mm fell in three days. It was the cattle station's heaviest falls in 18 years.

The Pilbara will be at least partly cloudy for the rest of the week.

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