Because most philosophies that frown on reproduction don't survive.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

News Flash

Be advised: Although a 2 1/2-year-old may not be able to open a child-proof cap on a medicine bottle, she can bite a hole through the bottom and cause 3/4 of the contents to disappear. This will occasion much anxiety and several hours in the ER.

Fortunately, it seems that she didn't consume all that medicine, and she shows absolutely no ill-effects today. My biggest fear (unrealized, happily) was actually that I would go into labor in the ER and have to stay there.

13 comments:

DP said...

Yikes! I'm glad everything turned out all right.

Our youngest (8.5 months) has developed the irritating habit of trying to taste anything left on the floor. Yes, we are feeding him regularly.

Literacy-chic said...

Never a dull moment, eh? Glad it turned out well. I hate sitting in the emergency room!!

So... Just to get the correct mental picture... Was that a bottle of liquid--like Children's Tylenol or something--or pills? *shudder*

TS said...

Good news that she's alright. Some medicines and pills are so tasty that one indulges. As a 5-year old I ate an entire bottle of Flintstone's chewables. Stomach was pumped.

It appears my powers of prophecy are nil. Momma might know best - i.e. 9/11 for baby is my next guess.

mrsdarwin said...

It was liquid nighttime cough syrup for a middle-of-the-night hack that was keeping us up. I'd only given her two doses out of a 4 oz. bottle, and there was about 1 oz left in the bottle after the incident. Fortunately, all that was in there was a cough ingredient -- no tylenol, which would have been very bad indeed.

Anonymous said...

Indeed! I am glad it turned out OK.

Some 20 plus years ago, when my four daughters were quite young, I had a bag of beans for planting in the garden in the basement. My kids got a hold of them and while playing "house" they consumed the entire bag beans which had been treated with a fungicide. Imagine four girls sitting on the floor of the emergancy room vomiting. It was a sad moment.

Best, Jim

Anonymous said...

Omigosh! Never a dull moment, eh? I think even the best regulated families have at least one medicine related horror story.

I never did trust childproof caps and made sure to keep all meds up high and out of reach. Nevertheless, when the kids were small, Darwin's brother got Darwin's antibiotic capsule, opened it, and poured the powder inside into the glass of water Darwin was going to use to swallow the pill. Then he closed the capsule and waited to see what would happen when Darwin took his medicine. (Darwin was young enough that he had just learned how to swallow pills and was very proud of himself.)

Well, the water was very bitter, of course. And when we found out why, I had the unenviable task of making Darwin drink every drop since it was important that he get every dose of his antibiotic.

If Darwin had had his way, his brother would have spent some time in the emergency room. I guess we must have managed to restrain him.

Darwin's Mom

Melanie Bettinelli said...

Scary! She's got some good teeth!

We had a heart stopping moment some time back when it turns out I didn't close the childproof lid all the way. Fortunately it was only prenatal vitamins and I don't think she got more than one into her mouth.

Anonymous said...

ROFL! Glad she is ok. Our oldest daughter (now 17) tried eating a grasshopper when she was a tot. Yuck.

Rick Lugari said...

I want to know what her punishment is going to be for ruining a perfectly good medicine bottle.

Anonymous said...

What a scary creature a toddler is! After four years of being parents, my husband and I were feeling pretty good about staying out of the ER until this year; we've had three visits in the last six months. There goes our record.

When I was a toddler, I ate a box of matches (cardboard variety). My mom was not pleased.

Good luck--and here's hoping baby Darwin shows up soon!

--Elizabeth B.

Anonymous said...

Vitamins can be quite dangerous for little kids, especially adult vitamins, or anything with iron. Prenatal vitamins can have a pretty high amount of iron so I would check it out if my child consumed even one of them.

Anonymous said...

Err, just correcting myself -- I'm not sure adult vitamins are any more likely to be a problem than children's for children to get a hold of, but either way iron overdose poisoning is a real concern with that sort of thing.

Stuart Buck said...

Right, it's amazingly easy for kids to overdose on iron or Tylenol.