Mum claims daughter suffered shocking injury after visiting Macca's

A young girl was left with severe burns after requesting a water refill from McDonald's staff at a US airport this month, her mother claims.

Emily Dolbeer had organised a trip to Disneyland with her family, including her four-year-old daughter Lainey who was ecstatic to be going to see the Disney princesses and her personal favourite, Pluto the Pup.

But before the group even boarded the plane for Lainey's dream trip, she said the little girl suffered a severe injury at the Portland International Airport, news.com.au reported.

Ms Dolbeer posted details of the alleged incident on Facebook and has since spoken to local media, saying her family arrived at the airport and got settled at their boarding gate.

The mother and daughter then decided to grab some McDonald's for breakfast.

"I ask the worker if they can fill up my daughter's water bottle," she wrote.

"She asks, 'do you want ice?' to which I replied, 'that would be great'."

According to Ms Dolbeer, her daughter's Disney princess drink bottle was "double insulated" to keep cold liquids cold and hot drinks piping hot.

"You cannot feel the temperature of the liquids on the inside by holding it," she explained.

Lainey told her mum she was thirsty, so she handed her the bottle.

"She takes a drink and immediately starts screaming bloody murder," Ms Dolbeer wrote.

Lainey has since broken out in painful blisters. Photo / KEZI

To her horror, her daughter had just taken a huge gulp of scalding hot water.

Speaking to local television station KEZI, Ms Dolbeer said the sound of her daughter's scream was heartbreaking.

"It was the most atrocious little, heart-wrenching sound you've ever heard," she said.

"I turned around, and she was the most inconsolable human you've ever seen."

Ms Dolbeer said she was "absolutely beside myself" and frantically tried to figure out what had happened before realising the McDonald's employee had filled her daughter's water bottle with scalding hot water.

"It was hotter than any tea or coffee I've ever had," she said.

"Why would you ever think to put scalding water in a child's water bottle? Especially since I had asked for ice in it."

Ms Dolbeer said that within minutes, Lainey developed painful blisters on her lip, chin and neck from the severe burns.

The sores have since spread to her mouth, tongue and chest.

Lainey suffered burns to her mouth, chin, neck and chest. Photo / KEZI

Ms Dolbeer said she marched back to McDonald's to demand an explanation from staff but told local media she got very little support and she'd only received one phone call from the manager since the incident.

"The employees were clueless on how to handle the situation," she claimed.

"The 'manager' wrote her name down on blank receipt paper and I laughed and said, 'no, I want an incident report filled out, now'."

The furious mum said she was "extremely unhappy right now with the lack of empathy and compassion of these employees".

Lainey was treated for her pain, but Ms Dolbeer said her daughter was struggling to eat and "hasn't been acting like herself".

"This is not how I intended to start our long-awaited vacation," she said.

In a statement, obtained by Fox News, the franchise's owner and operator Mike Kennedy said: "The safety of our guests and crew are our top priority.

"We are taking this claim very seriously and investigating this matter."

In the days since their alleged ordeal, Ms Dolbeer told KEZI her daughter's spirits had improved slightly.

"Being in the happiest place on Earth is probably the best distraction for her," she said.

"We saw Pluto on the way home from dinner last night, which is one of her favourites, so that finally put a little smile on her face."