I'm sure every parent has found their kid eating/licking/sucking on some kind of non-edible substance. Whether it's soap, cleaner, meat packaging from the garbage (Deborah :), medicine, or mudding??? Yeah that last one would be my child (and I don't mean MUD, I mean the kind of mudding you put on sheet rock when you're finishing walls). When you finish washing their mouth out, you go through the internal debate: "Should I call poison control? He only had a little bit... but what if..."
When Kaleb ate that mudding and after we'd gone through the internal debate and decided that it was better to be safe than sorry, my hubbie and I called poison control. After asking us our names, they asked what our son had ingested. We said, "the mudding you use to finish walls." Then she said, "How much of it did he digest?" Ryan said, "I'm not entirely sure, but I think only a tiny bit and I did wash out any that was in his mouth."
And the next question was... "And how long was the child unattended?"
Now hold it right there, lady. Have you ever had a one-year-old? You turn your back for 30 seconds and he's put something in his mouth that he shouldn't have. It's not like we let him just play in the unfinished basement with all the open sockets, mudding on the floor, and nails sticking out of the wood.
My husband kept a level head and simply said, "He wasn't unattended. I just turned my back for a moment."
The woman then says, "Okay sir, well he should be fine."
Phew. Then she says, "Just a few more questions before you hang up, sir." She then proceeds to ask us our phone number and address. I thought, "Why do they need that kind of stuff?" That's when it hit us: they have to ask so that if you call repeatedly, they can send Social Services to your house!
As if we need to be afraid of calling Poison Control again because we don't want our children taken away...
So while it's a good thing to be cautious and better safe than sorry, just be forewarned that calling Poison Control might just make you feel like a bad parent instead of the responsible, good, caring, worried one who called in the first place!
The number for Poison Control is: 1-800-222-1222
2 comments:
I am so glad you posted this. I have often wondered if I should call Poison Control, but I didn't know what to expect when I called.
So...when J was smaller, he got into his bum cream. Ate about half the jar. Yup. Gross. I didn't call poison control, but the Pharmacy that made it (my local Pharmacy in Canada)...they told me it was mostly petroleum jelly and some other stuff, but he'd be fine. I've only called Poison control once, but you are right, they grill you. Just wait til you have to take little man to the ER for stitches 3 TIMES IN 1 WEEK! Then you get looks!
Post a Comment