Toddler Times: Poison Control Adventures

I am a Googler. Yes, I will tirelessly research until I become an expert on whatever has fancied my interest. That being said, it was no surprise that I welcomed the chance to learn more about becoming a mother when I was pregnant with E.

During my third trimester, J & I took a birthing class. One of the best pieces of advice from the instructor was to put the number for Poison Control in our phones. Boy am I glad I did! If you are expecting or already a parent, I highly suggest you get out your phone and add this number to your contacts.

And since I promised nothing, but honesty on this blog, here are the adventures we have had with Poison Control…

Cough Medicine

I’m not going to name names, but one of E’s parents thought they were administering allergy medicine when in fact, it was her (previously prescribed) cough syrup. Due to that mix up, E received five times the prescribed amount of medicine. With a quick call to Poison Control, we were assured that she would be fine. I may have checked on her 1,000,000 times that night.

Crayons

One day I let E color in her high chair while I prepped dinner. Literally less than a minute later, I discovered that she had devoured an entire blue crayon. It was all over her face, teeth, tongue and her food tray. Even though the crayons were nontoxic, I still called for peace of mind. This assurance came in handy when I was paged during church that E was munching on a yellow crayon....

Toothpaste

After I grocery shop, I place any items that need to go upstairs in between our stair rails. On one of these days, there was an unusual quiet moment in the house. Apparently E had a growth spurt and was able to reach one of my grocery items and she was happily devouring toothpaste. Because toothpaste can be poisonous if swallowed, we had to call Poison Control. This happened only a few days after calling about the crayon ingestion so by now, I was a regular caller. 

Berries

I mentioned in an earlier post that J is passionate about yard care. One morning he decided to give me a break and took E to a customer’s house to drop off pine straw. E has inherited J’s love of the outdoors and in true Hunger Games form, she decided to eat Nightlock berries. Totally kidding about the Nightlock, but she did chow down on Burford holly berries, which are also poisonous. Cue the phone call and trip to the ER, but all was well.

Acorns

I can't recall when this happened in relation to all the other incidents, but during our family pictures one year our session ended abruptly when E went from playing with acorns on a bench to tasting them. Sigh. I called poison control AND her doctor - although I think they said they could be toxic, we had no issues as she didn't consume many (if any). 

Coins

A few months ago, E was in a very playful and hyper mood following dinner. She tried to throw her dad’s computer on the floor and while I was trying to save the new laptop, she grabbed a handful of change. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her make the motions of throwing the germ-filled change into her mouth and eating it. In a split second I had her pinned to the ground trying to pry her mouth open. In response, she bit me while clenching her jaw shut. She became angry and opened her mouth (nothing was there) and threw the other coins at me and said “here.” This of course happened on a Sunday night before bed.

In the next ten minutes, I asked her if she ate the coins and she said "yes." I called Poison Control and this time they told me that she needed an x-ray. I then had to confirm which hospital I would be taking her to and they called ahead to let them know we were on our way. That didn't sound alarming at all....

Upon arrival, E told the nurses that she ate the coins and then pooped them out. Toddlers are so fun, aren’t they? After the x-ray, it was confirmed that ZERO coins were consumed and we were sent on our merry way after she earned the nickname “piggy bank” from the medical staff.

These are the reasons why you need to put Poison Control (1-800-222-1222) in your phone. It is free, quick, and a necessity because anything can happen with littles on the loose no matter how much of a helicopter parent you may be.

While the majority of society likes to choose how they portray themselves online, I would greatly appreciate any adventures you’ve had that are similar to mine. I promise I won’t judge!

And by the way, I told you I have a good eater.

For other toddler related posts, check these out:

If You Give A Toddler A Cookie

How To Vacay With A Toddler (Part I)

How To Vacay With A Toddler (Part II)

Potty Training - Please Send Wine

*Linking up with Lindsay's Sweet World